Eight UC Irvine faculty members named Hellman Fellows

Eight UC Irvine assistant professors will receive Hellman Fellowships, which are bestowed annually to support research by junior faculty. They join an elite group of 95 UCI Society of Hellman Fellows since 2013, when the Hellman Fellows Fund was established here.

The program began in 1995 at UC Berkeley and UC San Diego and has since expanded organically to all UC universities and four private institutions. In 2020, after 25 years of funding the fellowships, the Hellman family created an endowment to allow the awards to continue in perpetuity across UC’s 10 campuses.

The 2025-26 awardees are:

• Coleman Collins, assistant professor of art, for a proposal titled “Passagenwerken”
• Henri Drake, assistant professor of Earth system science, for a proposal titled “Principled Conceptual Modeling of Global Ocean-Ice Interactions”
• Paola Guerrero Rosada, assistant professor of education, for a proposal titled “Designing and Implementing a Quality Improvement Intervention for Science, Math, and Literacy in Puerto Rico”
• Evgeny Kvon, assistant professor of developmental & cell biology, for a proposal titled “Genetic Basis of Chondrodysplasia in Domestic Dogs”
• Evangelina Macias, assistant professor of dance, for a proposal titled “Moving in from the Periphery: Locating Native American Women in Fancy Dance History”
• Pim Oomen, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, for a proposal titled “The Impact of Sex Hormones on the Heart: Mechanistic and Therapeutic Insights”
• Carolina Valdivia, assistant professor of criminology, law & society, for a proposal titled “Family Reunification in the U.S. Post-Deportation”
• Xizheng Wang, assistant professor of mechanical & aerospace engineering, for a proposal titled “Accelerated Discovery and Electrified Manufacturing of High Entropy Alloys”

“UC Irvine is excited to share the 2025–26 class of Hellman Fellows,” said Gillian Hayes, vice provost for academic personnel. “These eight outstanding assistant-rank faculty are engaged in research that pushes boundaries across a wide range of fields and are tackling big questions with real-world impact. We’re deeply thankful to the Hellman Fellows Endowed Fund for supporting their bold ideas and helping launch the next generation of academic leaders.”

Since 1995, more than 2,000 people from public and private institutions have been Hellman Fellowship recipients. The grants may be used for such research purposes as equipment, travel, photography and graduate assistants. The aim of the program is to support promising assistant professors who show the capacity for great distinction in their research. Funds awarded are intended as a one-time subsidy for activities that will enhance the individual’s progress toward tenure.