Physical Sciences

COSMOS trains new generation of scientists

High school students take part in a highly competitive summer program that lets them live on campus and learn about university life.

Kika Friend engages with a student from C.A.M.P.

CAMP counselor

Kika Friend helps prepare students in UCI’s California Alliance Minority Participation program for careers in math and science.

Summer program gives grad students an edge

Underrepresented students get a head start on research projects and form bonds in UCI summer prep programs.

Richard Barrington

AirUCI gets teachers pumped up about chemistry

AirUCI summer workshop aims to inspire seventh- to 12th-grade science teachers so they can inspire their own students.

UCI among California universities receiving up to $122 million to create fuels from sunlight

UCI is among California universities receiving up to $122 million to create fuels from sunlight.

Astrophysicist Gregory Benford

Finding frugal aliens

‘Benford beacons’ concept could refocus search for signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life.

Is the ocean making you sick?

This summer, surfers and swimmers will risk more than sunburn — the ocean could make them sick. UCI researchers are testing the waters and working to improve the detection, identification, measurement and elimination of coastal pollutants.

Roger McWilliams

Time traveler

UC Irvine physics & astronomy professor Roger McWilliams often appears to have stepped out of a time machine — from the past. He rides to work on a reproduction vintage bicycle with a wide leather seat and big chrome handlebars. When he does drive a car, it’s a 60-year-old Jaguar that he fixes himself with […]

UCI professor William Cooper and his students count and catalog plastic trash

Fighting the ocean’s plastic pollution

UC Irvine professor William Cooper follows the trail of plastic debris that’s spreading from the coast to the deep sea.

Is oil spill also fouling the air?

UCI researchers find disturbing amounts of certain gases above massive Gulf slick. More study is needed.