Eight assistant professors at the University of California, Irvine will receive Hellman Fellowships, which are bestowed annually to support research by junior faculty. They join an elite group of 77 UCI Hellman Fellows since 2013, when the Hellman Fellows Fund established the awards 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 generously created an endowment to allow the program to continue in perpetuity across UC’s 10 campuses.

The 2023-24 UCI awardees are:

• Herdeline Ardoña, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, for a proposal titled “Wiring Up Muscle Tissues for Advancing the Manufacturing of Cultured Meats”
• Stacy Copp, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, for a proposal titled “Near-Infrared Emitters for Biomedical Imaging in the Tissue Transparency Windows”
• Nicole Iturriaga, assistant professor of criminology, law and society, for a proposal titled “Technology, Surveillance and the Changing Legal Landscapes of Post-Roe America”
• Christopher Miles, assistant professor of mathematics, for a project titled “Mathematics of Mitosis: Modeling and Data Science for Mechanistic Insight”
• Diu-Huong Nguyen, assistant professor of history, for a proposal titled “Eve of Destruction: A Social History of Vietnam’s Royal City, 1957-1967”
• Cyrian Reed, assistant professor of dance, for a proposal titled “The Essence of Raw Freestyle”
• Alexandra Voloshina, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, for a proposal titled “Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy for Gait Rehabilitation Post-Stroke”
• Salvador Zárate, assistant professor of anthropology, for a proposal titled “Fire Break: Latinx Migrant Workers and Wildfire Prevention in Climate-Changed Southern California”

“UCI has named eight outstanding assistant-rank faculty members, representing a broad array of disciplines, as the 2023-24 class of Hellman Fellows. These scholars were chosen for their innovative research that positively impacts our local and global community,” said Diane O’Dowd, vice provost for academic personnel. “UCI is grateful to the Hellman Fellows Fund that helps these early-career scholars advance their research.”

Since 1995, more than 2,000 individuals from public and private institutions have been 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 of activities that will enhance the individual’s progress toward tenure.

-Tom Vasich, UCI
-pictured: UCI’s 2023-24 Hellman Fellows are (top row, from left) Diu-Huong Nguyen, Nicole Iturriaga, Cyrian Reed and Christopher Miles, as well as (bottom row, from left) Stacy Copp, Salvador Zárate, Herdeline Ardoña and Alexandra Voloshina. UCI