UCLA's former men's basketball coach John Wooden will be honored by the U.S. Postal Service with a limited edition Forever stamp. Featuring an original portrait of him, the stamp will be available for purchase starting early next year. Commemorative stamps are typically issued to honor those who have contributed significantly to American society, history, culture, or environment. Wooden's stamp design is unique, using blue and gold colors to pay tribute to his incredible legacy and success at UCLA.
The importance of promoting mental health education in schools cannot be overstated, but many educators have found that existing campaigns are not as effective as they should be. To address this, Geffen Academy at UCLA launched its own Mental Health Education Institute a few years ago. The summer program is designed to provide educators with the necessary tools to teach the fundamentals of mental health in the classroom. By using personal stories to educate students and adopting a common language to normalize mental health discussions, the institute hopes to make a positive impact on mental health education in schools. Now in its third year of sharing the curriculum with educators throughout North America, the number of attendees has
nearly doubled since its kickoff in 2021. And the feedback from those taking the program, which is offered at the Geffen Academy’s campus in Westwood and online, has been positive.
The program has also gained the attention of California’s First Partner, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who visited the campus on November 2 to see the curriculum in action. She spoke with current and former students about how attending Geffen Academy had impacted them personally and later posted on Instagram about the academy. She expressed her desire to bring similar programs to all children in California.
Lourdes Castro Ramirez, UCLA alumna and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass's chief housing and homelessness officer, recently participated in the inaugural Bruin Excellence in Civic Engagement awards ceremony. She was one of the 40 honorees recognized by the UCLA Alumni Association for excellence in public service. The 2023 ceremony included a certificate presentation and remarks from board member Matt Kaczmarek, who spoke about the opportunities and practical experience that UCLA provides to its students and alumni, enabling them to make a meaningful impact while navigating through real-world challenges. According to Kaczmarek, "It's no wonder why so many Bruins count among our nation's best civic leaders." The Bruin Excellence in Civic
Engagement awards are presented annually to individuals fostering positive social change through civic service.
Nader Sehatbakhsh, an assistant professor at UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, has received two National Science Foundation grants totaling $1M to research security vulnerabilities and constraints of low-energy internet-of-things (IoT) devices. His research focuses on enhancing IoT device security using circuit-architecture-algorithm techniques and leveraging unintended signals to augment communication and debugging capabilities. His lab develops security measures for various devices by testing attacks to discover vulnerabilities and finding solutions to solve the problems.
Fourteen entrepreneurs from UCLA presented their innovative startups at the inaugural Innovation Showcase, presented by the Venture Accelerator at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. The event was held at Google's headquarters in Venice Beach, and the participants had a chance to win $100,000 in prize money, a Google for Startups Cloud Program credit package worth up to $350,000, and a $2,500 "sweetener" from the Venture Accelerator. The startups ranged from B2B tech to space to consumer products, highlighting UCLA's robust and diverse entrepreneurial mindset. The event showcased UCLA Anderson's efforts to boost entrepreneurship across the entire campus by offering an expansive range of resources to would-be entrepreneurs
from every discipline and department.
Chancellor Block and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Hunt recently shared a message with the UCLA community with the latest updates about UCLA's expansion plans in downtown L.A. and the South Bay.
How will the law keep up with technological innovation? Jon Regardie writes about UCLA's Institute for Technology, Law & Policy and how AI will affect the legal field and the impacts of AI that go beyond patents and copyright. Everyone agrees that change is imminent, but the question remains whether it will have a seismic impact on the legal industry similar to the internet.
UCLA Luskin’s Wesley Yin has been appointed chief economist at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). In his new role, Yin will assist in the formulation of President Biden's budget and work on a range of issues including climate policy, health care and social insurance, student loans, and national tax policy. OMB helps the president achieve administration policy, budget, and management goals across the federal government. Yin's research interests are economic inequality, health care, and household finance. He believes in the saying that "Don't tell me what you value. Show me your budget - and I'll tell you what you value" which is particularly relevant to his new role at OMB. Yin will be
on leave from UCLA during the 2023-24 academic year while he serves in government. Previously, he has served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Economic Policy at the US Treasury Department and on the White House Council of Economic Advisors during the Obama administration.
UCLA experts attending and monitoring the annual U.N. climate conference, COP28, have tempered their expectations for what the event could achieve. Every year, the countries of the world gather to negotiate what to do about climate change, but this year, the annual event takes place in Dubai, one of the world’s leading oil producers.
In a year expected to be the hottest ever recorded and which has already seen record-breaking heat in June, July, August, September and October, UCLA environmental law experts from the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment are tracking and attending the Nov. 30–Dec. 12 climate conference.
The North Westwood Neighborhood Council has provided a neighborhood purpose grant to UCLA's Student Run Homeless Clinics (SRHC) to help the Westwood community. The clinic requested $1,000 for preloaded TAP cards and $4,000 for food and water for underserved individuals. Providing food and water for patients is crucial for the SRHC program, as it helps establish relationships and provide adequate care. The program was initiated by medical students in 1990 and currently runs over 40 medical student-run clinics, serving approximately 1,600 patients each year. These clinics offer various services such as physical exams, chronic disease management, wound care, urgent care, and immunizations.
The UCLA Blood & Platelet Center is responsible for providing a healthy blood component supply for patients at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, the UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, and the Santa Monica UCLA Hospital. The Center collects approximately 60,000 donations per year. These donations yield about 75% of the blood and platelets transfused to our patients.
Donating blood takes just one hour of your time. Donating platelets takes approximately two and a half to three hours. The impact of your donation lasts a lifetime.
UCLA researchers have discovered that certain types of prostate cancer can transform into a rare and resistant tumor called small cell neuroendocrine (SCN) cancer. In a recent study conducted on mice, the researchers observed the molecular changes that occur when a less aggressive type of prostate cancer turns into an SCN cancer. They identified two distinct pathways that prostate adenocarcinomas follow in order to evolve into SCN cancers. This important finding could help in the development of new therapies to prevent the progression of prostate cancer.
