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Carlene Chinn and Adviser Dr. Marcelo Wood Awarded Prestigious Gilliam Fellowship

Carlene Chinn and Dr. Marcelo Wood receive Gilliam Fellowship

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Carlene Chinn, a Fourth-year PhD candidate in UCI’s Department of Neurobiology and Behavior and adviser Dr. Marcelo Wood have been awarded the prestigious Gilliam Fellowship by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study. The pair is one of 51 student-adviser teams to receive the honor.

Each of the 51 elite scholars to receive the honor are conducting outstanding research in their respective scientific fields and are committed to building a more inclusive scientific ecosystem. Each student-adviser pair will receive an annual award totaling $53,000 for up to three years.

Chinn’s research is centered around two projects. The first involves changes to DNA methylation through aging, and whether these epigenetic changes can be used as significant markers in age-related cognitive impairments or a lack thereof. Her second project investigates the role of stress response pathways on long term memory in a sex-dependent manner. She hopes to continue working in a field where her efforts as a scientist can be translational and imperative to answering longstanding questions about neurobiology and behavior. 

“Being awarded as a 2022 Gilliam Fellow is a tremendous honor and opportunity,” Chinn said. “I am hoping this fellowship will allow for me to grow as a member of the scientific community into a scientist that helps to contribute to STEM exposure, inclusivity, and retention of future generations of scientists from traditionally underrepresented groups. Along with the help of my mentor Dr. Marcelo Wood, I aim to strengthen the access to research opportunities that young students receive through scientific communication and mentorship of my own students.”

The Gilliam Program invests in graduate students from populations historically excluded and underrepresented in science so that they are prepared to become scientific leaders.

“To support the development of these students as future scientific leaders, it’s crucial to provide high-quality mentoring, financial support, an inclusive lab environment, and a supportive community,” said David Asai, senior director for science education for the Gilliam program. “True change will not happen on campuses without the support and commitment of faculty and institutional leaders.”

HHMI recognizes that the advisers of Gilliam Fellows play an important role in helping the students realize their high potential. Since 2015, more than 200 Gilliam advisers have successfully completed a year-long course in culturally aware mentorship, developed and led by the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER).

“I’m absolutely delighted and honored to be serving as Carlene’s mentor for this HHMI Gilliam Fellowship,” said Wood. “She is an exceptional researcher and colleague. This HHMI Gilliam Fellowship will allow us to develop our mentoring and leadership skills as well as help foster advances in diversity and inclusion here at UCI.”

Wood’s lab is focused on understanding the epigenetic mechanisms necessary for long-lasting forms of synaptic plasticity, long-term memory, and drug-seeking behavior. We primarily focus on histone modifying and nucleosome remodeling mechanisms. These have been implicated in generating long-lasting changes in cell function that can ultimately give rise to long-term changes in behavior, and most of these enzymes are associated with human intellectual disability disorders.

Click here for more information on the prestigious Gilliam Fellowship program

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The Future is Ours

#IamUCI – Nikki Yamashiro

Q&A with Class of 2022 graduate Nikki Yamashiro, D.N.P.

by Laura Rico

Nikki Yamashiro’s passion for solving problems and helping others led her to pursue a career in nursing. Her path to UCI’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program started at Glendora’s Citrus College, where she trained to become a licensed vocational nurse, and Cal State Fullerton, where she earned a B.S. in nursing. Yamashiro’s clinical background includes work in home health, pediatrics and a men’s correctional facility. Still, she doubted her ability to gain admission into UCI’s highly competitive D.N.P. program and calls doing so “the biggest blessing of a lifetime.” Reaching the pinnacle of her profession led to self-reflection and a desire to be intentional about her goals: to diversify the nursing workforce and address racial health inequalities. Yamashiro recently partnered with longtime UCI supporter Dolores Grunigen to create an endowment for graduate nursing students who plan to work with underresourced populations. “I identify as a queer person, a mother and a person of Hispanic origin,” she says. “As a nurse, our job is to get underrepresented communities to trust us.” Her D.N.P. capstone project at UCI’s Student Health Center included increasing the availability of the HIV prevention drug PrEP and implementing a culturally competent sexual health history survey. Additionally, Yamashiro says, simple practices such as displaying a gay pride flag and asking patients their pronouns are small but important ways to better serve LGBTQ+ people.

What is your favorite memory at UCI?
My favorite memory at UCI would have to be building these lifelong friendships with my fellow clinicians. We have laughed together, cried together, experienced life and death together, have navigated a pandemic, and everything in between. One memory wouldn’t justify the family I have built during my journey here. Words can’t describe the gratitude I have for those who I am so lucky to be surrounded by and call not only my best friends but my colleagues.

What are your plans after graduation?
I’d like to sleep in with all my babies and take them somewhere with my wife to soak in all their joy, because it’s truly life-giving! I also want to study for boards ASAP. There is much work to be done!

Where do you see yourself in five years?
I see myself working to impact the LGBTQIA community and expanding my experiences into the classroom to prepare the next generation of nurse practitioners.

ACCEPTANCE

I wish I knew how deserving I was of this role, that being authentically me is my greatest strength. I am the person I always searched for within my nursing journey. I wish for other underrepresented minorities this same experience in their journeys as healthcare providers. There is so much power in truly accepting yourself. – Nikki Yamashiro

Who was your biggest influence at UCI?
My biggest influence would have to be my two biggest mentors: Catherine Mireles (my mom), who has supported, encouraged and celebrated me every step of the way. She has been such a stellar example of the woman I aspire to be and the women I intend to raise. I couldn’t ask for a more understanding, ambitious, hard-working example of everything I want to emulate within my career. Secondly, Dr. Jeff Vu [nurse practitioner and associate director of the UCI Health Gender Diversity Program]. I cannot put into words the miracles I have witnessed within his patient appointments. There is not a moment where I don’t see his passion, love and drive to be impactful in the LGBTQIA community. He is not just a stellar clinician but a true lifeline for his patients. He has elevated the goal of what it means to be a great nurse practitioner. He is everything an NP should aspire to be. No rotation felt like work because of how welcoming he is. His mentorship is something I will carry and practice forever. I hope he knows the gratitude I have for all the work he has put into me.

What do you know now that you wish you had known before coming to UCI?
I wish I knew how deserving I was of this role, that being authentically me is my greatest strength. I am the person I always searched for within my nursing journey. I wish for other underrepresented minorities this same experience in their journeys as healthcare providers. There is so much power in truly accepting yourself.

What are your hobbies or interests?
My hobbies are my three children (Olivia, 6, and Emile and Elliette, 2). They are my greatest teachers and motivate me to be the best version of myself on a daily basis. I love cooking, and I’m a Rubik’s Cube fanatic. After NP boards, I plan on learning how to convert a VW bus engine into a fully electric motor.

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UCI Places 2nd in NSF Taking Action: COVID-19 Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Challenge

Picture of students in front of a big anteater

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced the winners of the Taking Action: COVID-19 Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Challenge, with UCI finishing second in the STEM Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar category and claiming honorable mention status in the STEM Faculty category.

UCI was the only member of the University of California system to place and was awarded $15,000 for the second-place finish.

NSF awarded cash prizes to the winning institutions of higher education that identified actions they implemented or planned to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in STEM at their colleges and universities.

“This important challenge rewards institutions for their efforts to ensure that the pandemic will not reduce the already low participation and inclusion of diverse students and workers in STEM education and careers,” said Dr. Diana Elder, Division Director of NSF’s Division of Human Resource Development.

Winning challenge participants shared a number of interventions, such as launching a graduate student well-being program, providing accessible and free Wi-Fi connectivity on and near campus and shifting institutional policies to automatically grant tenure clock extensions to faculty.  

“Issues brought on by the pandemic or exacerbated by it really require all hands on deck,” said Dr. Sylvia Butterfield, Acting Assistant Director for NSF’s Education and Human Resources Directorate. “It was wonderful to see so many institutions across the country share their action plans to tackle the long-term impacts of the pandemic on DEI in STEM.”

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43 UCI Graduate Scholars Earn NSF-GRFP Honors

43 UCI scholars earn NSF-GRFP honors

A total of 43 UCI graduate scholars received honors from the National Science Foundation (NSF). 22 of those students received earned a Graduate Research Fellowship from the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), while 21 were recognized with honorable mention.

The Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in STEM disciplines across the U.S. Students awarded the fellowship receive a three-year annual stipend of $34,000, as well as $12,000 paid directly to the university to cover tuition and fees. The GRFP has a history of selecting recipients who go on to achieve high levels of success. Past fellows include numerous Nobel Prize winners, former U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, Google founder, Sergey Brin and Freakonomics co-author, Steven Levitt.

This year’s UCI recipients are listed below:

NSF-GRP Award Winners

Araneta, Erin Joy EsposoChemistry – Sustainable Chemistry
Bakis, AthanasiosMathematical Sciences – Computational Statistics
Bautista Garcia, EstebanChemistry – Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry
Castillo, Andrea LidiaSTEM Education and Learning Research – Engineering Education
Dohl, JacobLife Sciences – Cell Biology
Hernandez Santacruz, JasminPsychology – Cognitive Psychology
Huynh, AmyEngineering – Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering
Issa, Mariam AliEngineering – Artificial Intelligence
Liu, Christopher PantayatiwongEngineering – Chemical Engineering
Lopez, John Louis-StrakesSTEM Education and Learning Research – Science Education
Martinez, Maricela XochilLife Sciences – Neurosciences
Mendoza, Guadalupe AileenPsychology – Cognitive Psychology
Muthukumar, PratyushComp/IS/Eng – Artificial Intelligence
Nguyen, HannahChemistry – Chemical Synthesis
Ramirez, FabianMathematical Sciences – Algebra, Number Theory, and Combinatorics
Saleh, SamerEngineering – Chemical Engineering
Samuels, CamilleSocial Sciences – Cultural Anthropology
Schulte Bisping, Marie CelestineLife Sciences – Neurosciences
Showalter, Samuel RComp/IS/Eng – Machine Learning
Sousa, Rachel SylviaMathematical Sciences – Mathematical Biology
Vasquez, Alexander MichaelPhysics and Astronomy – Other (specify) – Chemical, Applied, and Materials Physi
Yang, Lucy LChemistry – Chemistry of Life Processes

Honorable mentions

Allison, StevenMaterials Research – Chemistry of Materials
Bautista, MaliaLife Sciences – Neurosciences
Beshai, Ryan AmirLife Sciences – Ecology
Bonadonna, Christine CarmellaLife Sciences – Other (specify) – Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Cenkner, David PatrickPsychology – Developmental Psychology
Cheng, JiangningEngineering – Biomedical Engineering
Cypcar, Andrew DavidChemistry – Sustainable Chemistry
Daniels, Brian SullivanChemistry – Chemical Synthesis
de Carvalho, Gregory BeloLife Sciences – Neurosciences
Fortin, BridgetLife Sciences – Biochemistry
Freedman, HaydenComp/IS/Eng – Software Engineering
Granger-Jones, Jessica AnnChemistry – Sustainable Chemistry
Heid, LesliePhysics and Astronomy – Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
Khazindar, YezzenGeosciences – Arctic-Antarctic
Nishida, MikaelaMathematical Sciences – Statistics
Pahl, Bryant LabajoGeosciences – Paleoclimate
Pina, Dolores AlejandraSocial Sciences – Other (specify) – Global Studies
Ramirez, CuauhtemocLife Sciences – Physiology
Silvester, Joseph MaxwellPhysics and Astronomy – Quantum Information Science
Spitz, ShiriPsychology – Social Psychology
Urrutia Avila, Ashley NoemiEngineering – Biomedical Engineering
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Q&A With 2022 UCI Grad Slam Winner Rachel Sousa

Rachel Sousa headshot
Rachel Sousa headshot

Q&A With Rachel Sousa

Curing Cancer With Math

UCI is a special place where innovative research takes place every day. It is a place where leaders are shaped for the future and life-changing discoveries are made. Whether it’s research to find a cure for cancer or an effort to finally support long term life on Mars, big things are happening at UCI. Rachel Sousa won the 2022 UCI Grad Slam Competition and will compete in the UC system-wide competition on May 6.

Can you tell us a bit about your research?
In my research, I use math to explore the interactions between the immune system and cancer. I am building a mathematical model of the cancer-immune system to identify the key differences that distinguish the ability of the immune system to eliminate cancer from those features that allow cancer to evade the immune system and persist in the body. With my model, I will be able to make predictions about the best combinations and schedules of immunotherapies (drugs that stimulate a person’s own immune system) that we should use to fight cancer. 

What got you interested in doing the work you do?
I have always loved math but didn’t know that it could be applied to a field like biology. During my first year of college, an older math student discussed how he used math to study riverbed systems during an internship. That conversation led me to discover the field of mathematical biology and I started conducting my undergraduate research soon after. Then I had an internship one summer with the National Cancer Institute where I constructed mathematical models of cancer cell growth and drug resistance. It was through that internship that I gained a deep interest in using math to study disease and where I decided that I wanted to go to grad school!

appreciate math

With my model, I will be able to make predictions about the best combinations and schedules of immunotherapies (drugs that stimulate a person’s own immune system) that we should use to fight cancer. – Rachel Sousa

You won this year’s UCI Grad Slam and are moving onto the systemwide finals: congrats! What has you most excited about being able to compete and represent UCI on May 6?
I am excited to represent UCI at the systemwide finals and have a platform to share how math can be applied to biology. I think that math is often an under-appreciated subject, so I am happy to shed some light on it and represent UCI while doing so. 

If you could give one tip to future UCI grad students looking to compete, what would it be?
I would definitely recommend competing in Grad Slam to other students. One tip I would give them is to practice all the time and to several different groups of people. You need to have your speech thoroughly memorized and practicing in front of various groups of people (say your family, friends, people in your cohort, your PIs, etc) helps you to get different perspectives on not only the content of the speech but the delivery of it too!

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UCI’s Graduate Programs Shine in U.S. News & World Report Rankings

Dean Frances Contreras and former Dean Richard Arum
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Q&A With Rebecca Riley

Q&A With Rebecca Riley

Rebecca Riley Flourishing After Grad Slam 2020 Win

UCI is a special place where innovative research takes place every day. It is a place where leaders are shaped for the future and life-changing discoveries are made. Whether it’s research to find a cure for cancer or an effort to finally support long term life on Mars, big things are happening at UCI. Rebecca Riley was the UCI Grad Slam 2020 winner and successfully defended her PhD in the summer of 2021.

You just successfully defended your PhD: congratulations! How has the PhD experience changed you?
Thank you! I like to think it hasn’t changed me too much. To earn a PhD, you have to become totally engrossed in the minutiae of your field, and it can be easy to lose sight of where you fit into the process of scientific discovery. I tried to make sure that didn’t happen. I still love particle physics and am in awe of the mysteries it reveals about our Universe. I’m less reverent towards the giants of physics now, though.

You won UCI Grad Slam 2020 – congratulations! How has the experience helped you in your real life?
Very personally, actually. My Grad Slam pitch allowed my family and friends to connect with and understand what I do — I didn’t expect that. Before Grad Slam, most of the people in my life thought my work was completely beyond their comprehension. Now they ask, “Tell me about that funky particle you study. It’s so cool!”

If you had advice or tips to give this year’s Grad Slam finalists, what would you say?
Do you remember the “wow” moment that sparked your journey to grad school? Aim to tap into the wonder and fascination that first made you fall in love with your field and telegraph that to your audience. That’s where the magic of a great pitch happens.

You can register to watch the UCI Grad Slam 2022 Finals here!

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Q&A With Vivian U

Vivian U, assistant project scientist in Physics & Astronomy, photo: Steve Zylius/UCI projected background photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/STScI-ESA

Q&A With Vivian U

Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes, Everyday Life for Vivian U

UCI is a special place where innovative research takes place every day. It is a place where leaders are shaped for the future and life-changing discoveries are made. Whether it’s research to find a cure for cancer or an effort to finally support long term life on Mars, big things are happening at UCI. Vivian U was a postdoctoral scholar at UCI and is now an assistant research astronomer.

You’re an astronomer. Why did you choose that field?
I chose to be an astronomer primarily because of the lure that space presents. I’ve always been fascinated by the night sky, and was inspired by how physics and chemistry explain the way the world works around us. When I participated in astronomy research for the first time during undergrad — stumbling over coding but marveling at images taken with the Keck Telescope, I knew that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my career. The prospect of advancing human knowledge about how the universe came about coupled with the appreciation of physical laws at work at all scales have drawn me to this field.

In addition, I have also enjoyed taking the road less traveled. I’ve always been up for challenges and something different, and being an astronomer was a far-fetched career for me growing up. The night sky was not very accessible to city-dwellers in skyscraper-filled Hong Kong where I spent my childhood, and my family had associated observatories with meteorology rather than astronomy. After I developed my passion for astronomy from reading books, the rebel in me set off on this path less traveled (until I met like-minded peers in college) and has since fulfilled a sense of accomplishment learning about our universe and overcoming hurdles along the way.

What is your research on, and what questions is it trying to answer?
My research focuses on understanding the co-evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes. Specifically, how do galaxies contribute to the growth of their central supermassive black holes, and how do supermassive black holes, in turn, impact their host galaxies? I’m particularly interested in studying these feeding and feedback processes in galaxy mergers, where gas-rich spiral galaxies interact and merge with one another during an ephemeral but life-changing stage of a galaxy’s lifetime.

Endless Possibilities

The night sky was not very accessible to city-dwellers in skyscraper-filled Hong Kong where I spent my childhood … the rebel in me set off on this path less traveled.

– Vivian U

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a revolutionary space telescope that was placed nearly 1 million miles away from Earth. Can you tell us why scientists decided to place the JWST so far away? How do astronomers like yourself hope it’ll revolutionize our view of the Universe?

One main consideration for sending JWST to L2, or the second Lagrangian Point, is that as an infrared telescope, JWST has to be kept cool for optimal sensitivity so that it can detect faint infrared emission over low background noise. At L2, the Sun and the Earth are in the same direction where JWST’s sunshield can effectively keep the telescope and instruments cool for the duration of the mission. JWST is also sufficiently far away from the Earth’s thermal radiation.

Your proposal for time on the JWST was approved, congratulations! How will you be using the time you were awarded, and what do you hope to learn from the JWST for your specific research questions?

For my GO-1 proposal, I will be observing several nearby infrared-luminous galaxy mergers with the MIRI instrument aboard JWST. By observing the distribution and kinematics of several key mid-infrared diagnostic lines in targets we have previously identified to host molecular outflows, I hope to quantify the impact of AGN feedback on the interstellar medium via shock heating or other mechanisms, and determine how this may depend on intrinsic AGN properties whether the supermassive black hole is active or obscured.

If you have students at UCI working with you, what will they be doing, and what can they learn from the experience?

I am currently co-advising UCI graduate student Raymond Remigio on a project looking at ionized gas kinematics in nearby Seyfert galaxies. Raymond is learning how to analyze 3D data cubes taken with KCWI on Keck. The technique of analyzing integral-field data is very transferrable among new integral-field instruments coming online like those on JWST.

I will also be hiring postdocs to work on the JWST data this Fall, and would welcome any interested graduate student to get in touch if they would like to participate in our JWST research.

When you aren’t working, what do you like to do?

I like to spend quality time with my children; we enjoy going to the beach, biking, reading, or playing board games among different outdoor and indoor activities.

Any last words?

We as a community have been very pleased with the successful launch and deployment of JWST over the past month, and are looking forward to getting data starting this summer. But what I’m particularly grateful to learn is that the fuel will be sufficient for the mission to last for 20 years, much longer than the originally anticipated 5-10 year lifespan. This is really fantastic news because not only will JWST be able to provide valuable data for a long time, it will likely still be working while the extremely large telescopes become operational in the 2030s. The prospect of what synergistic science will be achieved with both JWST and the next-generation large ground-based telescopes is exhilarating.

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UCI joins CGS Coalition to Support Diverse Career Pathways for Humanities PhDs

A photo of Ring Road on the UCI campus
Colors signal the beginning of springtime on UCI campus photo: Steve Zylius/UCI

Washington, DC — Today the University of California, Irvine announced funding from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) to encourage innovative ideas about preparing humanities Ph.D.s for diverse careers following their graduation. Through a competitive process, a committee selected UCI to join The Humanities Coalition, which will develop and assess initiatives for better supporting humanities Ph.D. students transitioning from graduate programs into the workforce, including outside academic institutions.

Universities will be working in one of two areas: grant-writing and resource development, and building professional networks. UCI will focus on grant-writing and resource development for School of Humanities graduate students. Starting summer 2022, the UCI Humanities Center will host a series of grant-writing workshops in partnership with university and local community partners to train graduate students how to seek support for their scholarly and extracurricular projects.

“Graduate students from the humanities go on to work in a variety of professional areas, including, of course, academic employment, but also in cultural institutions, government, business, entrepreneurship, and the non-profit sector,” said Tyrus Miller, dean of the School of Humanities. “Garnering the resources to realize one’s goals is critical to all of these, so having a deeper and broader knowledge of grant-writing represents great career preparation, whichever professional direction a graduate student wishes to pursue after they earn their Ph.D.”

“We’re honored to join The Humanities Coalition,” said Gillian Hayes, Vice Provost for Graduate Education. “Our humanities Ph.D. students are some of the brightest on campus and providing them with more resources is only going to help ensure their academic and professional success.”

This latest project is an expansion of prior work that included developing and supporting a network of 75 U.S. doctoral institutions as they collected data from STEM and humanities Ph.D. students and alumni about their professional aspirations, career pathways, and career preparation. In general, data from the project yield a positive picture of humanities doctoral education. Most alumni reported that they are engaged in meaningful work and believe their doctoral work prepared them for their current job responsibilities. However, data also indicate that humanities Ph.D.s who were employed in business, non-profit, or government, particularly those in the early stages of their careers, feel less adequately prepared than their peers working at universities.

“Building on the extraordinary work of the Ph.D. Career Pathways project, The Humanities Coalition will develop, expand, and scale up a suite of programs and practices in key areas of need. We’ve been conducting research in career diversity for nearly a decade, and this work will take the next logical step from better understanding aspirations to preparing for successful careers,” said Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools. “We know that humanities Ph.D.s have many possible career paths in front of them. We need to make sure they know their options, how to access them, and that they’ve developed the skillsets necessary for success.”

UCI will join a network of other grantees as well as universities that submitted competitive proposals to participate, including: Arizona State University; CUNY Graduate Center; Howard University; Indiana University Bloomington; Loyola University Chicago; Michigan State University; Purdue University; Texas A&M University; The University of Southern Mississippi; The University of Texas at El Paso; University of Arizona; University of Arkansas; University of California, Irvine; University of Missouri; University of Rochester; University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Wayne State University.

 

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About CGS

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) is an organization of approximately 500 institutions of higher education in the United States and Canada engaged in graduate education, research, and the preparation of candidates for advanced degrees. The organization’s mission is to improve and advance graduate education, which it accomplishes through advocacy in the federal policy arena, research, and the development and dissemination of best practices.

 
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Two #GradEaters Represent UCI in Tokyo Olympics

Anteaters Olympics Graphic

Information for this release was gathered with the help of ucirvinesports.com  

IRVINE, Calif. – One current graduate student and one former UCI grad student are among the 16 UCI representatives to participate in the 2020 Summer Olympic Games held July 23-August 8 in Tokyo, Japan. The games were postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

UC Irvine men’s water polo player and current graduate student Jason Evezard will play for South Africa in the games. Evezard is in the process of completing his Master’s of Finance at UCI. Amber Neben will compete as a member of Team USA’s Olympic Women’s road race cycling team. She graduated with her Master’s in Biology from UCI.

Evezard is utility player for the Anteater water polo team and was selected as a part of the 13-man roster for the South African Men’s National Team. This marks the first Olympics for Evezard.

Evezard, who has played two seasons at UCI, was named the Golden Coast Conference Newcomer of the Year in 2018 and has led the Anteaters in scoring in back-to-back seasons with 59 goals in 2018 and 50 in 2019. He holds the UCI single game school record, scoring nine goals in 2019. Evezard also is a GCC All-Academic Team selection.

He is no stranger to the South African National Team as he represented South Africa at the 2019 FINA World Championships where he helped the team to a 12th place finish.

Evezard will become the 15th Anteater in men’s water polo history to compete at an Olympic Games.

Evezard will kick off Olympic action Sunday, July 25th against Italy.

Neben is already a household name when it comes to Olympic glory, as she’ll be making her third appearance for Team USA in the Summer Games (2008, 2012, 2020). She competed in the 2008 road race event in the Beijing Olympics, placing 33rd.

She also placed seventh in the time trail event at the 2012 Olympics in London and took home a 36th place finish in the road race event.

Neben did not compete collegiately while at UCI, but she was on a track and field scholarship at the University of Nebraska as an undergraduate. She’s already proven to be a winner off the bicycle as well, as she defeated cancer in 2007 after being diagnosed with melanoma. In addition, Neben also survived spinal meningitis after being in a coma for three days at age four.

For updates, be sure to follow ucirvinesports.com throughout the Olympics.