UCI Informatics

06/07/2025

Informatics and education professor Bill Tomlinson thinks AI can do better. Much Better. 🌟👩‍💻

His project "An AI That’s a Better Friend," with Rebecca W. Black, Donald J. Patterson, Anne Marie Piper, and Andrew W. Torrance, isn’t just another chatbot. It’s designed to form synthetic social relationships — meaning it remembers past conversations, builds an emotional history, and develops a genuine sense of continuity with users. 💡

Read more: bit.ly/456kY8E

By Jill Kato, UCI Beall Applied Innovation Most AI chatbots feel like a goldfish. You have a conversation, maybe even a deep one, and the next time you

06/04/2025

Codazen, an innovator in creating elegantly engineered immersive digital experiences, has partnered with the Donald Bren School of ICS on a capstone project. 🎉🤩

The project utilizes Codazen’s AI-driven Perception color-generation platform as part of an immersive interior design experience. Six-person student teams presented their projects at a special showcase held in Donald Bren Hall on March 17, 2025. 💡

Read more: bit.ly/43w3QYU

By Dante Fiorini, Internet Marketing Association Codazen, an innovator in creating elegantly engineered immersive digital experiences, has partnered with

04/29/2025

Senior Spotlight: Tim Kashani ✨

From filming b-roll footage for his father to immersing himself in the fantastic worlds of his favorite games, Tim Kashani grew up surrounded by art and creativity. His early exposure to artistic expression shaped his passion for storytelling and game development, eventually leading him to UC Irvine to study game design and interactive media.

Read: bit.ly/3EFdwXm

From filming b-roll footage for his father to immersing himself in the fantastic worlds of his favorite games, Tim Kashani grew up surrounded by art and

04/09/2025

What makes a cozy game? According to players, they tend to be low on stimulation, built around aesthetics many of us would call “cute” or “soft.” Many involve life simulations — running a coffee shop, or power washing a particularly dirty town. Most importantly, cozy games aren’t really about winning. They encourage players to enjoy the ride. 🎮🧸

"Engaging in genuine play is good for you and is restorative," says Kurt Squire, a professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine and a veteran video game researcher. "Being surrounded by cuteness and/or positive things is also good."

Read: bit.ly/426yTtB

By Chase DiBenedetto, Mashable So what makes a cozy game? According to players, they tend to be low on stimulation, built around aesthetics many of us

03/28/2025

Congratulations to the Connected Learning Alliance on becoming a full Organized Research Unit and opening its new collaborative workspace!

The CLL faculty are dedicated to wellbeing and progressive approaches to education that are equity-oriented, learner-driven, and supported by digital technologies, including AI, extended reality, and networked games and media. 📚🎮

“It is a challenging time to be elevating a new research institute focused on education and equity, but at the same time, it’s more important than ever that we stay invested in this area of research,” said CLL Director Mimi Ito.

Read: bit.ly/4c4kIs9

On March 19, 2025, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and luncheon celebrated two long-awaited milestones for UC Irvine’s Connected Learning Lab (CLL): approval as

03/26/2025

“The CLL doesn’t just bring people together to foster conversations; it develops capacity among faculty and students to communicate their work to external audiences.”

So thrilled to announce 2 milestones: our official approval as a cross-campus research institute, and the opening of our new 1250 square-foot collaborative workspace! 🎉🎊

We’re happy for the recognition of our work advancing youth wellbeing and learn-centered, equity oriented approaches to technology. CLL will continue to foster connections across not only disciplines but also culture and sectors of society, supporting healthy youth development and thriving communities in today’s digital world.

”I’ve been delighted to see the growth of the CLL. It has transitioned from an ICS center to a full ORU that connects our school’s expertise in computing with colleagues across campus working in education, health, and youth development.” - Marios Papaefthymiou, Dean at Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at UC Irvine

🌟 Read the announcement here by Shani Murray: https://connectedlearning.news/CLL-marks-milestones

Mizuko Ito Kylie Peppler
Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences at UC Irvine UCI School of Education UCI School of Social Ecology UC Irvine School of Social Sciences

03/13/2025

The broad impact of new applications such as ChatGPT — and the speed with which this technology has become integrated into the lives of young people — has left caregivers in uncharted territory. 🤖📚

“Things are moving quickly, and parents, teachers, and students alike are all working through what they think and how they reason about AI,” says Gillian R. Hayes, Kleist Professor of Informatics and Vice Provost of Academic Personnel.

To help make sense of it all, Hayes and colleagues from UC Irvine worked with collaborators from Foundry10 on a technical report that offers strategies for helping youth build AI literacy: “Navigating AI as a Family: Caregivers’ Perspectives and Strategies.”

Read: bit.ly/3DqLD4L

Generative AI tools can make life easier for kids and teenagers by helping them explore fun ideas for a science project or create novel graphics, for

03/06/2025

Informatics senior Giovanna Mancinelli is driven by the psychology behind digital products and the audiences interacting with them.

Whether she’s developing an app exposing children to different musical instruments or recommending foods based on a person’s preferences, Mancinelli centers her designs around what would be most useful for the consumer.📱🎨

“In my classes, I focus on the layout of apps. What’s going to be on the home page? What should be hidden behind a menu? I think that looking at the map to go somewhere versus typing in the address should actually be two separate tabs,” she says. “It’s my job to advocate for the user.”

Read: bit.ly/3QKebJm

By Erica Leal, UC Irvine Giovanna Mancinelli is driven by the psychology behind digital products and the audiences interacting with them. “You could build

03/01/2025

Congratulations to Chancellor's Professor Paul Dourish for receiving the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Research Award! 🎉

The award seeks out the “very best, most fundamental, and influential research contributions” in the field of human-computer interaction.

“Paul has profoundly influenced HCI through his pioneering, collaborative, and interdisciplinary research,” says Gillian Hayes, Kleist Professor of Informatics and Vice Provost of Academic Personnel at UC Irvine.

Read: bit.ly/4hQhkDn

Paul Dourish, Chancellor’s Professor and Steckler Endowed Chair in Information and Computer Sciences at UC Irvine, has been awarded the Lifetime Research

02/08/2025

As a member of the 2024-25 cohort of UC Irvine’s Faculty Academy of Teaching Excellence, Informatics Professor Kylie Peppler is collaborating with faculty across campus to compile information on GenAI and make recommendations to inform UCI-wide educational initiatives around AI in education. 🎓💡

Read: bit.ly/4gvVJie

As a member of the 2024-25 cohort of UC Irvine’s Faculty Academy of Teaching Excellence (FATE), Informatics Professor Kylie Peppler is part of a working

02/04/2025

Congratulations to ICS researchers Steven Ngo, Jessy Ayala and Joshua Garcia for receiving a top award as one of six winners of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Building an Adaptive and Competitive Workforce track through the Tools Competition!

They are developing Codesafe, a free educational platform that addresses gaps in traditional computer science curricula by focusing on code comprehension, software engineering, and software security. 💻📚

Read: bit.ly/413MXnb

A trio of researchers from UC Irvine’s Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) received a top award as one of six winners of the

01/30/2025

One thing that may not immediately spring to mind when we think of AI is its high energy costs. ICS researchers are tackling this growing problem by developing a new approach for completing complex tasks with small language models.

“Our work highlights the potential for AI solutions that are not only high-performing but also responsible, addressing the dual priorities of protecting user data and promoting environmental sustainability. We hope this approach inspires further exploration of privacy-preserving, energy-efficient technologies across other domains in software engineering and beyond," says software engineering Ph.D. student Aaron Imani, who worked with ICS faculty Mohammad Moshirpour and Iftekhar Ahmed. 🌍💡

Read: bit.ly/3Q0o59a

One thing that may not immediately spring to mind when we think of AI is its high energy costs. Researchers from UC Irvine’s Donald Bren School of