Describe your role with CITRIS and the Banatao Institute?  I am fortunate to serve as executive director of CITRIS (Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society), whose mission is to create information technology solutions for society’s most pressing problems. I also co-founded the CITRIS Policy Lab and the Women in Tech Initiative at UC. In my role as ED (together with the faculty director), I oversee the range of research and operations for the multi-campus research institute, one

Read about some of the remarkable women in IT at UC. Compiled by members of the UC Women in Technology Committee, this list, installment three of three, is just a sampling of the range of accomplishments that UC women in tech contribute – every day, every year.    Kathy Huang, application developer, Information Technology Solutions, UCR. Developed a process to efficiently load hundreds of daily invoices from a third-party vendor into the campus purchasing system. If anything goes wrong, it generates a report to purchasing to ensure a timely

By Jeané Blunt. Since the emergence of COVID-19, many of us at UC are working remotely. If you’re like me, working remotely is a completely new experience for you. I’ve been home for just over a week and I still haven’t found a comfortable workspace in my apartment, the proper audio settings for my Zoom account, or the strength to stop eating all my quarantine snacks. In times like these,

By Chasiri Sherron. I met Jill Finlayson on the UC Berkeley campus, at the headquarters of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Banatao Institute. “Have you been here before? It’s pretty awesome,” she said. The headquarters contain labs, research centers, and state-of-the-art classrooms and conference rooms for faculty, students, and startups to develop innovative ideas. Recent projects are on display at the

By Jeané Blunt. A lot of us at UC are working remotely to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Now is a great time to make sure you’re connected to the broader UC IT community via the UCTech Slack workspace, the UC IT Blog, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. If you are new to remote work, you might want to visit the #remotework channel on UCTech Slack. For news and

Read about some of the remarkable women in IT at UC. Compiled by members of the UC Women in Technology Committee, this list – installment two of three – is just a sampling of the range of accomplishments that UC women in tech contribute – every day, every year.   Patty Furukawa, assistant dean, Information Technology Services and chief information and operating officer, School of Law, UCI. Serves as a

By Jeané Blunt. UC Berkeley opened the Cal Esports Community Center in 2018. I spoke with Kirk Robles, associate director of business development in the Division of Student Affairs, UC Berkeley, to ask about the center’s goals and how they were able to win the ESPN Collegiate Esports Starcraft II Champions in just over a year. Why did UC Berkeley create the Esports Community Center? There was a big need

Read about some of the remarkable women in IT at UC. Compiled by members of the UC Women in Technology Committee, this list – installment one of three – is just a sampling of the range of accomplishments that UC women in tech contribute – every day, every year. Amy Work, GIS librarian, UCSD. Helping lead the design of next-generation spatial data infrastructure to support faculty, staff, and research success,

By Jessica Hilt. The University of California Women in Technology Committee (UC WIT) monthly call is about to start on Zoom. Faces pop up across the screen as women greet each other and catch up on weather, pets, and the usual before Annelie Rugg (UCLA), chair of the committee, starts the meeting and brings up the agenda. You can tell that this community carries weight with each of the women

In today’s hot technology job market, CIOs at the University of California (UC) face challenges recruiting and retaining information technology staff, and often encounter legacy rules around contemporary work practices – such as telecommuting and remote work. For this reason, the CIOs collectively developed a statement endorsing UC’s full support for alternative and flexible work arrangements. UC Santa Barbara CIO Matt Hall was the primary force behind developing the document,