The UCI Office of Inclusive Excellence (OIE) has appointed ICS professors Melissa Mazmanian, Amelia Regan and Babak Shahbaba to serve as DECADE (Diverse Educational Community and Doctoral Experience) Graduate Faculty Mentors. Mazmanian will serve as a mentor for the graduate program in informatics, Shahbaba will be the mentor for the graduate program in statistics; and Regan will serve as a mentor for the graduate programs in computer science, network systems and transportation science. They each will serve two-year terms that started in July.

The UCI DECADE Graduate Mentor Program is dedicated to nurturing a positive diversity climate within academic programs by serving as a resource between graduate students and faculty across campus. As DECADE Faculty Members, Mazmanian, Shahbaba and Regan will collaborate with ICS equity advisors, senior faculty members and graduate students from their respective departments to promote an inclusive climate for students. The program’s goal is to increase the number of minorities and women in their disciplines receiving doctoral degrees at UCI.

Established in 2015, the DECADE Program was initially supported by the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) grant. DECADE is now housed under the OIE and has become a powerful tool to promote an affirmative climate for graduate education on campus, as well as a means to grow the knowledge and innovation workforce of tomorrow.

DECADE Graduate Program Mentors must be tenured faculty members who have demonstrated a commitment to diversity and equity at the undergraduate, graduate or faculty levels, and must be experienced in advising, training and graduating doctoral students.