Informatics Ph.D. Students accept ARCS Scholars Awards

April 13, 2017

Informatics Ph.D. candidates Kathryn Ringland and Christine Wolf formally received their ARCS Scholars Awards for 2016-17 from the National ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) Foundation on March 16, 2017.  The two were honored during the 17th Annual Scholar Awards Dinner held at UCI’s Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center. During the ceremony, Ringland and Wolf were reminded of their contributions to the fields of computer science and informatics.

Ringland is a first-year ARCS Scholar who was recognized for her research studying and designing assistive technology for youth with disabilities under her advisor Gillian Hayes, Robert A. and Barbara L. Kleist Professor and Vice Chair of Graduate Affairs in Informatics. During the dinner, Ringland presented her work on Autcraft, a whitelisted Minecraft server for those with autism and their families.

Wolf is a second-year William Hulings ARCS Scholar recognized for her exploration into the social and organizational impacts of big data, in particular cloud and mobile data analytics for enterprise, working with her advisor Paul Dourish, Chancellor’s Professor of Informatics. She also gave a presentation on her research during the evening.

The National ARCS Foundation is a nonprofit national volunteer organization of women dedicated to providing scholarships to academically outstanding students who are pursuing degrees in science, medicine and engineering with the goal of “Advancing Science in America.”

The Orange County Chapter of the ARCS Foundation, one of 16 ARCS Foundation Chapters nationwide, recognizes and rewards UCI’s most academically superior doctoral students exhibiting outstanding promise as scientists, researchers and leaders. Each school at UCI holds its own competition and selects its recipients of ARCS Scholar Awards annually. The recipients receive a $7,500 stipend per year for two years.

Congratulations to both outstanding graduate student scientists!