Welcome to UC Irvine BioSci
We are delighted that you have chosen the UC Irvine Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences to call home the next few years! Although we cannot welcome you in person this year, please enjoy these video messages from your Dunlop School leadership team, Dean Frank LaFerla and Associate Dean Raju Metherate. We look forward to meeting you in person in the future!
Founded on Innovation
Take a closer look at the UC Irvine Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences. Watch the video to learn more about our history and who we are today.
“You have chosen to help shape the future of humanity and our planet.”
A Message From Dean LaFerla
Greetings New Anteaters!
Welcome to UC Irvine BioSci. You are among the very select group of students who have been accepted and enrolled here. Founded in 1965, our campus is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. We take pride in being a center for quality education that has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for academic achievement, premier research and innovation. The New York Times named UC Irvine the #1 college doing the most for the American Dream and in 2019, Money Magazine ranked UC Irvine as #1 best college in the nation.
This is a time of great change in the educational experience due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, yet the very factors causing this situation are the same ones that make it a great time to be a biology major and to be working on your degree here at UC Irvine BioSci. You are pursing what we believe is the most important, exciting and meaningful scientific focus: the study of life. You have chosen to help shape the future of humanity and our planet.
Our school’s foundational theme is MIND | BODY | WORLD. You will see these three words frequently in our communications. Everything in our world begins with life. And life is interconnected. For most of us, a healthy mind requires a healthy body, which in turn requires a healthy world. Today, those three words inspire us to explore solutions to coronavirus, climate change, dying coral reefs, Alzheimer’s, cancer and many more challenges to life. As you begin your studies here, you are on your way to becoming an innovator who can make a powerful difference in health, energy production, agriculture and much more.
In entering UC Irvine BioSci, you join the sole biology school in Orange County at an R1 university, which has the highest-level research activity. We are the premier life sciences institution here that is creating new knowledge. The school’s founders created departments based on different levels of analysis instead of taxonomy. Today most schools of biological sciences are organized like ours. And we were the first school in the world to create an academic department devoted entirely to the study of the brain.
As an undergraduate, you bring intellect and energy to power our mission in shaping the world for the better. You may not be physically in classrooms or labs now, but our outstanding faculty and caring staff are here for you virtually until we can welcome you back to campus.
Please take advantage of everything the school and university offer to further your success. I look forward to getting to know you in the coming months, even if it’s via one of our virtual events.
Stay healthy,
Frank M. LaFerla, Ph.D.
Dr. Lionel and Fay Ng Dean,
UC Irvine Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences