June 2023: Accomplishments of the 黑料网 community

Published June 22, 2023

Marcus Carline named May Employee of the Month    

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Marcus Carline
Marcus Carline, May Employee of the Month

Marcus Carline 鈥15, lead stage technician for the (BCCM), has been named . 

Carline, who started working for the BCCM as a student assistant in 2013 while also pursuing a bachelor鈥檚 degree in and , oversees operations of the Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall and trains student technicians in the various elements of running an event.  

鈥淢arcus has been a wonderful employee,鈥 said Jermie Arnold, music department chair, BCCM director and director of bands. 鈥淢arcus is very attentive to the needs of the conservatory, but is also always willing to help in other areas at the BCCM should we need his assistance.鈥  

2023 President鈥檚 Awards recognize outstanding service     

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President Jane Close Conoley with Employees of the Year
President Jane Close Conoley, center, with the 2023 Employees of the Year

Four individual employees and the Basic Needs team from Student Affairs were recognized with鈥President鈥檚 Awards鈥痜or their outstanding service and contributions to the campus community. They are:  

  • Employee of the Year for Inclusive Excellence: Sovandany 鈥淒any鈥 Wang, Student Accounting Services, Division of Administration & Finance 
  • Employee of the Year for Innovation: Julie Ortiz, College of Liberal Arts Administration, Division of Academic Affairs 
  • Employee of the Year for Leadership:鈥疶anisha Peoples, ATLAS Advising Center, Division of Academic Affairs 
  • Employee of the Year for Student Success:鈥疉nitha Johnson, Nursing, Division of Academic Affairs 
  • Team Achievement Award:鈥疊asic Needs team from Student Affairs: Hannah Nevarez, John Nguyen, Danielle Mun虄oz, Virginia Gray, Ph.D. and Carla Murillo 

Staff members who have worked at The Beach for 10 to 40 years were also recognized during the Staff Service Awards. 


Human Development professor wins Fulbright fellowship  

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Lauren Heidbrink
Lauren Heidbrink

Lauren Heidbrink, Ph.D., an associate professor in , has been selected as a Fulbright U.S. scholar for 2023-24 to Guatemala. The Fulbright Scholar Award is a prestigious and competitive fellowship, presenting a multitude of opportunities for selected scholars to teach and conduct research abroad. 

Heidbrink will study community-based alternatives to migration among Indigenous youth, focusing on the municipality of Quetzaltenango and Maya-K鈥檌che youths, she said. Her host institution in Guatemala will be Universidad Rafael Land铆var. 

黑料网 has another Fulbright scholar for 2023-24, Vasanthy Narayanaswami, Ph.D., a professor in the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department.


Engineering dean wins Breaking Barriers Award 

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Dean Jinny Rhee
Dean Jinny Rhee

Dean Jinny Rhee, Ph.D., of the College of Engineering, is being honored by Long Beach-based nonprofit with a Breaking Barriers Award on Aug. 26. Rhee is being recognized because 鈥渟he has broken through many barriers to achieve her level of success,鈥 said Robin Thorne, the founder and chief of DemoChicks. 

鈥淗er previous work with the MESA program, that engages educationally disadvantaged students and for the work she鈥檚 currently doing at 黑料网鈥 are additional reasons for the honor, Thorne said. 

Four others will be honored at the Hotel Maya in Long Beach, and scholarships will be provided to female students majoring in nontraditional career fields. DemoChicks鈥 mission is to elevate, empower and inspire girls to pursue nontraditional careers in STEM, construction and architecture.  

MSIS students earn first place in Data Hackathon    

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Chakrapani Suresh and Ruchi Issac, MSIS program director Mohamed Abdelhamid, and Priyanka Katre
From left: Chakrapani Suresh, Ruchi Issac, MSIS program director Mohamed Abdelhamid, and Priyanka Katre

Three recent graduates of 黑料网鈥檚 (MSIS) program won and the coveted Best Insights Award at the sixth annual , held in April at UC Irvine鈥檚 Merage School of Business. 

Priyanka Katre, Ruchi Isaac and Chakrapani Suresh formed a team with two students from UCI to study a set of raw data and transform it into a final 鈥減roduct鈥 or useful insight. They took restaurant data from Yelp and discovered that some customer ratings on Yelp had anomalies or biased reviews that were contrary to popular consensus. This line of thinking set the team apart and led to the group鈥檚 award-winning presentation. 

MSIS program director Mohamed Abdelhamid was also present at the hackathon and awards ceremony. 

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