Forward Thinker

Exploring how to tame urban sprawl around the world, Vinit Mukhija finds an answer in our own backyard.

From the Count Basie Orchestra to BTS, Duane Benjamin is bringing a jazzy sensibility to modern music.

How can we take better care of nurses?

Rethinking the frontiers of international criminal law, Kate Mackintosh is finding new ways to bring war criminals to justice.

The UCLA maritime archaeologist finds a new lens for exploring Black culture through the discovery of lost slave ships — and the secrets they carry.

The professor examines the cultural and theological backgrounds of traditional thinking.

The geographer is exploring how work in her field can help vulnerable people all over the globe.

Charlene Villaseñor Black teaches her students that creative images can inspire empathy toward others, such as the immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Professor Naomi Eisenberger, who studies how the brain and body react to relationships, looks at isolation during the pandemic.

Safiya Umoja Noble, co-director of the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry, is committed to re-imagining technology and championing racial and economic justice.

Sonja Diaz, the founding director of the Latino Policy & Politics Initiative, understands how research can directly result in legislation that serves society’s needs.

The dean of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health is guiding UCLA’s response to COVID-19.

Ananya Roy, director of the Institute on Inequality and Democracy, works with community organizations and social movements to address societal challenges.

Aaswath Raman engineers new technologies to cool buildings and generate electricity using a little-studied natural phenomenon.

Through UCLA’s Dancing Disability Lab, choreographer Victoria Marks brings international artists to campus to study and help shape the future of disability in dance.

Professor of Medicine Barbara Natterson-Horowitz studies animals to make better sense of humans.

In 1969, Leonard Kleinrock and one of his students sent the first computer-to-computer message, giving birth to the Internet.

Professor Gina Kim is using virtual reality to subvert Hollywood stereotypes of Asians, women and others.

Sarah Roberts studies people who screen social media platforms for obscene and violent content and reveals the toll this work takes on their lives.

Professor Kelly Lytle Hernández’s groundbreaking research reveals the true cost of mass incarceration in Los Angeles.

Professor Jeff Burke is melding technology with storytelling, artificial intelligence with live theater.

Jon Christensen’s passion is for people and how they understand and are affected by the environment.

Ramesh Srinivasan wants to re-imagine our digital technology to better serve diverse users around the world.

Professor José Luis Valenzuela stood up for multicultural theater, even when it meant living as a hostage for 11 days.

In these turbulent times, UCLA Center for the Study of Religion director Carol Bakhos does not see people losing their faith — but becoming increasingly interested in spirituality.