With nearly 28,000 students, 1,100 faculty members and 9,000 staff, the University of California, Irvine is among the most dynamic campuses in the University of California system.

The campus has been identified by Times Higher Education as first in the U.S. and fourth in the world among the best universities under fifty years old.

UCI ranks 34th nationally in the number of doctoral degrees conferred each year.

The university is noted for its top-rated research and graduate programs, extensive commitment to undergraduate education, and growing number of professional schools and programs of academic and social significance.

Recent additions to graduate education include public health, pharmaceutical sciences and nursing science programs, as well as a new School of Law that graduated its first students in 2012.

Finding out if someone has been infected by anthrax can take several days, but UC Irvine graduate student Mary Amasia is developing a miniaturized system to identify the lethal bacteria in one hour. She hopes the same CD-based platform can be used some day by health professionals and emergency responders to rapidly detect viruses and pathogens.

Mary is just one of thousands of University of California, Irvine graduate students dedicated to solving the most critical issues facing California and the world. View the stories assembled here to learn more about the people and programs that make UCI a center for quality education - fostering the passionate and enthusiastic expansion of knowledge.