100 Notable alumni of
University of California-San Diego
Updated:
The University of California-San Diego is 247th in the world, 108th in North America, and 103rd in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the University of California-San Diego sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. 3 individuals affiliated with the University of California-San Diego won Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, and Economics.
-
Benicio del Toro
- Occupations
- film directorfilm produceractortelevision actorscreenwriter
- Biography
-
Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez is a Puerto Rican-Spanish actor. He has garnered critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and a Silver Bear for his portrayal of the jaded but morally upright police officer Javier Rodriguez in the film Traffic (2000). Del Toro's performance as despairing ex-con turned zealot Jack Jordan, in Alejandro González Iñárritu's 21 Grams (2003), earned him a second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
-
Billy Beane
- Occupations
- general managermanagerbusinesspersonbaseball player
- Biography
-
William Lamar Beane III is an American former professional baseball player and current front office executive. He is currently senior advisor to owner John Fisher and minority owner of the Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB) and formerly the executive vice president of baseball operations. He is also minority owner of soccer clubs Barnsley of the EFL League One in England and AZ Alkmaar of the Eredivisie in the Netherlands. From 1984 to 1989 he played in MLB as an outfielder for the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, and Oakland Athletics. He joined the Athletics' front office as a scout in 1990, was named general manager after the 1997 season, and was promoted to executive vice president after the 2015 season.
-
Angela Davis
- Occupations
- human rights activistpoliticianuniversity teacherfeministwriter
- Biography
-
Angela Yvonne Davis is an American Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, and author. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Davis was a longtime member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and a founding member of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS). She was active in movements such as the Occupy movement and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.
-
Milana Vayntrub
- Occupations
- political activistspokespersonvloggercomedianfilm director
- Biography
-
Milana Aleksandrovna Vayntrub is an American actress, comedian, and activist. She began her career as a child actress and came to prominence for her appearances in AT&T television commercials as saleswoman Lily Adams from 2013 to 2016 and since 2020. In addition to her commercial appearances, she was a series regular on the Yahoo! Screen science fiction comedy Other Space (2015) and had a recurring role on the NBC drama This Is Us (2016–2017). Vayntrub has also voiced Squirrel Girl in the Marvel Rising franchise since 2018 after being cast as the character in the unaired television pilot for New Warriors, and later in the 2024 video game Marvel Rivals.
-
Mike Judge
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- In 1985 studied physics
- Occupations
- screenwriterbassistcomposerfilm producerfilm actor
- Biography
-
Michael Craig Judge is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, and musician. He is best known for being the creator of the animated television series Beavis and Butt-Head (1993–1997, 2011, 2022–present). He also co-created the television series King of the Hill (1997–2010), The Goode Family (2009), Silicon Valley (2014–2019), and Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus (2017–2018). He wrote and directed the films Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996), Office Space (1999), Idiocracy (2006), and Extract (2009), and co-wrote the screenplay to Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe (2022).
-
James Avery
- Occupations
- television actoractorpoetscreenwriterfilm actor
- Biography
-
James La Rue Avery was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Philip Banks in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Judge Michael Conover on L.A. Law, Steve Yeager in The Brady Bunch Movie, and Dr. Crippen on The Closer (2005–2007); and as the voice actor for Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Haroud Hazi Bin in Aladdin.
-
Jimmy O. Yang
- Occupations
- screenwriteractorcomedian
- Biography
-
Jimmy O. Yang is a Hong Kong-American actor and stand-up comedian. As an actor, he is best known for starring as Jian-Yang in the HBO comedy series Silicon Valley, as Dr. Chan Kaifang in the Netflix comedy series Space Force, and as Josh Lin in the Netflix romantic comedy film Love Hard (2021).
-
Khaled Hosseini
- Occupations
- physiciannovelistwriterphysician writermedical writer
- Biography
-
Khaled Hosseini is an Afghan-American novelist, UNHCR goodwill ambassador, and former physician. His debut novel The Kite Runner (2003) was a critical and commercial success; the book and his subsequent novels have all been at least partially set in Afghanistan and have featured an Afghan as the protagonist. Hosseini's novels have spread awareness about Afghanistan's people and culture.
-
Marion Ross
- Occupations
- actorfilm actorstage actortelevision actorvoice actor
- Biography
-
Marion Ross is an American actress. Her best-known role is that of Marion Cunningham on the ABC television sitcom Happy Days, on which she starred from 1974 to 1984 and for which she received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Before her success on Happy Days, Ross appeared in a variety of film roles, appearing in The Glenn Miller Story (1954), Sabrina (1954), Lust for Life (1956), Teacher's Pet (1958), Some Came Running (1958), Operation Petticoat (1959), and Honky (1971), as well as several minor television roles, one of which was on television's The Lone Ranger (1954). She was also twice nominated successively in 1992 and 1993 for the Primetime Emmy Award for her performance on the CBS television comedy-drama Brooklyn Bridge and later netted another Emmy nomination (her fifth and last) in 1999 for a two-episode appearance on the popular CBS drama Touched by an Angel. Ross also starred in the high-profile, long-anticipated sequel to Terms of Endearment (1983), The Evening Star (1996), in a turn for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well as both a nomination and win for a Lone Star Film and Television Award for Best Supporting Actress.
-
Rachel Campos-Duffy
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- Graduated with Master of International Affairs
- Occupations
- television personality
- Biography
-
Rachel Campos-Duffy is an American conservative television personality. She first appeared on television in 1994 as a cast member on the MTV reality television series The Real World: San Francisco, before moving on to work as a television host. She was a guest host on the ABC talk show The View, before moving to Fox News, where she has guest-hosted the show Outnumbered before being hired as a permanent co-host on Fox & Friends Weekend in May 2021.
-
Silas Weir Mitchell
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
-
Silas Weir Mitchell is an American character actor. He is known for starring as Charles "Haywire" Patoshik in the Fox television series Prison Break (2005–2007), for the recurring role of Donny Jones in My Name Is Earl (2005–2009), and as Monroe in the NBC television series Grimm (2011–2017).
-
Robert Buckley
- Occupations
- film actormodeltelevision actoractor
- Biography
-
Robert Earl Buckley is an American actor, known for his roles as Kirby Atwood on the NBC dramedy series Lipstick Jungle, Clay Evans on The CW drama series One Tree Hill, Brian Leonard on the ABC horror-drama series 666 Park Avenue, Major Lillywhite on The CW dramedy series iZombie, and Evan Kincaid on the Hallmark Channel drama series Chesapeake Shores.
-
Steve Blum
- Occupations
- screenwritervoice actorentrepreneuractor
- Biography
-
Steven Jay Blum is an American voice actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, his roles include Spike Spiegel from the anime series Cowboy Bebop; Amon from The Legend of Korra; Heatblast, Ghostfreak, and Vilgax from Ben 10; Garazeb Orrelios from Star Wars Rebels; Starscream from Transformers: Prime; Sub-Zero from the Mortal Kombat franchise; Tank Dempsey from the Call of Duty Zombies franchise; Ares in God of War, God of War: Ghost of Sparta, and God of War: Ascension; and Wolverine from Marvel's Wolverine and the X-Men, Marvel Anime: X-Men, and various other projects featuring the character.
-
Alicia Garza
- Occupations
- activist
- Biography
-
Alicia Garza is an American civil rights activist and writer known for co-founding the Black Lives Matter movement. She is a recognized advocate for social and racial justice, with a particular focus on issues affecting marginalized communities, including Black women, LGBTQ+ people, and immigrants. Garza is also a writer and public speaker. She has written extensively on issues related to race, gender, and social justice, and her work has appeared in numerous publications. Her editorial writing has been published by Time, Mic, Marie Claire, Elle, Essence, The Guardian, The Nation, The Feminist Wire, Rolling Stone, HuffPost, and Truthout.
-
Raymond E. Feist
- Occupations
- writernovelistscience fiction writer
- Biography
-
Raymond Elias Feist is an American fantasy fiction author who wrote The Riftwar Cycle, a series of novels and short stories. His books have been translated into multiple languages and have sold over 15 million copies.
-
Ricardo Chavira
- Occupations
- stage actorfilm actortelevision actor
- Biography
-
Ricardo Antonio Chavira is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Carlos Solis in the ABC television series Desperate Housewives (2004–2012). He also played Abraham Quintanilla in Selena: The Series (2020).
-
Kim Stanley Robinson
- Occupations
- writernovelistscience fiction writer
- Biography
-
Kim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer best known for his Mars trilogy. Many of his novels and stories have ecological, cultural, and political themes and feature scientists as heroes. Robinson has won numerous awards, including the Hugo Award for Best Novel, the Nebula Award for Best Novel and the World Fantasy Award. The Atlantic has called Robinson's work "the gold standard of realistic, and highly literary, science-fiction writing." According to an article in The New Yorker, Robinson is "generally acknowledged as one of the greatest living science-fiction writers."
-
Craig Venter
- Occupations
- researchergeneticistbiochemistentrepreneur
- Biography
-
John Craig Venter is an American scientist. He is known for leading one of the first draft sequences of the human genome and led the first team to transfect a cell with a synthetic chromosome. Venter founded Celera Genomics, the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI). He was the co-founder of Human Longevity Inc. and Synthetic Genomics. He was listed on Time magazine's 2007 and 2008 Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In 2010, the British magazine New Statesman listed Craig Venter at 14th in the list of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures 2010". In 2012, Venter was honored with Dan David Prize for his contribution to genome research. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2013. He is a member of the USA Science and Engineering Festival's advisory board.
-
Mario Testino
- Occupations
- photographerfashion photographer
- Biography
-
Mario Eduardo Testino Silva OBE HonFRPS is a Peruvian fashion and portrait photographer.
-
Nathan East
- Occupations
- bassistcellistguitaristjazz musician
- Biography
-
Nathan Harrell East is an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass guitarist and vocalist. With more than 2,000 recordings, East is one of the most recorded bass players in the history of music. East holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from the University of California, San Diego (1978). He is a founding member of contemporary jazz quartet Fourplay and has recorded, performed, and co-written songs with performers such as Bobby Womack, Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson, Joe Satriani, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Phil Collins, Stevie Wonder, Toto, Kenny Loggins, Daft Punk, Chick Corea, and Herbie Hancock.
-
Katharina Schulze
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- Studied in 2008-2008
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Katharina Elisabeth Schulze is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the State Parliament of Bavaria (Landtag) since 2013. Along with Ludwig Hartmann, she was one of the two leading candidates of her party in the 2018 Bavarian state election. Since 2019, she has been part of her party's national leadership, under co-chairs Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck.
-
Nick Woodman
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
-
Nicholas D. Woodman is an American businessman, and the founder and CEO of GoPro.
-
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
- Occupations
- chemistbiochemistbiophysicistbiologistmolecular biologist
- Biography
-
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan is a British-American structural biologist. He shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas A. Steitz and Ada Yonath for research on the structure and function of ribosomes.
-
Peter Robbins
- Occupations
- voice actor
- Biography
-
Peter Robbins was an American actor and real estate broker. Robbins gained national fame in the 1960s as being the first actor to voice Charlie Brown in the Peanuts animated specials.
-
Kuan Chung-ming
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- In 1989 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- university teacherpoliticianwritereconomist
- Biography
-
Kuan Chung-ming is a Taiwanese politician and academic. He was the last minister of the Council for Economic Planning and Development from 2013 to 2014 and served as the first minister of the succeeding government agency, the National Development Council (NDC), from 2014 to 2015. He was formerly the President of National Taiwan University from 2019 to 2023 and is a Chair Professor in the Department of Finance of National Taiwan University.
-
Vernor Vinge
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- Graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in mathematics
- Graduated with Master of Arts
- Occupations
- computer scientistscience fiction writerwriteruniversity teachernovelist
- Biography
-
Vernor Steffen Vinge was an American science fiction author and professor. He taught mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University. He was the first wide-scale popularizer of the technological singularity concept and among the first authors to present a fictional "cyberspace". He won the Hugo Award for his novels A Fire Upon the Deep (1992), A Deepness in the Sky (1999), and Rainbows End (2006), and novellas Fast Times at Fairmont High (2001) and The Cookie Monster (2004).
-
Maria Goeppert Mayer
- Occupations
- university teachernuclear physicistphysicistscientist
- Biography
-
Maria Goeppert Mayer was a German-American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for proposing the nuclear shell model of the atomic nucleus. She was the second woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics, the first being Marie Curie. In 1986, the Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award for early-career women physicists was established in her honor.
-
Kathy Acker
- Occupations
- novelistpoetperformance artistuniversity teacherwriter
- Biography
-
Kathy Acker was an American experimental novelist, playwright, essayist, and postmodernist writer, known for her idiosyncratic and transgressive writing that dealt with themes such as childhood trauma, sexuality and rebellion. Her writing incorporates pastiche and the cut-up technique, involving cutting-up and scrambling passages and sentences; she also defined her writing as existing in the post-nouveau roman European tradition. In her texts, she combines biographical elements, power, sex and violence.
-
Lindsay Ellingson
- Occupations
- modelfashion model
- Biography
-
Lindsay Marie Ellingson is an American model. She was a Victoria's Secret Angel from 2011 to 2014.
-
Susumu Tonegawa
- Occupations
- molecular biologistphysicianscientistneuroscientistchemist
- Biography
-
Susumu Tonegawa is a Japanese scientist who was the sole recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1987 for his discovery of V(D)J recombination, the genetic mechanism which produces antibody diversity. Although he won the Nobel Prize for his work in immunology, Tonegawa is a molecular biologist by training and he again changed fields following his Nobel Prize win; he now studies neuroscience, examining the molecular, cellular and neuronal basis of memory formation and retrieval.
-
Kathleen Rubins
- Occupations
- astronautbiologist
- Biography
-
Kathleen Hallisey "Kate" Rubins is an American microbiologist and NASA astronaut. She became the 60th woman to fly in space when she launched on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) on July 7, 2016. She returned to Earth in Kazakhstan on October 30, 2016, aboard a Soyuz. She was a crew member of Expedition 48/49 and Expedition 63/64 of the ISS. Rubins has spent a total of 300 days, 1 hour, and 31 minutes in space which is the fourth most days in space by a U.S female astronaut.
-
Jetrin Wattanasin
- Occupations
- actortelevision actor
- Biography
-
Jetrin Wattanasin or J Jetrin, is a Thai pop musician and actor who got his first major break in the music business when he secured heavy promotion by the Thai entertainment company, GMM Grammy. Since 1991, he has produced numerous commercially successful music albums, and continues to tour internationally in support of his most recent recordings. Upon the conclusion of his current United States tour, entitled "The Return of J Jetrin," he will have completed the most extensive tour of the United States by any Thai recording artist, with dates scheduled in 12 US cities, spanning from Hawaii to the East Coast.
-
David Brin
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- 1978-1981 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- astrophysicistscreenwriterwriterastronomernovelist
- Biography
-
Glen David Brin is an American science fiction author. He has won the Hugo, Locus, Campbell and Nebula Awards. His novel The Postman was adapted into a 1997 feature film starring Kevin Costner.
-
Debito Arudou
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
-
Debito Arudou is an American-born Japanese writer, blogger, and human rights activist. He was born in the United States and became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 2000. Arudou has since left Japan after living in the country for over 20 years.
-
Bonnie Henry
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- 1996-1999 studied preventive medicine
- Occupations
- chief medical officer
- Biography
-
Bonnie J. Fraser Henry is a Canadian epidemiologist, physician, and public servant who has been the provincial health officer at the British Columbia Ministry of Health since 2014. Henry is also a clinical associate professor at the University of British Columbia. She is a specialist in public health and preventive medicine, and is a family doctor. In her role as provincial health officer, Henry notably led the response to COVID-19 in British Columbia (BC).
-
Roger Y. Tsien
- Occupations
- university teacherbiophysicistbiochemistchemist
- Biography
-
Roger Yonchien Tsien was an American biochemist. He was a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008 for his discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, in collaboration with organic chemist Osamu Shimomura and neurobiologist Martin Chalfie. Tsien was also a pioneer of calcium imaging.
-
Ryan Dahl
- Occupations
- inventorprogrammersoftware engineer
- Biography
-
Ryan Dahl is an American software engineer who is best known for creating the Node.js JavaScript runtime as well as the Deno JavaScript/TypeScript runtime.
-
Teri Reeves
- Occupations
- stage actorfilm actortelevision actor
- Biography
-
Teri Lynn Reeves is an American theater and television actress. Her television credits include Chicago Fire, Battleground, and NCIS.
-
Milo Aukerman
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- 1987-1993 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- singerbiochemist
- Biography
-
Milo Jay Aukerman is an American singer, songwriter, and former research molecular biologist. Aukerman is most widely known for being the lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Descendents, a group widely considered to be pioneers of pop-punk. A caricature of Aukerman serves as the band's mascot.
-
Maria Ho
- Occupations
- poker playertelevision presenter
- Biography
-
Maria Ho is a Taiwanese-American poker player and television host/commentator. One of the top-ranked female poker players in the world and a Women in Poker Hall of Fame inductee, she has won more than $5,000,000 in live tournaments.
-
Jon Foreman
- Occupations
- guitaristsinger-songwritersinger
- Biography
-
Jonathan Mark Foreman is an American musician who is the lead singer, guitarist, primary songwriter, and co-founder of the alternative rock band Switchfoot. As a solo act, Foreman has released 14 extended plays and two studio albums.
-
Anthony Neely
- Occupations
- singer-songwritersingertelevision actor
- Biography
-
Anthony Neely is an American-Taiwanese singer and actor. His father is of Euro-American descent and his mother is Taiwanese. In 2009, Neely participated in Taiwanese singing competition One Million Star (Season 5) as a PK (Player Kill) challenger. His performances created sensations after receiving full marks of 25 points on three occasions, and also being the first in the reality show's history to score a record 33 out of 25 points.
-
Jefferson Mays
- Occupations
- film actortelevision actorstage actoractor
- Biography
-
Lewis Jefferson Mays is an American actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, two Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and three Obie Awards.
-
David J. Peterson
- Occupations
- writerlinguistlanguage inventor
- Biography
-
David Joshua Peterson is an American language creator. He came to prominence after creating the Dothraki and Valyrian languages for the television series Game of Thrones. He has subsequently worked on a number of other projects, including the films Dune and Dune: Part Two, for which he created the Chakobsa language. He has written a book on language construction entitled The Art of Language Invention.
-
Brian Wecht
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- 1998-2004 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- musiciantheoretical physicist
- Biography
-
Brian Alexander Wecht, also known by his character name Ninja Brian, is an American musician, Internet personality, podcaster, and theoretical physicist. He is best known as a member of comedy musical duo Ninja Sex Party and video game-based comedy music trio Starbomb. He has also appeared on the Let's Play webseries Game Grumps, all three alongside Dan Avidan.
-
Danny Burstein
- Occupations
- actorsingerstage actortelevision actorvoice actor
- Biography
-
Danny Burstein is an American actor and singer. Known for his work on the Broadway stage, he's received numerous accolades including a Tony Award, two Drama Desk Awards and nominations for three Grammy Awards.
-
Kurt M. Campbell
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
-
Kurt Michael Campbell is an American diplomat and businessman who served as the United States deputy secretary of state from 2024 to 2025. He previously served as deputy assistant advisor to President Biden and National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific from 2021 to 2024. In this capacity, Campbell had been referred to as the Biden administration's "Asia coordinator" or "Asia czar"—chief architect of Joe Biden's Asia strategy.
-
Alexander Butterfield
- Occupations
- entrepreneurpoliticianmilitary officer
- Biography
-
Alexander Porter Butterfield is a retired United States Air Force officer, public official, and businessman. He served as the deputy assistant to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973. He revealed the White House taping system's existence on July 13, 1973, during the Watergate investigation but had no other involvement in the scandal. From 1973 to 1975, he served as administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.
-
Françoise Vergès
- Occupations
- university teacherwomen's rights activistpolitical scientist
- Biography
-
Françoise Vergès is a French political scientist, historian, film producer, independent curator, activist and public educator. Her work focuses on postcolonial studies and decolonial feminism.
-
Em Beihold
- Occupations
- musiciansinger-songwriterTikToker
- Biography
-
Emily Mahin "Em" Beihold is an American singer-songwriter. She released her debut EP Infrared in 2017. In 2020 she was noticed by music promotion brand Live2 LCC who then teamed with her to help promote her music. After signing to Republic Records and Moon Projects, she released her major-label debut single "Numb Little Bug" in 2022 leading to her being well known. On July 22, 2022, Beihold released her second EP, Egg in the Backseat.
-
David Barrera
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
-
David Joel Barrera is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Gunnery Sgt. Ray 'Casey Kasem' Griego in Generation Kill. He has appeared in television series including Grimm, Heroes, CSI: Miami, Boston Legal, Medium, Nip/Tuck, NYPD Blue, Murder One, Without a Trace, The West Wing, The Big Bang Theory and 24 for which he got nominated for an ALMA Award.
-
Bill Atkinson
- Years
- 1951-.. (age 74)
- Occupations
- inventorprogrammerphotographercomputer scientistdesigner
- Biography
-
William "Bill" D. Atkinson is an American computer engineer, computer programmer and photographer. Atkinson worked at Apple Computer from 1978 to 1990. Some of Atkinson's noteworthy contributions to the field of computing include Macintosh QuickDraw and Lisa LisaGraf (Atkinson independently discovered the midpoint circle algorithm for fast drawing of circles by using the sum of consecutive odd numbers), Marching ants, the double-click, Menu bar, the selection lasso, MacPaint (FatBits), HyperCard, Atkinson dithering, and the app PhotoCard.
-
Lowell Bergman
- Occupations
- television journalistjournalisttelevision producer
- Biography
-
Lowell Bergman is an American journalist, television producer, and journalism professor. In a nearly five-decade-long career, Bergman worked as a producer, a reporter, and then the director of investigative reporting at ABC News and as a producer for CBS’s 60 Minutes, leaving in 1998 as the senior producer of investigations for CBS News. He was also the founder of the investigative reporting program at the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley and, for 28 years, taught there as a professor. He was also a producer and correspondent for the PBS documentary series Frontline. Bergman retired in 2019.
-
Charlet Chung
- Occupations
- actortelevision actorvoice actor
- Biography
-
Chihye "Charlet" Takahashi Chung is an American actress who is best known for her works in voice acting, as well as for her various roles throughout film and television. She voices the fictional character D.Va in the multiplayer-shooter video game Overwatch and has reprised the role for the crossover game Heroes of the Storm. She also voiced Seraph in the shooter video game Call of Duty: Black Ops III. In television, Chung has made appearances on shows such as Cold Case, Cory in the House, 90210, Shake It Up and Grace and Frankie. In 2019, she joined the main cast of two Netflix animated series; on Carmen Sandiego as Julia Argent and on Fast & Furious Spy Racers as Margaret "Echo" Pearl.
-
Gregory Benford
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- In 1967 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- physicistscience fiction writerwriterastronomeruniversity teacher
- Biography
-
Gregory Benford is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is professor emeritus at the department of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. He is a contributing editor of Reason magazine.
-
Jamus Lim
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- 2005-2005 studied public policy
- Occupations
- politicianeconomist
- Biography
-
Jamus Jerome Lim Chee Wui is a Singaporean politician, economist and associate professor. A member of the Workers' Party (WP), Lim has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Anchorvale division of Sengkang GRC since 2020.
-
Bruce Beutler
- Occupations
- immunologistphysicianscientistuniversity teachergeneticist
- Biography
-
Bruce Alan Beutler is an American immunologist and geneticist. Together with Jules A. Hoffmann, he received one-half of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for "discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity." Beutler discovered the long-elusive receptor for lipopolysaccharide (LPS; also known as endotoxin). He did so by identifying spontaneous mutations in the gene coding for mouse Toll-like receptor 4 (Tlr4) in two unrelated strains of LPS-refractory mice and proving they were responsible for that phenotype. Subsequently, and chiefly through the work of Shizuo Akira, other TLRs were shown to detect signature molecules of most infectious microbes, in each case triggering an innate immune response.
-
Clive Granger
- Occupations
- university teachereconometricianeconomiststatistician
- Biography
-
Sir Clive William John Granger was a British econometrician known for his contributions to nonlinear time series analysis. He taught in Britain, at the University of Nottingham and in the United States, at the University of California, San Diego. Granger was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2003 in recognition of the contributions that he and his co-winner, Robert F. Engle, had made to the analysis of time series data. This work fundamentally changed the way in which economists analyse financial and macroeconomic data.
-
Catherynne M. Valente
- Occupations
- writeryoung adult authornovelistchildren's writerscience fiction writer
- Biography
-
Catherynne Morgan Valente is an American fiction writer, poet, and literary critic. For her speculative fiction novels she has won the annual James Tiptree, Jr. Award, Andre Norton Award, and Mythopoeic Award. Her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, the anthologies Salon Fantastique and Paper Cities, and numerous "Year's Best" volumes. Her critical work has appeared in the International Journal of the Humanities as well as other essay collections.
-
Michael Scott Moore
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
-
Michael Scott Moore is an American journalist and novelist. He is the author of Sweetness and Blood (2010), about the history of surfing, and The Desert and the Sea (2018), a memoir about his captivity in Somalia.
-
DJ Patil
- Years
- 1974-.. (age 51)
- Occupations
- chief data officerstatistician
- Biography
-
Dhanurjay "DJ" Patil is an American mathematician and computer scientist who served as the Chief Data Scientist of the United States Office of Science and Technology Policy from 2015 to 2017. He is the Head of Technology for Devoted Health. He previously served as the Vice President of Product at RelateIQ, which was acquired by Salesforce.com, as Chief Product Officer of Color Labs, and as Head of Data Products and Chief Scientist of LinkedIn. His father, Suhas Patil, is a venture capitalist and the founder of Cirrus Logic.
-
Antony Garrett Lisi
- Occupations
- physicistsurfertheoretical physicist
- Biography
-
Antony Garrett Lisi, known as Garrett Lisi, is an American theoretical physicist. Lisi works as an independent researcher without an academic position.
-
Sian Beilock
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- Graduated with Bachelor of Science in cognitive science
- Occupations
- writerpsychologist
- Biography
-
Sian Leah Beilock is an American cognitive scientist who is the president of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire Before serving at Dartmouth College, she was the president of Barnard College in Manhattan, New York. Earlier she was a long time professor at the University of Chicago and left the university as the Stella M. Rowley Professor of Psychology and executive vice provost.
-
Sudhir Venkatesh
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- In 1988 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in mathematics
- Occupations
- ethnologistprofessorethnographersociologist
- Biography
-
Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh is an American sociologist and urban ethnographer. He is William B. Ransford Professor of Sociology & African-American Studies at Columbia University, a position he has held since 1999. In his work, Venkatesh has studied gangs and underground economies, public housing, advertising and technology. As of 2018, he is the Director of Signal: The Tech & Society Lab at Columbia University.
-
Nidhal Guessoum
- Years
- 1960-.. (age 65)
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- In 1988 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- physicistastrophysicistresearcher
- Biography
-
Nidhal Guessoum is an Algerian astrophysicist. He is a professor at the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
-
Chu Ching-wu
- Occupations
- justice of the peacephysicist
- Biography
-
Paul Ching Wu Chu is a Taiwanese-American physicist specializing in superconductivity, magnetism, and dielectrics. He is a professor of physics and T.L.L. Temple Chair of Science in the Physics Department at the University of Houston College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. He was the president of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology from 2001 to 2009. In 1987, he was one of the first scientists to demonstrate high-temperature superconductivity.
-
Rahul Jandial
- Years
- 1972-.. (age 53)
- Occupations
- physicianneuroscientistneurosurgeon
- Biography
-
Rahul Jandial is an American, dual-trained brain surgeon and neuroscientist. He is also a London Times bestselling & international bestselling author with his books translated into over 30 languages.
-
Phil Town
- Years
- 1948-.. (age 77)
- Occupations
- motivational speakersoldier
- Biography
-
Philip Bradley Town is an American investor, hedge fund manager, motivational speaker, and author of three books on financial investment which were the New York Times bestsellers.
-
B. Alan Wallace
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- Studied in 1968-1970
- Occupations
- translatorteacherwriter
- Biography
-
Bruce Alan Wallace is an American Buddhologist of Tibetan Buddhism and author. He has authored many texts in the field of contemplative science, most notably The Attention Revolution on the cultivation of Samatha, and Dreaming Yourself Awake on the lucid dreaming practice of dream yoga. Wallace's works include an English translation of the foremost Tibetan Buddhism text, the Bardo Thodol, by Padmasambhava. He has also been active in the dialogue between established Western science and Tibetan Buddhist psychology, including staunch critiques of materialistic philosophies of mind. He is founder of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies.
-
Robert Todd Carroll
- Occupations
- writerphilosopherprofessor
- Biography
-
Robert Todd Carroll was an American author, philosopher and academic, best known for The Skeptic's Dictionary. He described himself as a naturalist, an atheist, a materialist, a metaphysical libertarian, and a positivist. In 2010 he was elected a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He was a professor of philosophy at Sacramento City College from 1977 until his retirement in 2007.
-
Lorna Simpson
- Occupations
- video artistdraftspersonphotographerprintmakerinstallation artist
- Biography
-
Lorna Simpson is an American photographer and multimedia artist whose works have been exhibited both nationally and internationally. In 1990, she became one of the first African-American woman to exhibit at the Venice Biennale. She came to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s with photo-text installations such as Guarded Conditions and Square Deal that questioned the nature of identity, gender, race, history and representation. Simpson continues to explore these themes in relation to memory and history using photography, film, video, painting, drawing, audio, and sculpture.
-
Philip Rosedale
- Occupations
- entrepreneurbusinessperson
- Biography
-
Philip Rosedale is an American entrepreneur who founded Linden Lab, which develops and hosts the virtual world Second Life.
-
Kathleen Woodward
- Years
- 20th Century
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- Graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- academicuniversity teacher
- Biography
-
Kathleen Woodward is an American academic. She is a Lockwood Professor in Humanities and in English at the University of Washington and has been the Director of the Simpson Center for the Humanities since 2000. Her areas of specialization include 20th-century American literature and culture; discourse of the emotions; technology and science studies; and age studies; digital humanities; and gender, women, and sexuality studies. She is working on risk in the context of globalization and population aging. Her writing talks about the invisibility status of older women and she advocates for an arena of visibility.
-
Polly Matzinger
- Occupations
- biologistimmunologist
- Biography
-
Polly Celine Eveline Matzinger is a French-born immunologist who proposed the danger model theory of how the immune system works.
-
Ye Si
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teacherpoet
- Biography
-
Leung Ping-kwan, whose pen name was Yesi (Chinese: 也斯), was a Hong Kong poet, novelist, essayist, translator, teacher, and scholar who received the Hong Kong Medal of Honor (MH). He was an important long-time cultural figure in Hong Kong.
-
Jack Sarfatti
- Occupations
- physicisttheoretical physicist
- Biography
-
Jack Sarfatti is an American theoretical physicist. Working largely outside academia, most of Sarfatti's publications revolve around quantum physics and consciousness.
-
Linda Arrigo
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- 1968-1972 graduated with bachelor's degree
- Occupations
- human rights activist
- Biography
-
Linda Gail Arrigo is an American political activist, human rights activist, and academic researcher in Taiwan. She formerly served as the international affairs officer of Green Party Taiwan. She is the ex-wife of the former chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party, Shih Ming-teh.
-
Alondra Nelson
- Occupations
- sociologist
- Biography
-
Alondra Nelson is an American academic, policy advisor, non-profit administrator, and writer. She is the Harold F. Linder chair and professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, an independent research center in Princeton, New Jersey. Since March 2023, she has been a distinguished senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. In October 2023, she was nominated by the Biden-Harris Administration and appointed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to the UN High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence.
-
Wendy Suzuki
- Occupations
- science communicatorneuroscientist
- Biography
-
Wendy Suzuki is an American neuroscientist. She is a professor at the New York University Center for Neural Science. She is the author of Healthy Brain, Happy Life: A Personal Program to Activate Your Brain and Do Everything Better. Since September 1, 2022, she has served as Dean of the New York University College of Arts & Science.
-
Aryeh Bourkoff
- Occupations
- business executivechief executive officerbusinesspersonchairperson
- Biography
-
Aryeh B. Bourkoff is an American businessman and documentary producer. He is the founder and chief executive officer of LionTree LLC, a global investment and merchant banking firm focused on media, technology and telecommunications.
-
Eleanor Mariano
- Occupations
- physicianmilitary officer
- Biography
-
Eleanor Concepcion "Connie" Mariano, is a Filipino American physician and retired flag officer in the United States Navy. She is the first Filipino American and graduate of the Uniformed Services University of Medicine to reach the rank of Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy as well as the second woman to become Physician to the President, a position that placed her as director of the White House Medical Unit.
-
Peter Godfrey-Smith
- Occupations
- university teacherphilosopher
- Biography
-
Peter Godfrey-Smith is an Australian philosopher of science and writer, who is currently Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney. He works primarily in philosophy of biology and philosophy of mind, and also has interests in general philosophy of science, pragmatism (especially the work of John Dewey), and some parts of metaphysics and epistemology. Godfrey-Smith was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2022.
-
Robb Kulin
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- Graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Graduated with Master of Science
- Biography
-
Robb Michael Kulin is an American aerospace engineer, entrepreneur, and former NASA astronaut candidate. He was a member of NASA Astronaut Group 22 but resigned before completing astronaut training.
-
Hillary Ronen
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Hillary Ronen is an American politician and attorney who served as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 2017 to 2025. She represented District 9, which includes the neighborhoods of Mission District, Bernal Heights, and Portola.
-
Tim Kane
- Occupations
- politicianeconomistmilitary officer
- Biography
-
Timothy Joseph Kane is a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and professor of economics at the University of Austin (UATX). He served as a U.S. Air Force intelligence officer with two overseas tours of duty. Kane co-founded multiple start-up technology firms while pursuing a Ph.D. in economics in the late 1990s, then served on the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress and was director of the Center for International Trade and Economics at The Heritage Foundation. Kane is the author of the book Bleeding Talent: How the U.S. Military Mismanages Great Leaders and Why It's Time for a Revolution. He co-authored Balance: The Economics of Great Powers from Ancient Rome to Modern America with Glenn Hubbard. Kane's latest book is The Immigrant Superpower: How Brains, Brawn, and Bravery Make America Stronger, which makes the case for greater legal immigration and zero illegal immigration.
-
Rex Pickett
- Occupations
- screenwriternovelistfilm directorwriterfilm editor
- Biography
-
Rex Pickett is an American novelist and filmmaker best known for his novel Sideways, which was adapted into a 2004 movie of the same name directed by Alexander Payne.
-
Michael Greif
- Occupations
- theatrical director
- Biography
-
Michael Greif is an American stage director. He has won three Obie Awards and received five Tony Award nominations, for Rent, Grey Gardens, next to normal (sic), Dear Evan Hansen, and Hell's Kitchen.
-
Hung Liu
- Occupations
- photographervisual artistpainteruniversity teacher
- Biography
-
Hung Liu was a Chinese-born American contemporary artist. She was predominantly a painter, but also worked with mixed-media and site-specific installation and was also one of the first artists from China to establish a career in the United States.
-
Nicole Mitchell
- Occupations
- university teacherflautistjazz composerjazz musician
- Biography
-
Nicole Mitchell is an American jazz flautist and composer who teaches jazz at the University of Virginia. She is a former chairwoman of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).
-
Andrew Feenberg
- Years
- 1943-.. (age 82)
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- Graduated with Master of Arts
- Occupations
- university teacherphilosopher
- Biography
-
Andrew Feenberg is an American philosopher. He holds the Canada Research Chair in the Philosophy of Technology in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. His main interests are philosophy of technology, continental philosophy, critique of technology and science and technology studies.
-
Joshua Wright
- Biography
-
Joshua Daniel Wright is an American economist, attorney, and former government official. Wright served as a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from 2013 to 2015. At the time of his nomination, Wright was the fourth economist to serve as an FTC commissioner. Wright was a professor of law at George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School between 2004 and 2023, and was the executive director of its Global Antitrust Institute (GAI). In 2023, Wright resigned from George Mason following eight allegations of sexual misconduct from former students.
-
Ian Agol
- Occupations
- topologistuniversity teachermathematician
- Biography
-
Ian Agol is an American mathematician who deals primarily with the topology of three-dimensional manifolds.
-
Subhasis Chaudhuri
- Occupations
- electrical engineeruniversity teachercomputer scientist
- Biography
-
Subhasis Chaudhuri is an Indian electrical engineer, former director at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT Bombay) and currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of BSE Limited. He is a former K. N. Bajaj Chair Professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering of IIT Bombay. He is known for his pioneering studies on computer vision and is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz. the National Academy of Sciences, India, Indian Academy of Sciences, and Indian National Science Academy. He is also a fellow of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the Indian National Academy of Engineering. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2004 for his contributions to Engineering Sciences.
-
Christine Abizaid
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- 1997-2001 graduated with bachelor's degree in psychology
- Occupations
- intelligence officerassociation football player
- Biography
-
Christine Sandra Abizaid is an American intelligence officer who was the director of the National Counterterrorism Center in the Biden administration.
-
Xiaoliang Sunney Xie
- Occupations
- chemistuniversity teacherbiochemist
- Biography
-
Xiaoliang Sunney Xie is a Chinese biophysicist well known for his contributions to the fields of single-molecule biophysical chemistry, coherent Raman Imaging and single-molecule genomics. In 2023, Xie renounced his U.S. citizenship in order to reclaim his Chinese citizenship.
-
Dana Shell Smith
- Years
- 1970-.. (age 55)
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
-
Dana Shell Smith is a former American diplomat and career Foreign Service Officer who served as the United States Ambassador to Qatar from July 2014 to June 2017. She was confirmed by the Senate as the U.S. Ambassador to Qatar on July 10, 2014. Previously, she served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs from 2011 to 2014 and as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Media.
-
Luis Alberto Urrea
- Occupations
- poethumanitarianuniversity teachernovelistwriter
- Biography
-
Luis Alberto Urrea is a Mexican-American poet, novelist, and essayist.
-
Jason Thompson
- Occupations
- role-playing game designercomics artistwriterdraftspersongame designer
- Biography
-
Jason Bradley Thompson is an American artist, author, comics creator, critic, and editor. He is best known for his Eisner-nominated book Manga: The Complete Guide, his graphic novel interpretation of H. P. Lovecraft's DreamQuest of Unknown Kadath and Other Stories, and his Dungeons and Dragons adventure walkthrough maps published by Wizards of the Coast on their website as well in books such as Waterdeep Dragon Heist.
-
Edgardo Gomez
- Years
- 1938-2019 (aged 81)
- Enrolled in the University of California-San Diego
- Graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in marine biology
- Occupations
- biologist
- Biography
-
Edgardo Dizon Gomez, ONS was a Filipino biologist who was conferred the rank of National Scientist of the Philippines in 2014. He was a professor emeritus for marine biology at the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute.
-
Anna S. Þorvaldsdóttir
- Occupations
- composercellist
- Biography
-
Anna Sigríður Þorvaldsdóttir [anna sɪɣriðʏr θɔrvaldsdoutɪr] is an Icelandic composer. She has been called "one of Iceland's most celebrated composers", and was the 2012 winner of the Nordic Council Music Prize. Her music is frequently performed in Europe and in the United States, and is often influenced by landscapes and nature.
