Deploying Bots to Thwart Trafficking and Domestic Violence

If you buy a pair of shoes online, you’ll be bombarded by companies wanting to sell you shoes. What if the algorithms that target purchasing priorities could be used for a greater good?

That’s just what Raquelmarie Clark (B.A., communication, ’18) looked into for her undergraduate research project, “Algorithmic Governance: Worrisome or Wonderful?” Clark has since founded We Always Help Each Other (WAHEO), a nonprofit that supports organizations serving victims of sex trafficking, domestic violence, and sexual assault.

Deborah Harkness

Historian brings authenticity to bestsellers about witches and vampires.

Deborah Harkness is the author of the best-selling All Souls Trilogy, about scholar and reluctant witch Diana Bishop, whose discovery of an enchanted manuscript sets loose an underworld of witches, vampires, and daemons. Among them is the vampire and scientist Matthew Clairmont, who has long been searching for the same long-lost manuscript.

Tales of Afghanistan

Debut novel captures Afghan American coming of age story.

When Jamil Jan Kochai was 12, his family traveled from their West Sacramento home to their native Afghanistan. During that 2004 trip, Kochai was attacked by the family dog, witnessed what the U.S. invasion had wrought, and soaked up stories of the distant and recent past. A decade later, he brought a short story inspired by that trip to his first graduate writing workshop at UC Davis.

Young Alums Reflect and Look Forward

In June 2019, we caught up with seven soon-to-be graduates (now our newest alumni) to ask them about what they love most about UC Davis and how well their time in and out of the classroom prepared them for their next chapter. Here are their answers.

2004 - Ben Wang

A movie directed by Ben Wang (B.A., Asian American studies, '04) is streaming on The World Channel during July 2019. Breathin': The Eddy Zheng Story tells about a Chinese immigrant teenager tried as an adult. The documentary follows Eddy Zheng as immigrant, son, prisoner and activist on his journey to freedom and rehabilitation. Wang is co-director of the Asian Prisoner Support Committee. Read more about Wang. 

2013 – Austin Ray

Following graduation, Austin Ray (B.S., applied mathematics, ’13) founded an education finance policy nonprofit, EdBuild. The nonprofit helped governors and legislators make sure more money went to public schools serving low-income students. Ray is now returning to school to earn an MBA at Duke University.

1986 - Todd Calvin

Todd Calvin (B.A., political science, ’86) was recently elected vice president of the Opera League of Los Angeles board of directors. He has served on the board for nine years. Calvin has been vice president for business and legal affairs for Viacom Media Networks (Nickelodeon and TV Land) for nearly eight years. He worked for the Walt Disney Company in business and legal affairs for seven years and also held jobs at the San Francisco Opera and Showtime.

Alumnus Robert Oden Was on the Front Lines of Change

When UC Davis students were calling for more student and faculty diversity and culturally inclusive programs, Robert Stanley Oden was on the front lines. One of only 40 African American students on campus in 1967, he was a founder of the Black Student Union, the first such group on campus, and wrote a column for The California Aggie called “The Dark Side.”

2007 - Hasan Minhaj

Comedian Hasan Minhaj (B.A., political science, '07) has been named to Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of 2019.  He came to prominence as senior correspondent on The Daily Show starting in 2014 and in 2018 began hosting Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj on Netflix. His first stand-up comedy special, 2017’s Homecoming King won a Peabody Award. 

1996 - Christopher Markus

Christopher Markus (M.A., English, ’96) was co-writer, with Stephen McFeely (M.A. English,’96), of the just-released movie "Avengers: Endgame.” The two met at UC Davis in the creative writing program. They've written scripts for the "Captain America" films, the "Chronicles of Narnia" movie franchise, and won an Emmy for their screenplay of HBO movie, "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers."