NEWS: Gratitude luncheon honors 2023-2024 UC Tech IT Marketing and Communications Interns

The UC Office of the President IT Services team recently hosted a going-away party to celebrate a few of the incredible interns who had worked with the department last season. The event brought together around 30 UC Tech professionals from UC Office of the President to celebrate the contributions of Jackie Brown and Brendon Phuong, UC Berkeley students. During the celebration event, the interns answered several questions, providing a unique window into their world as students, “customers” of each member of the UC Tech community, and as fellow-staff members, with a diverse background and insights, perspectives and talents which provided enormous value to the team over the past year. Like those at the event this day, the UC Tech News team hopes you find inspiration in their stories.

A life-long appreciation for tech: Phuong’s journey to UC Office of the President

Growing up as an immigrant in San Jose, Brendon Phuong witnessed, firsthand, the transformative power of technology. Tools like Google Translate and YouTube enabled him to teach himself English, complete homework, translate his parents’ documents, and help them pass the U.S. citizenship test. As technology advances, Phuong is passionate about ensuring equitable access to these innovations across the United States and globally. He highlights the UC system as a leader in technological research and innovation and advocates for the equitable teaching of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and video conferencing, to improve everyday lives for each of us. He believes that effective marketing at UC Office of the President, and across the UC Tech community, can help people learn about new technologies through simplified and specific language. This approach bridges the gap for those with limited technical knowledge while showcasing the UC system’s advancements to a broader audience.

Brown’s interdisciplinary approach to marketing

Jackie Brown began her internship with the UC Office of the President as a senior at UC Berkeley studying Political Economy and Food Systems with a concentration in Technology, Inequality, and the Environment. Her interdisciplinary education and marketing internship at UC Office of the President provided her with deep insights into economic principles, market trends, technology implications, AI policies, and sustainability. At UC Tech News, she produced articles on AI, data privacy, health technology, digital accessibility, and environmental innovations, including leading coverage of the CITRIS Research Exchange Seminar Series on AI. Brown also organized online events for the UC Tech community focusing on tech, sustainability, design, and DEI.

UC Tech News highlights from Brown and Phuong’s internships

Brown highlighted her blogs about Alison Gopnik, American professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. Gopnik presented “Imitation and Innovation in AI: What Four-year-olds Can Do and AI Can’t (Yet)” during a lecture at the CRITIS and Banatao Institute. In her presentation, Gopnik discussed how children excel at active exploration and creative problem-solving compared to AI systems, which primarily rely on transmission learning. She emphasized the importance of incorporating curiosity and innovative learning in AI to bridge this gap and highlighted the need for effective fact-checking mechanisms to combat misinformation in AI-generated content.

Phuong mentioned his interest in that piece and the comparison Alison Gopnik makes. He does not have a favorite blog since each article is unique and highlights the contributions of various individuals and teams within the UC system. However, he credited interviews with teams like UC Investments and individuals such as Robert Krumm and Anita Ho, who exposed him to their contributions to technology within the UC system, such as ticketing systems and mental health chatbots.

Lessons learned in a high-tech workplace

Phuong credits his coverage of Ernesto Carrasco and Harold Shin with improving UCLA’s vendor onboarding processes. During the interview, the UCLA team mentioned that a lot of the work they do is not heard about since they execute it so perfectly. If there was an error in the process, only then would they get attention. Phuong highlights the contributions of many UC employees across the system, like cybersecurity and HR, whose work goes unnoticed but is crucial to upholding the system.

Brown shared a similar view. She mentioned an article she read recently called “Innovation is overrated, hail the maintainers” and suggested an 8th UC Tech Award category dedicated to “maintainers” across the UC. Those UC Tech community members in the room whole heartedly agreed.

Thank you to the University of California

Jackie Brown and Brendon Phuong extend their gratitude to Laurel Skurko, Marketing and Communications Specialist, UC Office of the President, for her support as their immediate supervisor throughout their internship, and to all the UC members who attended the Intern celebration. After graduating from UC Berkeley, Brown will start her internship with a venture capital firm focused on aviation research and technology. Phuong will intern for LinkedIn during the summer, working as a marketing and communications intern in their social impact department. Both Brown and Phuong attribute their success in securing these new job positions to their experiences at UC.

Brown and Phuong are enthusiastic about meeting more UC Tech members and are eager to connect with them. Their LinkedIn profiles are provided below.

Authors

Jackie Brown
IT Marketing and Communications Intern
UC Office of the President