UCLA centennial spotlight will shine on CicLAvia, Oct. 6

The upcoming CicLAvia will take on a distinctly UCLA flavor as part of the campus’s centennial celebration.

The Oct. 6 edition of Los Angeles’ open streets event will feature a wide range of UCLA-related activities, with current Bruins and talented alumni contributing to the festivities.

“UCLA is thrilled to share our centennial celebration with people across Los Angeles in partnership with CicLAvia,” UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said. “This is a wonderful opportunity to connect with this diverse and vibrant city that has defined who we are and welcomed UCLA as a partner in finding solutions to our community’s biggest problems.”

Most of the UCLA presence will be centered at the event’s Civic Center hub, near Los Angeles City Hall, with some others taking place at MacArthur Park. UCLA programs at “CicLAvia—Heart of L.A.” will include:

• Augmented reality sandbox. Create and explore landscapes in augmented reality — guests can mold and shift mountains, lakes and valleys in real time — on a tool used by UCLA professors to teach geography.
• ELFIN satellite model. Get an up-close look at the Electron Losses and Fields Investigation satellite, or ELFIN, which UCLA students built to research weather in space. The satellite is aboard a NASA rocket that launched in 2018.
• Do You Know UCLA? Want to know more about the UCLA campus and student life? Undergraduate admissions representatives will be on hand to provide information and details about applying to UCLA.
• The Science of CicLAvia. Scholars from UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs and Fielding School of Public Health will share research on the benefits of CicLAvia and tips on improving the future of our communities.
• Exploring Your Universe. Learn how wind affects the surface of planets at this pop-up version of UCLA’s student-run science festival.
• Facts Beyond Images. UCLA architecture and urban design students re-envision UCLA’s iconic Royce Hall, exploring how the building could be transformed as the campus plans for its future.
• UCLA: Our Stories, Our Impact. The UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment will share stories of UCLA alumni who are advancing equity and equality.
• 10 Questions: Centennial Edition. Dig into big-picture questions like “What is Justice?”, “What is Truth?” and “What is Love?,” which will be asked at free, open-to-the-public classes at UCLA.
• UCLA Labor Center. Learn about UCLA’s strides to achieving equity in education and employment through the UCLA Labor Center’s home, right next to MacArthur Park.

Plus, UCLA alumna Christina Angelina, the street artist known as Starfighter, has several large-scale works on display along Fourth Avenue in the Arts District. And University Credit Union, the UCLA centennial celebration’s event sponsor, will present classic lawn games like corn hole and giant versions of Connect Four and Jenga.

“As an alum of UCLA, I couldn't be more thrilled about this partnership between these two institutions,” said Romel Pascual, CicLAvia’s executive director, who graduated in 1991. “CicLAvia is a celebration of what makes Los Angeles special, and UCLA has helped shape Los Angeles into a global city that embraces innovation, leadership and creativity.”

UCLA’s roots are in downtown Los Angeles, where the California State Normal School operated at the modern-day site of the Central Library. The teacher training school later moved to Vermont Avenue and in 1919 was absorbed into a new University of California campus.

Learn more about the UCLA Centennial, and use the hashtags #CicLAvia and #UCLA100 to share your experiences on Oct. 6.