Angela Becher, a material chemist at MIT and a CCS alumnus, will deliver the commencement address. Becher, who was named as one of the top ten scientists in the country by Popular Science magazine last year, earned her B.A. and then her Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry at UC Santa Barbara.
CCS is unique in the University of California system in that students must provide proof of their ability to do advanced and independent work in one of the eight disciplines offered by the college. It has been referred to as a graduate school for undergraduate students by alumni.
Courses offered by the college are designed to allow students to rigorously explore or even modify a field of knowledge rather than expose them to fixed subject matter, according to CCS Provost William J. Ashby. The college currently enrolls about 350 students, nearly twice as many as a decade before.
Chancellor Henry T. Yang will preside over the CCS ceremony, and six additional commencement ceremonies to be held Saturday and Sunday, June 14-15 for College of Letters and Science and College of Engineering graduates, and graduate students who will receive teaching credentials, master's and doctoral degrees.