Forward Thinker

In these turbulent times, UCLA Center for the Study of Religion director Carol Bakhos does not see people losing their faith — but becoming increasingly interested in spirituality.

Matthew Robb, the new chief curator of UCLA’s Fowler Museum, believes we still have much to learn from the ancient cultures of the Americas.

UCLA neuroscientist Marco Iacoboni studies mirror neurons — the brain cells that make us love watching sports and be quick to empathize with others.

UCLA Professor Catherine Opie captures provocative images of the everyday that make us take another look at the icons around us.

For Abel Valenzuela, the acclaimed UCLA scholar of immigrant and itinerant labor issues, inequality isn’t just an academic exercise; it’s personal.

We live in the shadow of our achievements, says Dr. Peter C. Whybrow, director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.

Trap Girl guitarist and UCLA Assistant Professor Jessica Schwartz teaches the aesthetic, compositional, performance and political history of punk music.

UCLA architecture and urban design chair Hitoshi Abe helped form ArchiAid, which will assist in the reconstruction of Sendai, Japan.

UCLA Dance Professor Janet O’Shea found a second love — an obsession, really — in martial arts.

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, an urban planning professor, looks at urban design, including parklets and high-speed rail.