Cristina Gomez-Vidal, an assistant professor of society, environment, and health equity at UC Riverside, has been awarded a $100,000 grant to study how counties in Greater Los Angeles can improve the political representation and participation of residents in unincorporated communities.

Cambra Sklarz, who earned a doctorate in art history at UC Riverside in 2024, was named a finalist for the 2026 McNeil Center for Early American Studies Dissertation Prize.

Dana Simmons, an associate professor of society, environment, and health equity at UC Riverside, is the winner of the 2025 Emory Elliott Book Award for her latest work, “On Hunger: Violence and Craving in America, from Starvation to Ozempic,” which is available free online.

Rachel Wu, an associate professor of psychology at UC Riverside, has been made a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.

Allison Benis White’s most recent collection of poetry, “A Magnificent Loneliness,” is a finalist for the 2025 Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Tod Goldberg’s latest crime novel, “Only Way Out,” has been nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Fiction. “I am surprised, honored, and humbled,” said Goldberg, founder and director of the Low-Residency MFA program at UC Riverside’s Palm Desert Center. “This is my second time being a finalist, but the first time in over 20 years!”

Laila Lalami’s dystopian thriller, “The Dream Hotel” (2025), has been nominated for the 2026 Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best Novel.