University of California, Irvine (UCI) is a top-tier public research university founded in 1965 in Irvine, California. As an elite member of the Association of American Universities (AAU) and the world-renowned University of California system, UCI is widely recognized as a 'Public Ivy.' Celebrated for its visionary master-planned campus designed in concentric rings radiating outward from the 19-acre botanical haven of Aldrich Park, its beloved mascot Peter the Anteater ('Zot! Zot! Zot!'), and three Nobel Prize laureates, UCI excels across computer science, engineering, biological sciences, business, medicine, law, and physical sciences. UCI is internationally acclaimed for the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences—the only dedicated computer science school in the UC system—and is consistently ranked among the top 10 public universities in the United States and #1 in social mobility by The New York Times College Access Index.