Motto:Fiat Lux
Let there be light
The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on 1,200 acres (486 ha) in a suburban district of Riverside, California, United States, with a branch campus of 20 acres (8 ha) in Palm Desert. Founded in 1907 as the UC Citrus Experiment Station, Riverside, pioneered research in biological pest control and the use of growth regulators responsible for extending the citrus growing season in California from four to nine months. Some of the world's most important research collections on citrus diversity and entomology, as well as science fiction and photography, are located at Riverside.

UCR's undergraduate College of Letters and Science opened in 1954. The Regents of the University of California declared UCR a general campus of the system in 1959, and graduate students were admitted in 1961. To accommodate an enrollment of 21,000 students by 2015, more than $730 million has been invested in new construction projects since 1999. Preliminary accreditation of the UCR School of Medicine was granted in October 2012 and the first class will enroll in August 2013. It is the first new research-based public medical school in 40 years.