The annual Bruin Engineers’ Reunion welcomes alumni celebrating their first anniversary since graduation, and milestone anniversaries in multiples of five years. Alumni who graduated 50 or more years ago have an open invitation to the event.
“The inaugural reunion weekend was an absolute blast, and I was so glad that our alums got a chance to reconnect with friends and make new ones,” said Jayathi Murthy, Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean of UCLA Engineering. “I am so impressed by the impact that Bruin Engineers are making in California and around the world. And I was particularly heartened to hear from so many of them on how their time at UCLA set the foundation for their success.”
Friday evening featured a reception at the Renee & Meyer Luskin Conference Center, which was hosted by the Engineering Alumni Association and Judy and Bob Green ’72, JD ’75.
Saturday’s full slate of programming featured several sessions on what lies ahead in engineering, with faculty members and accomplished alumni as panelists. For example, the “Robotics in the 21st Century” panel included professors Dennis Hong and Stefano Soatto, who specialize in humanoid robotics and computer vision respectively, and Dave Crawford ’95, Executive R&D Imagineer at Walt Disney Imagineering.
The weekend was topped off with a gala reception.
Photos from the reunion are available on Flickr.
In addition to the featured programming, this year’s classes came together to raise more than $4 million dollars for the school. The effort was led by reunion co-chairs Mariel Lising ’12, Larry Tannas ’59, MS ’61 and members of the organizing committee. The total funds raised included a single gift of $1 million from Tannas and his wife Carol that, along with a $1 million matching gift, will be used to create a new endowed faculty chair at the school.
“I think all the alumni here appreciate how invaluable their experience at UCLA Engineering has been for their careers,” Tannas said. “We hope the funds raised by this year’s attendees will go a long way to ensure that engineering students continue to have a world-class education.”
The 2018 Bruin Engineers Reunion will include the graduating classes for years ending in “3” or “8”. It will be held on May 18-19, 2018.