Distinguished Bioengineering Professor Wentai Liu Appointed Inaugural Holder of the J. M. Maguire Term Chair

Wentai Liu, a distinguished professor of bioengineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, has been named the inaugural holder of the J.M. Maguire Term Chair in Engineering.

The endowed chair was established in 2020 with a $500,000 gift from UCLA Samueli alum Joanne Maguire M.S. ’78, Cert. ’89. The gift was matched with an additional $500,000 from the Samueli Foundation. 

Maguire led Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company as executive vice president from 2006 until her retirement in 2013. During her tenure, she oversaw the firm’s programs for human space flight systems, remote-sensing satellites, navigation and communications technologies, strategic and missile defense systems, space observatories and interplanetary spacecraft.

Before joining Lockheed Martin, Maguire held a succession of leadership roles, including vice president of business development and deputy to the CEO of the space and electronics sector at TRW, which was acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2002. At both TRW and Lockheed Martin, she led programs spanning engineering, advanced technology, manufacturing and business operations. Maguire currently serves on the board of Visteon Corporation and CommScope Holding Company Inc., and is a member of UCLA Samueli’s Dean’s Executive Board.

“Creating this endowed chair is about pushing the frontiers of engineering,” said Joanne Maguire. “It is incredibly rewarding to have even a small part in Wentai Liu’s pioneering research at UCLA. I am thrilled that he has been selected as the inaugural chairholder.”

“Joanne Maguire has made a lasting impact on the aerospace and defense industry and on UCLA Samueli,” said Ah-Hyung “Alissa” Park, the Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean of Engineering. “Her leadership on the Dean’s Executive Board has helped align and strengthen our research and education goals with industry needs, and we are deeply grateful for her generosity in establishing this chair. Wentai Liu, an accomplished bioengineer whose pioneering innovations have restored vision to the blind and mobility to the paralyzed, will continue to advance groundbreaking research in biomedical engineering as the inaugural holder of the J.M. Maguire Term Chair.

Maguire was the first woman to receive the International von Kármán Wings Award, presented by Caltech in 2010 for her leadership in advancing national security, civil and commercial space systems. She has also been honored with UCLA Samueli’s Alumni Professional Achievement Award in 2010 and the Alum of the Year Award, the school’s highest honor, in 2017. She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2011 and is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a member of the International Academy of Astronautics. 

Maguire earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in engineering from UCLA Samueli. She also completed the executive program in management at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Senior Executives in National and International Security program.

A generous supporter of UCLA, Maguire pledged $1 million this year to create an endowed undergraduate research fund in engineering, along with a $250,000 gift for additional undergraduate research support. In 2016, she donated $250,000 to endow an undergraduate engineering scholarship. Beyond UCLA Samueli, Maguire has also contributed to UCLA Anderson, UCLA Athletics and the broader campus.

“Creating this endowed chair is about pushing the frontiers of engineering. I’ve long believed that world-changing innovation begins in the lab — through rigorous research, unconventional thinking and the freedom to pursue bold ideas that will shape our future,” Maguire said. “It is incredibly rewarding to have even a small part in Wentai Liu’s pioneering research at UCLA. I am thrilled that he has been selected as the inaugural chairholder.”

Liu has pioneered technologies that combine electronic and biological properties to help people regain physical abilities and improve quality of life. From a bionic eye to the latest brain-machine interface technology for early detection and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, Liu has devoted his research to furthering the understanding of diseases and finding innovative treatment solutions. He joined the UCLA Samueli faculty in 2011 and holds a joint faculty appointment in electrical and computer engineering. 

Throughout Liu’s long career, which began when bioengineering and biomedicine were in their infancy, he has collaborated with physicians to steer his engineering expertise toward solving problems in health and medicine. At North Carolina State University, Liu co-directed the burgeoning Artificial Retina Project, which he brought to UC Santa Cruz in 2003. This project, which successfully restored light perception to patients blinded by inherited eye diseases that cause progressive vision loss, uses a chip originally developed by Liu and its later iterations as key components.

Liu is currently researching the use of electrical signals to alleviate nerve damage caused by chemotherapy. He is also developing treatments to reduce post-operative pain from gastrointestinal ailments and to suppress neuropathic pain through electrical stimulation.