Ioanna Kakoulli, a professor of materials science and engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, died Jan. 1, 2026, in her home country of Cyprus after a prolonged battle with colon cancer. She was 57.

Three-time UCLA alumnus Henry Samueli, chairman of the board of Broadcom Inc. and the namesake of UCLA’s engineering school, has been selected for induction into the 2026 class of the National Inventors Hall of Fame for advancing and commercializing broadband technology.

That low-frequency fuzz that can bedevil cellphone calls has to do with how electrons move through and interact in materials at the smallest scale.