Distinguished Professor Chandrashekhar Joshi Appointed Inaugural Holder of Mukund
Padmanabhan Term Chair in Excellence
The distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering is known for his leadership in experimental plasma physics in a career spanning more than four decades at UCLA. Established in 2024 as one of two term chairs, each funded with a $500,000 gift from Mukund Padmanabhan M.S. ’89, Ph.D. ’92, the two chairs are matched with an additional $1 million from the Samueli Foundation.
UCLA Research Leads to World’s First Robotic-Assisted Cataract Surgery A surgical robotics platform developed by UCLA engineers and physicians was commercialized by Horizon Surgical Systems, a startup launched in 2021 and co-founded by UCLA faculty including Jacob Rosen, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and bioengineering, and Tsu-Chin Tsao, a distinguished professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.
UCLA and SLAC Develop Plasma Accelerator that Boosts Electron Beam Energy and Quality Simultaneously Researchers led by distinguished professor Chan Joshi of electrical and computer engineering and associate project scientist Chaojie Zhang, along with the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, have demonstrated a plasma accelerator advance that could pave the way for new scientific cameras and microscopes capable of probing nature’s fastest motions and smallest building blocks.
Where Art Meets Engineering: UCLA Samueli Premieres Film on Taiwan’s Role in the Global Chip Race Nearly 200 attendees gathered for the UCLA premiere of a documentary exploring Taiwan’s impact on the global microchip industry. The program featured remarks from Yang Yang, chair of the Materials Science and Engineering Department, and Kang Wang, a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering.
The Top 25 Bruinventions of the 21st Century (So Far) Seven of the 25 featured inventions were created by UCLA Samueli faculty or alumni, including an ocean-based carbon dioxide removal process spearheaded by director of the Institute for Carbon Management and civil and environmental engineering professor Gaurav Sant, a cortisol-sensing smartwatch created by electrical and computer engineering associate professor Sam Emaminejad and a sepsis test kit developed by Dino Di Carlo, a professor and chair of the Bioengineering Department.
I, Robot Dennis Hong, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor and director of the Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory, has spent a decade building 50-plus robots in all shapes and sizes, from humanoid to snakelike. At TED Talks and in live demonstrations, they are stars who turn audiences wide-eyed with wonder.
AI For Good UCLA Technology Development Group’s Innovation Magazine highlights associate professors Achuta Kadambi of electrical and computer engineering and Violet Peng of computer science in a campus-wide feature on faculty designing AI-powered tools to improve humanity.
Operation Connectivity: A 007 Spoof With the Innovators Who Started It All Two of the founding architects of the internet — Leonard Kleinrock, UCLA Samueli distinguished professor of computer science, and Vint Cerf, a UCLA Samueli alumnus — star in this Marconi Society video highlighting the importance of federal funding for life-changing innovations such as the internet.
American Physical Society Names Anya Jones and Aaswath Raman as Fellows Anya Jones, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and Aaswath Raman, an associate professor of materials science and engineering, have been elected fellows of the American Physical Society. The honor recognizes their contributions to experimental fluid dynamics and advances in thermal photonics, respectively.
UCLA Engineering Professor Aydogan Ozcan Elected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Aydogan Ozcan, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been elected a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts for his major contributions to mobile sensing, computational imaging, microscopy and medical diagnostics. He holds the Volgenau Chair for Engineering Innovation and has a faculty appointment at the Bioengineering Department.
UCLA Recognizes Instructors at 2025 Andrea L. Rich Night to Honor Teaching Jonathan Kao, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering who recently developed a new course on artificial intelligence, received a Distinguished Teaching Senate Faculty Award, UCLA’s highest teaching honor. Graduate students Alexis Korb of computer science and Ivy Kwok of civil and environmental engineering were each honored with a Distinguished Teaching Assistant Award.
Engineers With a Cause Engineering Without Borders at UCLA, a student-led organization dedicated to addressing basic human needs through engineering, has worked to provide clean water to a village in Uganda, an industrial-scale poultry farm in Nepal and a sewage management system for schools in Ethiopia, among other projects across nine countries.
UCLA SAMUELI IN THE NEWS
Bay Area City Adds New, Drought-Proof Source of Water David Jassby, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, comments on the importance of building desalination capacity locally to reduce water supply disruptions.
The First Patients Have Been Helped by Cancer-Fighting Cells Made Directly in Their Bodies Yvonne Chen, a professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics with a joint appointment in chemical and biomolecular engineering, comments on preliminary studies presented at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting that describe a breakthrough in developing an immune system cell inside cancer patients’ own bodies.
A Founder of the Internet Raises Concerns About Deepfakes, Disinformation In an interview in Singapore about the evolution of the internet and the rise of generative AI, internet pioneer and computer science distinguished professor Leonard Kleinrock expresses concerns about modern digital threats, deepfakes and disinformation.
Europium Complex Harvests Ambient Energy to Power Minirobots The publication features research co-led by Ximin He, an associate professor of materials science and engineering, on inchworm-like soft robots that harness ambient thermal energy to sustain continuous motion over long periods of time.
Phages Carrying Silver Nanoparticles Could Combat Antibiotic Resistance Research led by chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Irene Chen is featured in the journal and focuses on bacteria-eating biophages that carry germicidal silver nanoparticles. The combination makes it harder for pathogens to develop resistance than traditional antibiotics.
A Double Bruin Engineer’s Path from Plane-Watching as a Child to Boeing Leadership As a boy growing up under the flight path of planes on final approach to LAX, Jack Castro ’87, M.S. ’91 didn’t need an aviation camp or aerospace museum to spark an interest in flight — he had his backyard. Today, Castro leads Boeing’s structural simulation strategy, shaping how and where simulation can most effectively strengthen the company’s competitive advantage.
