The devastating fires across Los Angeles County over the past few weeks have caused so much pain and suffering; many in our communities have lost their homes and loved ones, faced evacuation, or been impacted in other ways. As our brave firefighters and first responders continue to combat the wildfires, I wish to share my sincere condolences to those affected and make sure that everyone in the UCLA Samueli community is supported.
In spite of the overwhelming obstacles, it is truly heartwarming to see the tremendous strength, kindness and humanity demonstrated by our Bruins even as we face continued uncertainties and challenges. I am deeply grateful to those of you who, despite personal hardships, have volunteered your time and efforts to help others. I feel so proud to be part of this resilient and resourceful community.
The various campus resources and relief efforts are detailed in this post. Please stay safe and connected so we can continue to support one another and work together to mitigate this catastrophe and rebuild our community.
Best, Ah-Hyung “Alissa” Park Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean
UCLA’s Online Engineering
Master’s Program Ranked No. 1 for Three Years in a
Row U.S. News & World Report has awarded the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering program the top spot in its online engineering rankings for the third year in a row and the seventh time in 11 years. The Master of Science in Engineering Online program is delivered entirely online, allowing professionals to earn a master’s degree while holding a full-time job.
New Cooling Pump Drops Temperatures by 16 Degrees, More at Source of Heat Published in Science magazine and led by materials science and engineering professor Qibing Pei, the research involves a new compact cooling tech that pumps away heat using layers of polymer thin films. The advancement shows potential for wearable and portable cooling devices.
AI-Powered Staining in Microbiology: Virtual Gram Staining of Label-free Bacteria UCLA researchers led by Aydogan Ozcan — a professor of electrical and computer engineering, bioengineering and the Volgenau Chair for Engineering Innovation — have developed a deep learning-based system that transforms microscopic images of label-free bacteria into their Gram-stained equivalents, eliminating the need for traditional chemical staining.
Yuzhang Li and Bolei Zhou Receive Young Investigator Awards from the Office of Naval Research Assistant professors Yuzhang Li of chemical and biomolecular engineering and Bolei Zhou of computer science have each received a Young Investigator Program Award from the Office of Naval Research to support their work on next-generation batteries and computer vision, respectively.
UCLA and Amazon Announce 2024 Science Hub Awards The Science Hub for Humanity and Artificial Intelligence, established by Amazon and UCLA in 2021, has announced eight gift-funded awards recognizing multidisciplinary UCLA researchers who are studying the societal impact of artificial intelligence.
UCLA Instructors Honored at Annual Distinguished Teaching Award Ceremony Mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Jeff Eldredge is one of the nine honorees chosen to receive the award. Sensing a disconnect between the theoretical coursework students did for traditional fluid dynamics courses and what they would be asked to do in industry, Eldredge gave students access to computational notebooks to use so they could freely explore fluid dynamics topics with a flexible structure.
UCLA SAMUELI IN THE NEWS
Pacific Palisades Home Survives Fires Only to be Destroyed by Landslide In this video interview, Jonathan Stewart, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and an expert in earthquake engineering, discusses the potential source of wildfire-exacerbated mudslide damage, and post-disaster efforts to understand and mitigate similar incidents.
AI Companies Are Preparing for the Second Trump Administration John Villasenor, a law and electrical and computer engineering professor who co-directs the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law and Policy, comments on anticipated changes in AI companies’ operation under the Trump Administration.
Carbon-Removal Tech Startups like Equatic and Climeworks Look to the Future of Sustainability Gaurav Sant, director of UCLA’s Institute for Carbon Management and a professor of civil and environmental engineering and materials science and engineering, shares his journey from reducing the carbon output of cement production to co-founding a startup to remove carbon dioxide from the oceans on an industrial scale.
AI Writing is Improving, But It Still Can’t Match Human Creativity Nanyun “Violet” Peng, an associate professor of computer science, comments on new research that compared the writing “creativity” of large language models to works made by humans, noting that researchers should look at the novelty not just of short strings of words, but of overall narrative and structure of a story.
Motivation, Resilience and Good Infrastructure Key to Success in Research: Physicist Chandrashekhar Joshi Distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering Chan Joshi is featured in this interview on the challenges facing engineering students in developing nations, the need for robust government support for engineering education and research, and the potential impact of AI on his research into plasma physics.