UCLA Samueli Announces Class of 2025 Awardees and Commencement Student Presenters Congratulations to school-wide outstanding Bachelor of Science Ryan Chaiyakul of computer engineering, Russell R. O’Neill Distinguished Service Award winner Jacqueline Thuy-Tram Duong of electrical engineering, and Harry M. Showman Prize recipients Brynn Beatty of mechanical engineering and Yanxi (Steven) Yang of chemical engineering.
National Science Foundation Awards Nearly $2M to UCLA for Cell-Free Biomanufacturing Initiative The National Science Foundation has awarded $1.9 million to UCLA Samueli as part of a major $7.5 million national initiative to develop more sustainable and efficient chemical manufacturing. Samanvaya Srivastava, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, serves as one of the project’s co-principal investigators.
AI-Designed Waveguides Pave the Way for Next-Generation Photonic Devices Led by Aydogan Ozcan, UCLA Samueli’s Volgenau Professor of Engineering Innovation and a professor of electrical and computer engineering and bioengineering, a UCLA research team has developed a versatile platform for creating “smart” waveguides that can be programmed to manipulate light with unprecedented flexibility, opening new possibilities for telecommunications, sensing and imaging.
Magnetic 3D-printed Pen Could Help Diagnose People with Parkinson’s The article features associate professor of bioengineering Jun Chen, who has led the development of a smart pen that can generate electromagnetic currents to record and analyze the subtle tremors of Parkinson’s patients, with 96% accuracy in a pilot study. The study also garners coverage in IEEE Spectrum and ZME Science.
The World Is Running Out of Clean Water. This Technology Promises to Fix It. Eric Hoek, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and member of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA, comments on the possibility of different methods of desalination to produce clean water. The interview is also featured on Mint.
This Hydrogel Heals Bleeding Hearts Research led by Nasim Annabi, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and bioengineering, is highlighted in the piece. The team has developed a new injectable surgical glue, which seals small wounds on injured organs and dissolves naturally while speeding the healing process.
Waymo No-Go Zones: Don’t Even Try to Get a Robotaxi in SF This Weekend In light of recent incidents involving the burning of Waymo’s vehicles, mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Rajit Gadh comments in this article on the likelihood that Waymo will add temperature and odor sensors, as well as cooling mechanisms, to its fleet.
A Guide to Navigating AI Chemistry Hype The story highlights research from Wei Wang, the holder of the Leonard Kleinrock Term Chair in Computer Science, which shows that the current models used to power ChatGPT incorrectly answered many questions taken from university-level exams and textbooks.
