UCLA Samueli Kicks Off 2024-25 Academic Year with Engineering Welcome Day for Undergraduate and Graduate Students UCLA Samueli hosted more than 1,100 new first-year, transfer and graduate students at two separate events one day before the start of fall instruction. The annual schoolwide undergraduate Engineering Welcome Day was organized by the Engineering Society at UCLA, while the graduate student orientation was hosted by student affairs officers and departmental staff with the help of the Engineering Graduate Student Association.
UCLA Researchers Join DOE-Funded Consortium to Develop New Aqueous Battery for Electrical Grids The approximate $5 million grant over nearly four-and-a-half years from the combined five-year, $62.5 million Department of Energy award will fund research into next-generation batteries utilizing water-based chemistry as an alternative to conventional lithium-ion batteries. The research team is co-led by Sarah Tolbert, a distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry and materials science and engineering; Bruce Dunn, a distinguished professor of materials science and engineering and bioengineering; and Yuzhang Li, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.
UCLA Engineers Develop Scalable Process to Decarbonize Cement Production Researchers from UCLA’s Institute for Carbon Management (ICM) have developed a method that could eliminate nearly all of the carbon dioxide emitted during the process of cement production, which accounts for about 8% of global atmospheric CO2 emissions. The ICM team includes civil and environmental engineering faculty Gaurav Sant (also with materials science and engineering), David Jassby and Fabian Rosner, as well as Dante Simonetti of chemical and biomolecular engineering.
Immune-Based Treatment Gets a Boost to Its Cancer-Fighting Superpowers A UCLA team co-led by Yu Huang, a materials science and engineering professor and the Traugott and Dorothea Frederking Professor of Engineering, recently published research into boosting T cells to improve their ability to fight cancerous cells.
New AI Model Efficiently Reaches Clinical-Expert-Level Accuracy in Complex Medical Scans UCLA researchers, led by adjunct professor Eran Halperin of computer science and computational medicine, have developed a deep-learning framework that teaches itself to automatically analyze and diagnose MRIs and other 3D medical images quickly with accuracy matching that of medical specialists in a fraction of the time.
Quantum Sensing for Humanity Event Brings Together Builders and Users of Quantum Sensors The event explored the potential use of quantum sensing to address climate change and public health challenges. Panelists included UCLA professor Prineha Narang of physical sciences and electrical and computer engineering and assistant professor Sergio Carbajo of electrical and computer engineering and physics and astronomy.
UCLA Engineer Receives Nearly $1M in Government Funding for Agricultural Research
Khalid Jawed, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, has received a four-year, $728,000 grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture for the creation of technology to capture and create 3D reconstructions of farming environments. A separate three-year, $253,000 grant from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation will support his research into drone-based pest control.
UCLA Materials Science Professor Receives DOE Award for Materials Synthesis Research Daniel Schwalbe-Koda, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering, has received a 2024 Early Career Research Program Award from the U.S. Department of Energy. The five-year, nearly $875,000 grant will support Schwalbe-Koda’s development of theoretical and computational techniques to better understand how materials can be synthesized at the atomic level.
UCLA Computer Scientist Demetri Terzopoulos Elected to the Canadian Academy of Engineering Demetri Terzopoulos, a distinguished professor and chancellor’s professor of computer science, has been named a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. Chosen as one of 49 new fellows this year, Terzopoulos was recognized by the professional society for his novel approach to computer graphics and computer vision that unites the two fields using physics.
UCLA SAMUELI IN THE NEWS
These Beaches Are Among LA's Favorites. But They're Fake Featured on BBC, UCLA Samueli associate professor Timu Gallien of civil and environmental engineering shares insights on how sand dunes, such as those made of native wildflowers on Santa Monica Beach, are nature's way of protecting its coast from flooding and erosion.
UCLA Professor Gaurav Sant Named Amongst Forbes Sustainability Leaders
Pritzker Professor of Sustainability and director of UCLA’s Institute for Carbon Management Gaurav Sant, who is also a professor of civil and environmental engineering and materials science and engineering at UCLA Samueli, is among 50 sustainability superstars highlighted by Forbes’ inaugural list of entrepreneurs, scientists, funders, policymakers and activists leading the fight against climate change.
California Hospitals Scramble on Earthquake Retrofits as State Limits Extensions Professor Jonathan Stewart of civil and environmental engineering shares his insights on the importance of hospitals meeting new building standards against earthquakes, citing a 2023 earthquake in Turkey that damaged or destroyed multiple hospitals.
Sepsis Causes Over 350,000 Deaths Annually. This Lab Test Can Reduce That by A Third Co-founded by UCLA Samueli Department of Bioengineering chair and professor Dino Di Carlo and UCLA alumnus Henry Tse, Cytovale has developed a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-cleared, rapid diagnostic tool for sepsis. The startup just raised $100 million to roll it out to hospital systems across the country. (Article behind a paywall, subscription required.)
L.A. Courthouses Crumble With 'Run to Failure' Maintenance UCLA Samueli adjunct professor Tom Sabol of civil and environmental engineering, who has worked on courthouse seismic ratings, shares that many of L.A. County’s court facilities were built prior to 1971, when the San Fernando earthquake expanded engineers’ understanding of seismically safe building design.
A Shape-Shifting Metamaterial Inspired by Push Puppets UCLA Samueli postdoctoral researcher Wenzhong Yan and assistant professor Ankur Mehta of electrical and computer engineering and mechanical and aerospace engineering are featured in this piece for their research creating a tunable, dynamic material that mimics the inner workings of push puppets.
Robot Video Friday The Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory at UCLA led by mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Dennis Hong has its latest multi-modal, versatile climbing robot SCALER-B featured in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ weekly journal.
A Conversation With Dr. Jason Cong, the 2024 Phil Kaufman Award Winner The podcast featuring UCLA Samueli computer science distinguished professor Jason Cong, who holds the Volgenau Chair for Engineering Excellence, covers his pioneering contributions to the semiconductor field, as well as his long teaching career at UCLA.
First-Gen Engineering Student Leader Inspires Latinx Youth, Advocates for Representation in STEM A third-year mechanical engineering student at UCLA Samueli, Gabriel Centeno serves as the sciences director on the executive board of the Society of Latinx Engineers and Scientists at UCLA. He combines his love for engineering and mentorship to help foster leadership and professional development in underrepresented youth who may not have had much exposure to engineering opportunities otherwise.
ALUMNI
From UCLA to the Stars: Engineering Alumnus Leads U.S. Space Force’s Arctic Satellite Program When Adam Provinchain ’14 first set foot on UCLA’s campus as a 17-year-old freshman, he never imagined that one day he’d be leading a satellite communications project for the United States Space Force. Now, as chief engineer of the U.S. Space Force’s Enhanced Polar System-Recapitalization program, Provinchain plays a pivotal role in ensuring secure communications in some of the world’s most challenging regions.