Alumni News
2012 News Releases
Health Technologies Top List of New Calit2 Research Grants to UC San Diego Faculty
October 2, 2012
The University of California, San Diego division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology has given the green light to 17 new projects funded through the Calit2 Strategic Research Opportunities program. Seven of the projects are led by faculty at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego. All told, the winning proposals garnered more than $826,000 in support from Calit2 for the year-long projects, effective October 1, 2012. That is an 18 percent increase in funding compared to the inaugural round of CSRO grants awarded in 2010. Full Story
New Way of Fighting High Cholesterol Upends Assumptions
September 27, 2012
Atherosclerosis – the hardening of arteries that is a primary cause of cardiovascular disease and death – has long been presumed to be the fateful consequence of complicated interactions between overabundant cholesterol and resulting inflammation in the heart and blood vessels. However, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues at institutions across the country, say the relationship is not exactly what it appears, and that a precursor to cholesterol actually suppresses inflammatory response genes. This precursor molecule could provide a new target for drugs designed to treat atherosclerosis, which kills tens of thousands of Americans annually. Full Story
California Research Institute Launches International Innovation Initiative at UC San Diego
September 26, 2012
There is a new home base for visiting researchers at the University of California, San Diego, and it also serves engineering and other faculty members who need international funding to help get new technologies closer to commercialization. The International Innovation Initiative (i3) is part of the UC San Diego division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) and it will help drive its international agenda. Initial funding for i3 of $1 million annually for three years – which could eventually reach $5 million over five years – was a gift from the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industry Technology (KEIT) via the Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI). UC San Diego electrical and computer engineering professor Truong Nguyen is the lead faculty member for Calit2's International Innovation Initiative. Full Story
New Server Cooling Technology Deployed in Pilot Program at Calit2
September 19, 2012
The California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) at the University of California, San Diego has become the inaugural test site for a new approach to cooling computer servers – a technology that could improve energy efficiency and enable higher-performance computing. Full Story
Toyota Adds UC San Diego to Safety Research Partners
September 18, 2012
The Toyota Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC) is expanding its groundbreaking, partner-based automotive safety initiative with the launch of seven new research programs undertaken in partnership with 11 leading research institutions from across North America, including the University of California, San Diego. Full Story
Science study: 'Promiscuous' enzymes still prevalent in metabolism
August 30, 2012
Open an undergraduate biochemistry textbook and you will learn that enzymes are highly efficient and specific in catalyzing chemical reactions in living organisms, and that they evolved to this state from their “sloppy” and “promiscuous” ancestors to allow cells to grow more efficiently. This fundamental paradigm is being challenged in a new study by bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego, who reported in the journal Science what a few enzymologists have suspected for years: many enzymes are still pretty sloppy and promiscuous, catalyzing multiple chemical reactions in living cells, for reasons that were previously not well understood. Full Story
Program trains professionals in medical device engineering
August 20, 2012
Dan Braun earned a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering at the University of California, San Diego in 2006. Five years later he came back to enroll in the inaugural class of the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering’s Master of Advanced Study Program in Medical Device Engineering. The cross-disciplinary program is designed to train working professionals to apply their engineering know-how and workforce experience to a new career in one of the region’s fastest growing technology sectors. Full Story
SDSC, Jacobs School Mourn the Loss of Allan Snavely
July 16, 2012
Allan Snavely, a widely recognized expert in high-performance computing whose innovative thinking led to the development of the Gordon supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego, died of an apparent heart attack on Saturday, July 14. He was 49. While at SDSC Snavely also was an adjunct professor in computer science and engineering at UC San Diego, where he earned a PhD from the Jacobs School of Engineering in 2000. Full Story