Alumni News
2015 News Releases
UC San Diego Engineering Dean to Give Keynote at RoboUniverse San Diego
December 9, 2015
Albert P. Pisano, dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, will give a keynote address — “Building a Robotics Hub in San Diego” — at the RoboUniverse San Diego conference on Dec. 16 at the San Diego Convention Center. The talk is one component of broad UC San Diego engagement at this robotics conference that comes on the heels of the launch of the Contextual Robotics Institute at UC San Diego in October. Full Story
Electric fields remove nanoparticles from blood with ease
November 23, 2015
Engineers at the University of California, San Diego developed a new technology that uses an oscillating electric field to easily and quickly isolate drug-delivery nanoparticles from blood. The technology could serve as a general tool to separate and recover nanoparticles from other complex fluids for medical, environmental, and industrial applications. Full Story
Shu Chien among UC San Diego Professors Named AAAS Fellows
November 23, 2015
Bioengineering professor Shu Chien is among six University of California, San Diego professors named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society. They are among 347 members selected this year by colleagues in their disciplines to be honored for scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. Shu Chien, MD, PhD, is a professor of medicine and bioengineering and director of the Institute of Engineering in Medicine at UC San Diego. He was cited for “continuing outstanding contributions to vascular physiology and vascular cell and molecular biology, which have greatly increased our understanding of vascular pathologies including atherosclerosis.” His work, which focuses on the study of how blood flow and pressure affect vessels, earned him a National Medal of Science in 2011. He is one of only 11 scholars in the United States to be a member of all three national academies: Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Full Story
Round-the-Clock Hackathon Helps Coders Make Connections, Develop 'Crazy Ideas'
October 15, 2015
More than 1,000 computer science students gathered in a massive air-conditioned tent at UC San Diego’s Triton Track and Field Stadium Oct. 2-4 for the first-ever SD Hacks competition. The 36-hour round-the-clock hackathon challenged student teams to generate innovative working projects or “hacks” that rely on software, biotechnology, virtual reality, and more. Full Story
Meet the Jacobs School's 17 new faculty
October 14, 2015
The Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego is building and strengthening its research abilities by hiring 17 new faculty this year. With these hires, the school is increasing its impact in clinical medicine, robotics, wireless technologies, genomics, data sciences and cybersecurity, clean energy, advanced manufacturing—and more. Full Story
Robots in the Operating Room
October 1, 2015
University of California, San Diego bioengineering alumnus Jonathan Sorger, Director of Medical Research at Intuitive Surgical in Sunnyvale, California, is one of the ten keynote speakers at the UC San Diego Contextual Robotics Forum on Oct. 30, 2015. Sorger will offer a vision of the future of medical robotics, including how technologies will continue to augment the surgical experience. Full Story
Babies time their smiles to make their moms smile in return
September 23, 2015
Why do babies smile when they interact with their parents? Could their smiles have a purpose? In the Sept. 23 issue of PLOS ONE, a team of computer scientists, roboticists and developmental psychologists confirm what most parents already suspect: when babies smile, they do so with a purpose—to make the person they interact with smile in return. To verify their findings, researchers programmed a toddler-like robot to behave like the babies they studied and had the robot interact with undergraduate students. They obtained the same results: the robot got the undergraduates to smile as much as possible, while smiling as little as possible. Full Story
NSF Locates National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure Site at UC San Diego
September 17, 2015
The University of California, San Diego has been named one the first university sites in the new NSF National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI). The agency will fund UC San Diego $1.1 million annually over five years to advance nanoscale science and engineering and develop transformative nanotechnologies and nanotechnology-based startups. Full Story
Targeted drug delivery with these nanoparticles can make medicines more effective
September 16, 2015
Nanoparticles disguised as human platelets could greatly enhance the healing power of drug treatments for cardiovascular disease and systemic bacterial infections. These platelet-mimicking nanoparticles, developed by NanoEngineers at UC San Diego, are capable of delivering drugs to targeted sites in the body — particularly injured blood vessels, as well as organs infected by harmful bacteria. Full Story
UC San Diego to Host Robotics Leaders at Forum Focused on Future of Robotic Systems
September 14, 2015
On October 30, 2015, the University of California, San Diego will host a one-day event focused on the future of robotics for medicine, autonomous vehicles, first-response scenarios, consumer applications and more. Full Story
UC San Diego is No. 1 in Nation for Sixth Year, According to Washington Monthly
August 24, 2015
For the sixth consecutive year, the University of California, San Diego has been ranked the number one university in the nation by Washington Monthly for its contributions to the public good. The magazine released its 2015 College Guide today, an annual issue that takes a different approach to ranking the nation’s colleges and universities. Full Story
IEEE Online Magazine for Teens Features UC San Diego Professor and Smart Vehicles
August 24, 2015
The online publication of IEEE intended to inspire students ages 14 through 18 to learn more about engineering, technology and computing has placed its current focus on the field of “intelligent vehicles”, and to highlight careers in the field, IEEE Spark put the spotlight on UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering electrical and computer engineering distinguished professor Mohan Trivedi. Trivedi is also the past leader of Calit2’s Intelligent Transportation and Telematics research at UC San Diego. Full Story
Bioinformatics Pioneers Launch First Online Bioinformatics Specialization on Coursera
August 18, 2015
Learners around the world will have the opportunity to enroll in a series of courses designed for biologists eager to gain computational skills and for computer scientists who want to explore the frontier of bioinformatics. UC San Diego will launch its six-course Specialization in Bioinformatics on Coursera, which culminates in a Capstone Project using software tools and big data provided by Illumina, a leading company in genome sequencing and the emerging field of personalized medicine. Full Story
UC San Diego Tech Accelerator Dedicated to Supporting Female Technology Entrepreneurs Wins Award from U.S. Small Business Administration
August 11, 2015
The mystartupXX accelerator program at the University of California, San Diego is aimed at empowering the next generation of women technology entrepreneurs. For the second year in a row, mystartupXX has been named a winner of the national Growth Accelerator Fund competition, which comes with a $50,000 award from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Full Story
UC San Diego Startup Invited to First-Ever White House Demo Day
August 11, 2015
Wearless Tech, Inc., a San Francisco/San Diego startup with its roots in the University of California, San Diego’s Computer Science and Engineering department, was invited to showcase their first product – a wellness video baby monitor – in the first-ever White House Demo Day on August 4, 2015. Full Story
'Minecraft Modding for Kids' teaches computer programming while you play Minecraft
July 13, 2015
Does your child spend hours playing Minecraft every day? Now there’s a book and software package that can help them learn computer programming while they’re doing it. “Minecraft Modding for Kids,” part of the For Dummies series, is co-authored by three Ph.Ds. at the University of California, San Diego, and is being released July 13, 2015. “The book teaches many of the concepts taught in introductory computer science classes,” said Sarah Guthals, now a postdoctoral researcher in computer science at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego and lead author. Full Story
Jacobs School alumnus helps engineering team win $1 million in DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals
July 8, 2015
When the Running Man robot won second place at this year’s DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals, the Jacobs School of Engineering had reason to celebrate. One of the engineers behind the robot’s controls was Chris Schmidt-Wetekam, who earned his Ph.D. in the research group of mechanical engineering professor Thomas Bewley in 2010 here at the University of California, San Diego. Full Story
Why the seahorse's tail is square and how it could be an inspiration for robots and medical devices
July 2, 2015
Why is the seahorse’s tail square? An international team of researchers has found the answer and it could lead to building better robots and medical devices. In a nutshell, a tail made of square, overlapping segments makes for better armor than a cylindrical tail. It’s also better at gripping and grasping. Researchers describe their findings in the July 3 issue of Science. Full Story
Student Leaders Recognized at Annual Ring Ceremony
July 1, 2015
The UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering held its 9th annual Ring Ceremony on Saturday, June 13. Out of 700+ graduating engineers from across six departments, nearly 450 of them participated in the ceremony. Among them were a number of outstanding student leaders who were recognized by their department for Excellence in Leadership and Service. Full Story
$2 million gift from alumnus supports computer science undergraduate engineering education at UC San Diego
June 9, 2015
A $2 million gift from a University of California, San Diego alumnus will provide critical support for undergraduate education in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. The funds will help recruit, retain and support the professors and lecturers whose primary mission is to teach and mentor students. Full Story
UC San Diego Center for Networked Systems Launches LGBT Scholarship
June 2, 2015
To encourage a more diverse community in computer science education and research, the Center for Networked Systems (CNS) at the University of California, San Diego is establishing the Alan Turing Memorial Scholarship in partnership with private donors. Full Story
Programming probiotics for early detection of liver cancer metastases
May 27, 2015
Scientists at the University of California, San Diego and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have described a new method for detecting liver cancer metastases in mice. The approach uses over-the-counter probiotics genetically programmed to produce signals easily detectable in urine when liver cancer metastases are present. Full Story
Alumnus Reaches for the Stars
May 21, 2015
Robert Kolozs, a Jacobs School alumnus, is president of San Diego Composites Inc., a company he cofounded in 2004. The company built and tested more than 1,000 parts for NASA’s Orion spacecraft, a vehicle designed to carry astronauts to destinations in deep space, including an asteroid and Mars. On Dec. 5, Orion launched atop a Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex for a two-orbit, four-hour test flight. San Diego Composites manufactured everything from the vehicle’s windows to light composite elements connecting the spacecraft’s inner and outer shells. The company also built a key component of the system that would allow Orion’s crew to eject in an emergency. Full Story
Alumni-led company Tortuga Logic releases toolkit to transform hardware systems developers' approach to security
May 18, 2015
Tortuga Logic, a company co-founded by Ryan Kastner, a professor of computer science at the University of California, San Diego, computer science Ph.D. alumnus Jason Oberg and former postdoctoral researcher Jonathan Valamehr, released May 14 a comprehensive toolkit aiming to transform the way hardware designers and system architects test the security of hardware designs. Full Story
Event empowers students to study STEM fields
May 14, 2015
As a ninth grader, Diana has dreamt of being many different things, but an engineer has never been one of them.“I guess it just isn’t something you think could really happen for a lot of people. Those kinds of jobs feel so far away,” she said.She was among 150 students who attended the Empower High School Conference on Saturday, April 25—an event that hopes to make STEM jobs a more realistic career goal for students.By the end of the event, she was enthusiastic: “My favorite part of the day was touring the labs. Seeing all the resources here is definitely inspiring. It makes you feel like you could something really cool,” said Diana. Full Story
The Basement Is Open for Business
May 14, 2015
The basement of Mandeville Hall has been transformed into the nexus of innovation at UC San Diego—bringing together students and alumni, ideas and inspiration, earnest ambition and real-world experience. The humble beginnings you see here testify to the growth made possible by innovation, as the page is turned on a new chapter of university history. Full Story
Into the Amazon
May 14, 2015
In the summer of 2013, alumnus Jeffrey Lehmann was drinking wine on the patio of Marc Meyers, a mechanical engineering professor at the Jacobs School of Engineering. Though nearly a generation between them, the two had become friends shortly after Lehmann graduated and applied his engineering degree to new energy technologies before becoming a full-time filmmaker. Meyers, raised in Brazil, mentioned the Roosevelt River and his nearly lifelong desire to conduct a scientific expedition down its waters. He asked Lehmann to document the journey, and a uniquely UC San Diego story was born—blending science, history and environmentalism into one audacious adventure. Full Story
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Coding with Colorful Cards: Kids Learn Arduino-based Code with Tinker the Robot
May 12, 2015
Meet Tinker the Robot. UC San Diego mechanical engineering alumnus (2007) Kay Yang created him to teach and inspire children (ages 8-14) to play with robots. Full Story
Computer scientists combine computer vision and brain computer interface for faster mine detection
May 4, 2015
Computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have combined sophisticated computer vision algorithms and a brain-computer interface to find mines in sonar images of the ocean floor. The study shows that the new method speeds detection up considerably, when compared to existing methods—mainly visual inspection by a mine detection expert. Full Story
UC San Diego Alum Finds Dream Job, Engineering Students Learn How to Discover Theirs
May 1, 2015
“Every week, I get to teach kids how to build stuff that I think is really cool, and then watch what they create from it,” said Naderi. “I have my dream job.” The path to her dream job wasn’t a straight one, and Naderi recently returned to the Jacobs School of Engineering to impart her wisdom to undergraduate engineering students. Full Story
Lighting a Spark for Computer Programming
April 30, 2015
Second- to fifth-grade students at Adams Elementary School in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego are learning how to program while playing a simulated version of Minecraft, a popular computer game. The programming classes are made possible by a partnership between the San Diego Rotary Club, San Diego schools and ThoughtSTEM, a company co-founded by three Ph.D. students at UC San Diego. In addition to Adams, two other elementary schools and two middle schools in City Heights are taking part in the program. Full Story
Writes apps, will travel: a Q&A with Groupon Director of Mobile Engineering and Alumnus Mike Burton
April 28, 2015
Alumnus Mike Burton is Director of Mobile Engineering at Groupon. He also is the author of the "Android App Development for Dummies" book and of an open-source library for Android app development that is currently used by Microsoft, Skype, Starbucks and Nike. He has traveled around the world and rode a motorcycle from Alaska to Mexico. At UC San Diego, he was a master's student working with computer scientist William G. Griswold and bioengineer Andrew McCulloch after earning in a bachelor’s in electrical engineering. He also was part of the original team that put EarthKAM on the space shuttle and International Space Station for Sally Ride Science. The program allows the public to take pictures of the earth from a camera located on the International Space Station and is still in operation today. In this Q&A, Burton talks about his time at UC San Diego, his travels and his book. Full Story
Breast Tumor Stiffness and Metastasis Risk Linked by Molecule's Movement
April 20, 2015
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center have discovered a molecular mechanism that connects breast tissue stiffness to tumor metastasis and poor prognosis. The study, published April 20 inNature Cell Biology, may inspire new approaches to predicting patient outcomes and halting tumor metastasis.“We’re finding that cancer cell behavior isn’t driven by just biochemical signals, but also biomechanical signals from the tumor’s physical environment,” said senior author Jing Yang, PhD, associate professor of pharmacology and pediatrics. Full Story
Alumna, Incoming Student Share Passion for Computer Science and Basketball
April 17, 2015
There must be something about hoops, Tritons and computer science. Meet Marissa Hing. The 18-year-old high school senior was on campus April 4 to attend Triton Day, when more than 15,000 accepted students and their families converged on UC San Diego to get a taste of everything the university offers its students-to-be. Despite her 5-foot-1-inch height, Hing is also coming to play basketball on an athletic scholarship for the campus NCAA Division II team, after starring since her freshman year at Pinewood High School in Los Altos, Calif. Full Story
SISTERS in Science
April 2, 2015
How do you build the perfect water filter: with cotton balls or coffee filters? Or maybe sand? And how about decorations: feathers or duct tape? These were some of the questions groups of girls energetically debated on a recent Thursday afternoon at Paul Ecke Central Elementary School in Encinitas. It was all part of a girls-only after school program led by undergraduate students at UC San Diego, and funded by a three-year $800,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Full Story
Qualcomm Institute Launches Industry Innovation Space on UC San Diego Campus
March 30, 2015
Working closely with other campus entities to translate ideas from the lab into products and companies in the marketplace, the Qualcomm Institute has launched an Innovation Space where qualified faculty startups, industry partners or national laboratories can lease office or lab space inside the research institute’s headquarters building on the University of California, San Diego campus. Full Story
More than 213 Reasons to Attend Research Expo at UC San Diego
March 20, 2015
There are more than 213 reasons to attend Research Expo at the University of California, San Diego on April 16. That’s because 213 graduate students in engineering and computer science will present their research at the Research Expo poster session. Full Story
Help San Diego engineers drive cross country in an electric car in just 45 hours
March 17, 2015
San Diego engineers want to drive an electric car from coast to coast in just 45 hours and they need your help. The trip will be made possible by a new technology developed by researchers at the University of California, San Diego: a battery management system that will allow them to swap out and recharge the smaller modules that make up an electric vehicle’s battery. This is easier than swapping out the whole battery, which is cumbersome and requires large, heavy equipment. Full Story
Colorful Chips from UC San Diego are Ultra-miniaturized Energy Managers
March 16, 2015
The chips with colorful reflections in the photo are ultra-miniaturized energy management chips from the lab of University of California, San Diego electrical engineering professor Patrick Mercier. Full Story
Making the Past Present with Light, Warmth and a High-Tech Gaze
March 4, 2015
Late last year, two University of California, San Diego students set out for Florence, Italy, to diagnose a patient that had no prior medical record, couldn’t be poked or prodded in any way, and hadn’t been in prime condition for more than 800 years. The ‘patient’ in question is the Baptistery of St. John, a basilica that sits in the Piazza del Duomo, adjacent to the famous Florence Cathedral (known colloquially as “The Duomo”). The students, structural engineering Ph.D. candidates Mike Hess and Mike Yeager of the Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology, had been invited by the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo to conduct a structural 'health assessment' of the building, which was completed in 1128 and was the site where the Italian poet Dante and many other notable Renaissance figures were baptized. Full Story
More than 2,000 attend student-organized career fair
March 4, 2015
There might not be such a thing as a standing-room only job fair, but the Disciplines of Engineering Career Fair that took place on campus Feb. 20 came close. More than 2,000 students crowded the Price Center ballrooms and patiently waited in lines that were several people deep to talk to recruiters from more than 90 companies, including Apple, Facebook, Yahoo! and Google. Full Story
An interview with alumnus Nikolai Devereaux about Research Expo
February 26, 2015
Nikolai Devereaux earned a bachelor’s in computer science at the Jacobs School in 2001. Now an engineering project manager for ViaSat, he often comes back to campus. One of his favorite campus events is Research Expo, which showcases posters from more than 200 Ph.D. students from the Jacobs School’s six departments, as well as faculty talks. “It’s good for me, both personally and professionally,” Deveraux said. “It’s good for my company. And it’s fun.” We asked him what keeps him coming back. Full Story
New Engineering Research Centers at UC San Diego will be Highlighted at Research Expo
February 24, 2015
Professors leading four new research centers at the University of California, San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering will speak at Research Expo on April 16, 2015. The faculty talks will focus on cutting-edge research in wearable sensors, extreme events research, sustainable power and energy, and visual computing. Full Story
Engineering SISTERS
February 20, 2015
How do you build the perfect water filter? With cotton balls or coffee filters? How about sand? And how about decorations: feathers or duct tape? These were the questions groups of girls energetically debated on a warm Thursday afternoon in December at Paul Ecke Central Elementary School in Encinitas. It was all part of a girls-only after school program led by undergraduate students at the University of California, San Diego, and funded by a three-year $800,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The project is called SISTERS, short for Sustaining Interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Research in Society, and it reaches more than 130 girls in 5th- and 6th grade at four Encinitas elementary schools, with anywhere from 20 to 40 percent of the students live below the poverty line. “We want this program to make a profound and lasting difference in these girls’ lives,” said Mandy Bratton, SISTERS’ principal investigator. “We hope the engaging curriculum and the interaction with female scientists, engineers and undergraduates will ignite their interest in careers in science and engineering in which women continue to be underrepresented.” Full Story
Two UC San Diego Scientists Receive Stem Cell Technology Grants
February 3, 2015
The governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has awarded two University of California, San Diego researchers almost $3 million in combined funding to pursue new technologies intended to accelerate advances moving stem cell therapies out of the lab and into the clinic. Full Story
Improving Signal Amplification in Semiconductors and Other Optoelectronic Devices
January 27, 2015
According to the American Institute of Physics (AIP), a new signal amplification process developed by researchers at the University of California, San Diego is “now poised to fuel new generations of electrical and photonic devices – transforming communications, imaging, and computing.” The researchers in UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering, led by electrical and computer engineering professor Yuhwa Lo, have discovered a mechanism to amplify signals in optoelectronic systems that is far more efficient than the process long used by the semiconductor industry based on impact ionization. Full Story
Temporary Tattoo Offers Needle-Free Way to Monitor Glucose Levels
January 14, 2015
Nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego have tested a temporary tattoo that both extracts and measures the level of glucose in the fluid in between skin cells. This first-ever example of the flexible, easy-to-wear device could be a promising step forward in noninvasive glucose testing for patients with diabetes. Full Story