Ten suggestions for female faculty and staff during the pandemic
January 21, 2021
“Ten simple rules for women principal investigators during a pandemic,” was published recently in PLOS Computational Biology. It’s perhaps important to note that despite its title, the article is careful to say that the cardinal rule is that there are no rules. So all 10 points outlined are in fact suggestions. Also despite its title, Rangamani says most of the 10 points outlined in the publication can apply to all caregivers juggling work and caregiving during the pandemic. Full Story
UC San Diego Alumnus at Helm of Company Behind First At-Home COVID Test
January 21, 2021
In November 2020, Lucira Health received emergency use authorization for the first rapid at-home COVID-19 test from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Erik Engelson, a UC San Diego bioengineering and microbiology alumnus, is president and CEO of Lucira Health. He spoke about the process of getting the COVID-19 test kit through FDA emergency use authorization, his time at UC San Diego, and advice for students, in this Q&A. Full Story
Making masks smarter and safer against COVID-19
January 21, 2021
A new tool for monitoring COVID-19 may one day be right under your nose. Researchers at the University of California San Diego are developing a color-changing test strip that can be stuck on a mask and used to detect SARS-CoV-2 in a person’s breath or saliva. The project is aimed at providing simple, affordable and reliable surveillance for COVID-19 infections that can be done daily and easily implemented in resource-poor settings. Full Story
Five UC San Diego teams receive $100,000 to support groundbreaking research
January 19, 2021
The Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship (QIF) recognizes creative Ph.D. students, providing them with funding, mentoring and other resources to pursue innovative research. This year, five UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering teams were awarded fellowships – four from Computer Science and Engineering and one from Electrical and Computer Engineering. Full Story
Computer scientist named inaugural holder of the Halicioglu Endowed Chair in Memory Systems
January 15, 2021
UC San Diego Computer Science and Engineering Professor Steven Swanson is building computer systems that explore how new memory technologies will impact the future of computing. In recognition of his impressive body of research to create software to support persistent memory, Swanson was recently named the inaugural holder of the HalıcıoÄŸlu Chair in Memory Systems at UC San Diego. The $1 million chair is part of a larger $18.5 million gift made in 2013 to the department by CSE alumnus Taner HalıcıoÄŸlu ’96. The chair provides a dedicated source of funds, in perpetuity, for the chair holder’s scholarly activities as well as support for graduate students. Full Story
New Method Makes Better Predictions of Material Properties Using Low Quality Data
January 14, 2021
By combining large amounts of low-fidelity data with smaller quantities of high-fidelity data, nanoengineers at UC San Diego have developed a machine learning method to more accurately predict the properties of new materials including, for the first time, disordered materials. Full Story