|
E-BULLETIN
UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science
January 10, 2007
DEAN'S
LETTER
I hope all of you enjoyed the holidays with family and friends
and are feeling refreshed and ready for an exciting new year!
I often remark that "change creates opportunity."
This is very much the situation for engineering schools across
the country today – exciting innovations and collaborations
continue to cross traditional boundaries, redefining our profession.
As UCLA Engineering has grown into one of the
top engineering programs in the country, we have changed in many
ways, but we have not wavered from Dean Boelter’s early
vision of an engineering program with imagination and integrity.
The UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science
is committed to a better future – we make discoveries that
truly mean a better tomorrow for Los Angeles and the world.
Notwithstanding the critical research and innovative
breakthroughs that happen within our walls, never far from my
mind is the fact that this is a school – an extraordinary
school. Every interaction I have with our talented students reinforces
my faith in a bright future.
The School's continued emphasis on interdisciplinary
research and education, encouraging our graduates to achieve both
a breadth and depth of knowledge, ensures that they, like those
before them, will continue to be leaders and visionaries in both
academia and industry.
These are exciting times for the School, its students,
faculty, alumni and our many friends. We have much to celebrate
and look forward to as we grow and build upon our achievements.
We want to be sure you are aware of the many things
happening at the School. I hope that this coming year you will
visit us on campus, take a stroll through the School, chat with
our faculty, and also take a walk past the new building along
Portola Way – it is a very visible sign of the success you
have helped us to create.
Sincerely,
Vijay K. Dhir
Dean
FEATURE
STORIES
 Gene
D. Block Named New UCLA Chancellor
Gene D. Block, 58, vice president and provost of the University
of Virginia and a respected biologist, will be UCLA’s ninth
chancellor. His appointment, which was recommended by UC President
Robert C. Dynes, was confirmed by the Regents on December 21.
Block, who will take office on or before August 1, 2007, was selected
in a nationwide search. For more information, click
here.
 Advance
in Flexible Electronics Boosts Performance, Manufacturing
Flexible electronics made with organic, or carbon-based, transistors
could enable technologies such as low-cost sensors on product
packaging and "electronic paper" displays as thin and
floppy as a placemat. But the best mass-producible organic transistors
so far have only milquetoast performance, and products using them
have yet to come to market. In a recent study published in the
journal Nature, materials science professor Yang Yang and other
researchers at UCLA and and Stanford Unviersity point the way
toward manufacturing truly useful flexible electronics with high-performance
organic transistors. To read more, click
here.
OTHER NEWS
 UCLA
Engineering Research - Transforming Our Lives
From nitinol heart valves for children to physical therapy devices,
environmental studies, and programs that promote diversity, the
UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering is impacting the future.
View video highlights of some of the faculty's most recent research
and innovative school programs by clicking
here.
 Looking
to the Year Ahead - UCLA Engineering Gears Up for the 2007 Call
Campaign
The School has set some exciting goals for 2006 – 2007.
Beginning this month and continuing through February, our students
will begin our annual calling campaign to share information about
UCLA Engineering with you and to ask you to participate in the
Engineering Annual Giving Program. Your support – however
you choose to give, or in whatever amount your gift – is
vital to the continued growth and recognition of the school. Click
here to find out more.
Grad Student Association Nurtures Engineering Talent
The UCLA Engineering Graduate Student Association offers a range
of benefits for its members, from purely social activities, like
bowling or paintball, to seminars that cultivate a culture of
entrepreneurship and socials with other graduate students on campus
to broaden students networks. Find out more about the good work
the association does by clicking
here.
Engineering Faculty Win Awards and Honors
Chemical and Biomolecular engineering professor Yoram
Cohen was honored as a Distinguished Visiting Professor
at Victoria University (Melbourne, Australia) in December 2006.
Cohen is collaborating with scientists at the Institute for Sustainability
and Innovation and the Weribee Water Center at Victoria University
in a number of desalination technology areas including the application
of Accelerated Chemical Demineralization/RO process developed
at UCLA Engineering.
Mechanical and Aerospace engineering professor
Rajit Gadh participated in the PAN IIT 2006 Global
Conference in Mumbai, India, in December. The event was organized
by the alumni of Indian Institutes of Technology, with participation
by an estimated 5,000 members from around the globe. He chaired
one of the sessions on "What you can learn from successful
entrepreneurs - Scaling up."
Civil and Environmental Engineering professor
Jiann-Wen "Woody" Ju has been elected
by popular vote as a member-at-large of the United States Association
for Computational Mechanics (USACM), and a member of the executive
committee for the organization. The USACM is the international
authority in computational mechanics and engineering. Ju will
serve a four-year term beginning December 2006.
Computer Science professor Lixia Zhang
has been selected as an Association for Computing Machinery Fellow
for her contributions to protocol designs for packet switched
networks. The ACM Fellows Program was established in 1993 to recognize
and honor outstanding ACM members for their achievements in computer
science and information technology and for their significant contributions
to the mission of the ACM. The ACM Fellows serve as distinguished
colleagues to whom the ACM and its members look for guidance and
leadership as the world of information technology evolves.
MEDIA WATCH:
UCLA ENGINEERING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
CNET News
Researchers
find new twist in bendy electronics
University researchers have shown that flexible electronics made
with organic, carbon-based transistors are much more feasible
than previously thought, potentially leading to devices like electronic
paper.
Science Letter – [Link
unavailable]
Recent developments reported by University of California, U.S.
Researchers at the University of California - Los Angeles Henry
Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science announced they
have developed a new reverse osmosis (RO) membrane that promises
to reduce the cost of seawater desalination and wastewater reclamation.The
new membrane, developed by civil and environmental engineering
assistant professor Eric Hoek and his research team, uses a uniquely
cross-linked matrix of polymers and engineered nanoparticles designed
to draw in water ions but repel nearly all contaminants.
Photonics.com
New
Technique Brings Flexible Electronics Closer to Reality
Researchers have devised a method for printing patterns of high-performance
organic single-crystal transistors on surfaces such as silicon
wafers and flexible plastic, which could enable fast, bendable
electronics such as low-cost sensors on product packaging and
"electronic paper" displays.
Red Nova
Characteristics
of Highway Stormwater Runoff
Managing water pollution from the millions of miles of highways
throughout the United States is one of the important goals for
urban stormwater pollution management. Unfortunately, the magnitude
of the potential problem is still not quantified and methods still
not developed. Highways have been identified in some watersheds
as one of the leading causes of the degradation of water quality
and contribute to various other problems, such as the excessive
rate of runoff. Civil and environmental engineering professor
Michael Stenstrom and colleagues suggest an approach to this ongoing
challenge.
Science Daily
Flexible
Electronics Advance Boosts Performance, Manufacturing
Flexible electronics made with organic, or carbon-based, transistors
could enable technologies such as low-cost sensors on product
packaging and ''electronic paper'' displays as thin and floppy
as a placemat. But the best mass-producible organic transistors
so far have only milquetoast performance, and products using them
have yet to come to market. In a new study published in Nature,
researchers at Stanford and the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering
and Applied Science point the way toward manufacturing truly useful
flexible electronics with high-performance organic transistors.
Voice of San Diego
Regulatory
Gap Stifles Pollution Control
The water board estimates 34 percent of the copper pollution that
impacts Chollas Creek comes from roadways. The creek, which runs
along Highway 94, is also crossed by Interstates 5, 15 and 805.
Nearly half of the lead found in its water comes from freeways,
the board estimates. Though lead began being phased out of gasoline
in 1973, it still lingers in unpaved roadway shoulders. "It's
very difficult to intercept this copper or other metals once they're
out there," said Keith Stolzenbach, a professor of civil
and environmental engineering at University of California, Los
Angeles, who is researching atmospheric deposition. "It's
hard to imagine a practical solution once it gets out. The real
practical solution is to identify the sources and deal with them."
Azo Nano
Researchers
Step Closer to Flexible Electronics Made with Organic Transistors
Flexible electronics made with organic, or carbon-based, transistors
could enable technologies such as low-cost sensors on product
packaging and ''electronic paper'' displays as thin and floppy
as a placemat.
Advanced Manufacturing Technology – [Link
unavailable]
Robotic Microhand; Yen-Wen Lu Of Rutgers University And Chang-Jin
Kim Of University Of California Design A Robotic Microhand
Micro-electromechanical systems scientist Yen-Wen Lu at Rutgers
University, Piscataway, N.J., and mechanical engineer Chang-Jin
Kim at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Henry
Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have designed
a robotic microhand, which could manipulate a variety of tasks
in the given environment. The microhand, which has four fingers,
approximately 1 mm in fist diameter, has been made using conventional
semiconductor manufacturing techniques. Flexible in structure,
it has proven to be gentle enough to pluck even a single delicate
fish egg from an egg mass.
---
The E-Bulletin is produced by the Office of External
Affairs in the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied
Science, and distributed on the second Wednesday of each month.
To share comments or a story you think our subscribers would like
to read, email us!
You can subscribe or unsubscribe from the UCLA
Engineering monthly E-Bulletin by clicking
here.
View past e-Bulletins:
|
