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E-BULLETIN
UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science
December 13, 2006
DEAN'S
LETTER
It's hard to believe that yet another calendar year is coming
to a close. This fall has seen exciting changes occurring across
the School.
The new Center for Embedded Networked Sensing's
research building opened in October, and our brand new engineering
building, located on nearby Portola Way, is every day coming closer
to completion.
A number of talented individuals have joined the
School's faculty this fall, coming to UCLA from institutions across
the country. We also expect three additional faculty to join us
in the new year from Columbia, Berkeley, and M.I.T.
While we continually challenge our students in
the classroom to prepare them for success in the workforce, this
fall, we launched a new online Master of Science in Engineering
program to help our alumni thrive in their careers after they
leave us. Beginning in Spring 2007, the program will serve highly-qualified
engineers interested in deepening their knowledge of cutting-edge
engineering and technology.
I recently traveled to Taipei, Taiwan, and Tokyo,
Japan, as well as Seoul, Korea, and Hong Kong, China, where I
met with engineering alumni living in those countries. It was
gratifying to hear about the fond memories alumni have, and their
appreciation for the excellent education they received while at
UCLA. I enjoyed hearing about the diverse lives and successful
careers our former students have built since earning their degrees.
The strength of any great engineering program
lies in all of its people.
As we count our many blessings, I would particularly
like to take this opportunity to thank our staff for all that
they do. Their work is essential and also varied – there
are more than 250 full-time staff in the School, without whom
we would not remain among the top engineering programs in the
country. These men and women are the daily face of the School,
and are vital to the continued success of our mission of education,
research and service. I'm sure many of you have spoken with, or
worked with our helpful and talented staff in your interactions
with the School.
And to all of you who have supported the School,
we could not have achieved all that we have without your help
as well. Thank you.
I wish you all a safe and happy holiday season,
and a prosperous and healthy New Year.
Sincerely,
Vijay K. Dhir
Dean
FEATURE STORIES
Making a Difference in Darfur – Engineering Alumnus
Volunteers in War-Torn Region
 Brian
Y. Tachibana (BS '03, mechanical engineering) has already spent
nearly three months in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, helping to develop
fuel-efficient cooking stoves for the internally displaced people
living in the refugee camps. The way Tachibana tells it, he's
the one who feels fortunate to be able to participate in such
a worthwhile cause. To read more, click
here.
Plasma Coating Reinvented
Electrical engineering professor emeritus Frank Chen is proof
that retirement doesn't mean you stop working. Twelve years after
retiring, he has conceptualized, designed, and built new machine
for plasma coating that's much less expensive than current models,
and his work could impact, for example, the coating on that coveted
new flat screen TV. To read more, click
here.
OTHER NEWS
Robo Game Fever!
 Our
robot creation generates the same questions as any other engineering
project, from building bridges to the space shuttle: What is its
actual performance? What are the problems? Are we ready yet? As
we work on design and construction, we apply our theories to reveal
answers, says student Marianne So. So writes about the challenging
-- and exciting -- process of creating a 120-pound combat robot
for the 2006 International RoboGames. To read more, click
here.
Alumnus and Tau Beta Pi Member Mike Phelps
Supports Future Students
 "The
five years I spent at UCLA were the best years in my life, and
I wanted to give back to the School," said Michael Phelps
BS '71, MS '71." By establishing a new scholarship through
a planned gift, he is helping inspire and support a new generation
of engineering students at UCLA, and encouraging them to think
outside the confines of their studies. To read more, click
here.
Building the Future of Engineering –
See it Take Shape!
 This
year has been one of unprecedented momentum for the UCLA Henry
Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. The School
expects to complete a new $56 million engineering building to
expand its research and administrative space in 2007. The new
60,000 square feet structure, located on Portola Way, will boast
five floors of cutting-edge laboratories, seminar rooms, and a
number of unique common spaces. View a series of pictures of the
new building as it takes shape on campus – click
here.
Engineering Faculty Win Awards and Honors
Computer science professor Adnan Darwiche has
received the annual IJCAII-JAIR Best Paper prize for his outstanding
paper published in the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research
(JAIR) entitled "A Knowledge Compilation Map." The award
was given to Darwiche ". . . for an outstanding contribution
to the foundations of knowledge representation with long-term
significance in the field, but also with high potential for practical
applications within different areas of artificial intelligence
and beyond."
The board of directors of the Biomedical Engineering
Society (BMES) has elected distinguished professor of computer
science, medicine and biomedical engineering Joe DiStefano
as a 2005 BMES Senior Fellow.
Civil and environmental engineering professor
Jiann-Wen "Woody" Ju has been appointed
as editor of the International Journal of Damage Mechanics (IJDM).The
IJDM journal was established in 1992. Ju also has been elected
as a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE),
and has been reappointed to serve as the Chairman of the American
Concrete Institute Committee on Fracture Mechanics, which guides
the analysis and design of concrete structures in North America.
Chemical and biomolecular engineering professor
James Liao has received the Food, Pharmaceutical,
and Bioengineering Division Award from American Institute of Chemical
Engineers (AIChE), and gave an award lecture at the recent AIChE
Annual meeting in San Francisco.
Electrical engineering professor Warren
Mori, who also holds an appointment in physics and astronomy,
has been appointed director of the Institute for Digital Research
and Education (IDRE) at UCLA. Mori has a distinguished record
in addressing problems in plasma science and in the interactions
of lasers and particle beams with plasmas using advanced computational
and visualization techniques.
Professor Stanley Osher, who
holds joint appointments in computer science, electrical engineering
and math, recently was presented with an honorary degree from
the École Normale Supérieure de Cachan for his lifelong
work on representing, with a computer, continuous and infinitely
accurate phenomena.
Visiting chemical and biomolecular engineering
scholar Chiu-sen Wang, an emeritus professor
professor and dean at the College of Public Health at National
Taiwan University, has been presented with the 50th Anniversary
Award of the Japanese Society of Powder Technology. The Award
was given in recognition of his contributions to the promotion
of international cooperation in powder technology. For the past
two years, Wang has been working with chemical and biomolecular
engineering professor S. K. Friedlander and his group at UCLA
on understanding nanoparticle deposition in the human respiratory
tract.
MEDIA WATCH:
UCLA ENGINEERING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Discovery Channel News
Nanotech
Filter Delivers Drinking Water
Turn on the tap, and out comes clean, fresh water for drinking,
cooking and bathing. But not everyone is so lucky. Fresh water
is an increasingly limited resource, so finding a way to purify
polluted and saline waters is gaining interest. A new technology
from the University of California, Los Angeles could offer an
efficient and comparatively inexpensive means for accomplishing
just that.
KNBC “Today in LA”
Tomorrow's
Drinking Water
There has been a breakthrough in technology to turn saltwater
into drinking water and it comes from a professor at UCLA Engineering.
The development is exciting news since the need for a sustainable,
affordable supply of clean water is a key priority for our nation's
future. NBC4's Kelly Mack reports on how this is good for California.
CBS News (Youngstown, OH) –
[Clip unavailable]
A Car That Runs on Air?
A number of researchers across the country, including UCLA engineering
professor Tsu-Chin Tsao, are working to develop a car that actually
runs on air. Also appeared in Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Texas, Louisiana,
Georgia, Wisconsin, Illinois, Washington, Missouri, Virginia,
Utah, New York, and across Canada.
United Press International (UPI WIRE)
Nanotech
Desalination Membrane Developed
U.S. researchers say they've developed a reverse osmosis membrane
that promises to cut the cost of seawater desalination and wastewater
reclamation. Civil and environmental engineering Assistant Professor
Eric Hoek and colleagues developed the membrane at UCLA's School
of Engineering and Applied Science. It uses a uniquely cross-linked
matrix of polymers and engineered nanoparticles designed to draw
in water ions but repel nearly all contaminants.
US States News – [Link
unavailable]
UCLA Institute of Environment Urges More "Green" Practices
by Film and Television Industry
A growing number of individual film and television productions
and studios are taking innovative steps to minimize their effect
on the environment, but the industry's structure and culture hamper
the pace of improvements. One critical challenge to future progress
is developing systems to transmit, analyze and share huge masses
of data collected in a spatially and temporally dense manner from
sensors operating in space, plant canopies, soil and water, say
Deborah Estrin, professor of computer science and director of
the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS), and William
Kaiser, professor of electrical engineering. Civil and environmental
engineering professor Keith Stolzenbach also is quoted.
CNET News
A
Better Way to Make Seawater Drinkable
Researchers at University of California at Los Angeles have come
up with a membrane that can filter salt and impurities out of
seawater more efficiently and for less money than current systems,
which potentially could help with the world's looming water problems.
Africa News (Africa) –
[Link unavailable]
Nanotech Membrane Cuts Costs of Water Treatment
Water treatment such as desalination and wastewater reuse could
become much cheaper for developing countries, thanks to a purification
membrane developed using nanotechnology. Engineering researchers
at the US-based University of California in Los Angeles have designed
nanoparticles to create a membrane that does not clog easily,
allowing the water to be pumped through using less energy.
San Francisco Chronicle
Scientists
Set up in Sierra to Track Shrinking Snowpack
Coping with climate change takes sophisticated analytical tools.
In the mountain environments of the West, it also takes mules,
shovels and plenty of sweat. Noah Molotch, a UCLA engineering
lecturer, and Paul Kim, an undergraduate at UC Merced, broke ground
at California's latest global warming research site: a stony Sierra
hillside a half-hour's hike uphill from an old ski lodge in Sequoia
National Park. Molotch had come up with Kim to build what may
well be the world's most elaborate snow gauge. They are installing
a unique network of ground sensors, weather gear and other equipment
to measure how much snow and ice build up each winter in the 400-mile
Sierra range – and then see where the snowmelt goes.
SciDevNet (UK)
Nanotech
Membrane Makes Water Treatment Cheaper
Water treatment such as desalination and wastewater reuse could
become much cheaper for developing countries, thanks to a purification
membrane developed using nanotechnology. Engineering researchers
at the US-based University of California in Los Angeles have designed
nanoparticles to create a membrane that does not clog easily,
allowing the water to be pumped through using less energy.
Small Times
Nano
Tool Kits Go Beyond CMOS Electronics - Sideways
Researchers working on nanowires and compound semiconductors for
next generation electronics reported at SEMI NanoForum in San
Jose last week that they're getting practical results by turning
their focus to relatively simpler applications, such as batteries
and lighting. Yang Yang of UCLA argued that organic LEDs could
likely reach the same levels of high efficiency with similar nano
surface engineering. Currently his lab is producing light at 20
lumens per watt efficiency from a simple polymer coating between
two electrodes. But noted Yang, "It's just coated on, and
most of the light is trapped in the glass. Substrate engineering
should improve it significantly." He pointed out that the
OLED is a planar, not a point source, and its production is very
cheap and very high yield.
Nanotechnology Today
Nanotech
Water Desalination Membrane
Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and
Applied Science today announced they have developed a new reverse
osmosis (RO) membrane that promises to reduce the cost of seawater
desalination and wastewater reclamation.
Atlantic Monthly
Influential
People: Top Living Influentials
A list of the top living influential people presented in the December
issue of Atlantic Monthly includes Leonard Kleinrock, a computer
science professor emeritus at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of
Engineering and Applied Science. Kleinrock is noted at No. 21
as one of the “four fathers of the Internet,” along
with UCLA Engineering alumnus Vint Cerf.
Daily Bruin
Water
Purification Advances
UCLA researchers say they have developed a new way to convert
salt water to fresh water that will be more cost-efficient than
current methods. Eric Hoek, a professor of civil and environmental
engineering, and his team of researchers at the Henry Samueli
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences announced Nov. 5 that
they have developed a reverse osmosis membrane that will drastically
reduce energy consumption in desalinization and water reclamation
procedures.
Innovations Report (Germany)
Today's
Seawater is Tomorrow's Drinking Water
Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and
Applied Science today announced they have developed a new reverse
osmosis (RO) membrane that promises to reduce the cost of seawater
desalination and wastewater reclamation.
UCLA Today
Hope
for the World's Dwindling Supply of Drinking Water
Researchers at UCLA have created a membrane, structured at the
nanoscale, that promises to reduce the cost of turning today’s
seawater into tomorrow’s drinking water.
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