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DEAN'S LETTER

This week marked the official opening of The Institute for Cell Mimetic Space Exploration (CMISE), a new $35 million research center established at UCLA late last year as one of five NASA-sponsored University Research, Engineering and Technology Institutes.

Though we had gathered to congratulate the Center's directors, professors Chih-Ming Ho and Carlo Montemagno and the team of researchers, Chancellor Albert Carnesale, members of our School's faculty and staff and I also conveyed our sympathies to the NASA family on the loss of the space shuttle Columbia and its crew.

Despite the tragedy, our voyage into space will continue. CMISE represents part of that voyage. Located at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, CMISE involves scientists and engineers from UCLA, UC Irvine, CalTech, Arizona State University and the New Roads School working together to create new technologies for the nation's space program.

The exciting idea behind CMISE is that the cell represents a remarkably efficient and adaptable model of self-organization and that by mimicking the model and coupling it with the latest breakthroughs in nanotechnology and information processing techniques, scientists can engineer new tools for space exploration.

The Center's research will lead to new technologies for space biological experiments, astronaut health monitoring or space vehicle resource management. The advances made at CMISE could also greatly impact the fields of health care, defense and energy.

CMISE, and the men and women who fulfill its mission, represents the great strides being made in scientific inquiry today. The Center's outreach and educational efforts will surely energize future generations of space engineers and scientists. I look forward to updating you as their work
progresses.

Sincerely,

Vijay K. Dhir
Interim Dean

FEATURE STORIES

READERS HAVE SPOKEN: An E-Bulletin readership survey was sent out in November, and the response was terrific. E-Bulletin readers offered their opinions and a number of insightful suggestions for the future. A summary of some of the survey results is now online at http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/bulletin/2-03/feedbk.htm.

GROUNDBREAKING NEWS: Governor Gray Davis, President Richard Atkinson, UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale and UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry Yang led the groundbreaking ceremonies on February 14 for the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI).

CNSI, a multidisciplinary partnership between UCLA and UC Santa Barbara, is one of four California Institutes for Science and Innovation established by Davis in December 2000. The new CNSI building, located in the heart of the UCLA campus, will house state-of-the-art facilities to support the work of scientists from California universities, industry and other members of the scientific community. By exploring the power and potential of manipulating structures atom-by-atom, CNSI is poised to make Southern California the
world leader in nanosystems innovation. Visit CNSI's web site at
http://www.cnsi.ucla.edu/.

ENHANCING HUMAN PERFORMANCE: UCLA hosted a conference, NBIC Convergence 2003, at which dozens of leading experts from government, the academic research community and the private sector to explore how human performance -- such as longer life, improved cognitive abilities and greater work efficiency -- can be enhanced by the convergence of Nanoscience, Biotechnology, Information technology and Cognitive science (NBIC). The event, held February 5-7, was co-chaired by Carlo Montemagno, UCLA professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and chair of the bioengineering department and Mihail Roco, senior advisor of the National Science Foundation. More than 300 people attendees gained insight into NBIC convergence, one of the most exciting scientific, commercial and humanitarian developments of our time.

AWARDS AND HONORS

Electrical engineering professors Behzad Razavi and Asad Abibi were named among the top contributors to the International Solid-State Circuits
Conference, the most prestigious design conference in the semiconductor
industry. This is the first industry-wide recognition that UCLA's
Integrated Circuits & Systems research is among the top three such programs worldwide.
Learn more about integrated circuits and systems research at UCLA at http://www.icsl.ucla.edu/aagroup/.

Greg Carman, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, was recently elected a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The fellow grade recognizes significant engineering achievements and contributions to the engineering profession.
Learn more about Greg Carman and his Active Materials Lab at http://aml.seas.ucla.edu/home.htm.

Jane P. Chang, assistant professor of chemical engineering, has been named an Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator for 2003 for her proposal titled "Atomic Scale Engineering of Dielectric Thin Films on Wide Band Gap Semiconductors." This year the ONR will give the award to 26 investigators to support their research, and to encourage their teaching and research careers.
Learn more about Jane Chang's research at http://www.seas.ucla.edu/Chang/.

Ali Sayed, professor of electrical engineering, and his former student V. H. Nascimento, were awarded a 2002 Best Paper Award from the IEEE Signal Processing Society for the paper "On the learning mechanism of adaptive filters," which appeared in IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing in June 2000. The award will be presented at the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing in April.
Learn more about Ali Sayed and the Adaptive Systems Lab at
http://www.ee.ucla.edu/~asl/.

MEDIA WATCH: UCLA ENGINEERING IN THE NEWS

NEW FRONTIERS: An article in the Los Angeles Times featured the Institute for Cell Mimetic Space Exploration, a new scientific program for interplanetary research at UCLA. Chih-Ming Ho, UCLA professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and director of the program, and Carlo Montemagno, UCLA professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and chair of the bioengineering department, are quoted.
Man or Machine? A New Program at UCLA Strives to Put Both Into Space http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-flan5feb05,1,6474110.story

OUT OF THE POOL: Civil and environmental engineering professor Michael Stenstrom reviewed data for contaminants in a Texas city swimming pool when asked by the Austin American-Statesman newspaper, which ran a two-part report about the potential health risk in January.
City Test Standards Are Far Too Lenient, Scientists Contend http://www.austin360.com/aas/specialreports/bartonsprings/0119detect.html

ADAPTIVE MATERIALS TAKING FLIGHT: Greg Carmen, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, is quoted in a Business Week article about the possibilities - and limitations - of using adaptive materials to make advanced aircraft.
Adaptive Aircraft: No Flight of Fancy? http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2003/2003017_9999.htm

SHUTTLE TRADEGY: Xiaolin Zhong, UCLA professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, is quoted in a USA Today story about the aerodynamics related to the break up of the space shuttle Columbia. Zhong is studying the airflow problem for the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
Upper Atmosphere May Hold Clues in Columbia Mystery http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20030207/4848025s.htm.

REACTION TO TRAGEDY: Faculty and students reacted with sadness and resolve to news of the loss of the space shuttle Columbia and its crew. In addition to a letter of sympathy sent from the School to NASA, articles appeared in the UCLA Daily Bruin.
UCLA Professors Discuss Casualty, Financial Risks of Space Missions http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/articles.asp?id=22662
Students' Dreams Undiminished by Tragedy http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/articles.asp?id=22698

Read more UCLA Engineering news at http://www.engineer.ucla.edu

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