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DEAN'S LETTER

The end of another academic year gives me an opportunity to share some of the remarkable successes and achievements we have had at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science.

We established two world-class interdisciplinary research centers, the Center for Scalable and Integrated Nanomanufacturing and the Functional Engineered Nano Architectonics Focus Center. In addition, our researchers joined with colleagues at the David Geffen School of Medicine to form the UCLA Biomedical Informatics Center. Together with several other major research centers established at the School in the last two years, these endeavors represent a growing concentration of cutting-edge research that will fuel breakthroughs and discoveries for decades to come.

We have successfully recruited six exceptional new faculty members. They join a distinguished group of academicians whose list of honors received this year is too great to recount in full. For example, Carlo Montemagno, co-director of the UCLA Institute for Cell Mimetic Space Exploration and chair of our School’s bioengineering department, won the Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology. Adjunct computer science professor Alan C. Kay was awarded three major scientific prizes this year: the Turing Award (the “Nobel Prize” of computing), the Charles Stark Draper Prize and the Kyoto Prize for Advanced Technology. Electrical engineering professor Henry Samueli, co-founder and chairman of Broadcom Corporation, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

We have strengthened the undergraduate curriculum across the School and expanded the number of research opportunities for students. Almost 800 gifted high school students applied for admission to the undergraduate bioengineering program, and we will welcome our first freshman class this fall.

Indeed, our current students continue to amaze us with their talent and motivation. This month, for example, four UCLA computer science students represented the United States at the worldwide finals of the Microsoft Imagine Cup, a software design invitational in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The students competed against teams from more than 75 different universities to earn their place in the finals.

With talented students, accomplished faculty and a strong focus on research and education, it is no surprise that we rose in the most recent US News and World Report ranking of engineering programs. We are now 16th in the nation and 10th among public universities. Four of the School’s departmental programs placed in the top 13 nationally.

These achievements, which are by no means comprehensive, reflect our School’s continued commitment to excellence in research, education and community service. It’s my pleasure to share such good news with you, and I look forward to building on these successes in the coming year.

Sincerely,

Vijay K. Dhir
Dean

SPECIAL THANKS

Our sincere thanks to everyone who completed the UCLA Engineer readership survey. We are still processing the responses, and looking forward to integrating your ideas into future issues. If you do not receive the magazine and would like to, please send an e-mail to marlysa@support.ucla.edu. Past issues are also available online at http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/magazine/index.html.

If you currently receive a hard copy and would prefer to be notified when the fall issue is available online, please send an e-mail to marlysa@support.ucla.edu.

ON THE WEB

The first issue of UCLA Scientific Review is now online! This quarterly journal covers the broad range of research being conducted by graduate students throughout UCLA engineering and science departments. In addition to research articles, the journal includes reports on major scientific news, editorials and commentary on contemporary issues in science, technology and graduate education. The journal, written and produced by a voluntary staff of UCLA science and engineering graduate students, is presented to a general scientific audience in an easy-to-understand, accessible manner. Check out the first issue at http://www.scientificreview.ucla.edu/.

FEATURE STORIES

Institute Aims to Train Teachers, Encourage Students to Pursue Computer Science
In an effort to address the low number of female, African American and Latino high school students enrolled in the county’s computer science classes, 28 teachers from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) will participate in a week-long exchange with UCLA professors and researchers to find ways to more actively engage young people in pursuit of this often misunderstood subject. The exchange, which takes place July 12 to 16 on the UCLA campus, is part of the UCLA/LAUSD Advanced Placement Computer Science Institute, a partnership among the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and LAUSD.
http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/news/stories_2004/institute.html

Building Bridges: Engineering is the Center of Attention
In the last several years, seven new multi-million dollar interdisciplinary centers, most of which are housed in UCLA’s School of Engineering, have strengthened the university’s focus on the promise of nanotechnology, and have built research bridges across the campus. From Engineering’s Boelter Hall to the David Geffen School of Medicine, from the departments of physics to chemistry to math, an environment of faculty collaboration across the disciplines that has been gradually cultivated over the past decade at UCLA is starting to bear fruit.
http://www.research.ucla.edu/whatsbruin/2004/7/centers/

Next Stop the Open Seas? Students Design Boats for Rooftop Race
Anyone looking out onto the Engineering IV patio at the end of Spring Quarter would have seen an unusual sight. A crowd of students and onlookers gathered around a 16-foot tank of water to watch three unique boats racing across the pool. The competition was part of a mechanical and aerospace engineering senior design class that professor Pirouz Kavehpour, who joined UCLA last year, has restructured.
http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/news/stories_2004/boatrace.html

Commencement Wrap-up: Ceremony Held June 19
Almost 900 students received their bachelor’s of science degrees, master's of science degrees or PhDs at the 2004 commencement ceremonies for the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. Carly Fiorina, chairman and chief executive officer of HP, delivered the commencement address to a capacity crowd at Pauley Pavilion. Earlier, family, friends and other well-wishers beat pans with spoons or shook large tin foil plates to make noise as their loved ones were called to the stage to receive their degrees.
http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/news/stories_2004/commencement2004.html

CourseWeb Gives Students One-Stop Spot for Managing Classes
This Spring Quarter, the SEASnet Computing Facility launched a new course management system called CourseWeb, providing undergraduate engineering students and their instructors with an easy to use, convenient and dynamic interface for managing all of their engineering courses.
http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/news/stories_2004/courseweb.html

Senior Students Establish School’s First Class Gift Program
Engineering students from the Class of 2004 contributed almost $1,000 to establish the School of Engineering’s first class gift program. The gifts given by this year’s graduates, and matched by alumnus Richard Gay (’73,’73,’76), will be used to create the Senior Gift Engineering Student Scholarship, which will support future engineering students at UCLA.
http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/news/stories_2004/senior_gift.html

Alan C. Kay, Computing Pioneer and UCLA Professor, Wins Third Major Scientific Award of 2004 with the Kyoto Prize
Alan C. Kay, an adjunct professor of computer science at UCLA whose work in the 1960s and 1970s opened the door for the personal computing revolution, has been awarded the 2004 Kyoto Prize for Advanced Technology. The Kyoto Prize is given by the Inamori Foundation to people who have contributed significantly to the scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment of mankind. Now in its 20th year, the Kyoto Prize is considered one of the world's leading awards for lifetime achievement. Kay was chosen for “creating the concept of personal computing and contributing to its realization.”
http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/news/stories_2004/kyoto.html

Adrienne Lavine, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor, Elected Academic Vice Chair
Mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Adrienne Lavine was elected Academic Senate Vice Chair/Chair-Elect of the UCLA Academic Senate. She will hold this position for one year, then serve as Chair of the Academic Senate the following year. The Academic Senate Chair leads the campus-wide Academic Senate and serves as the conduit between the faculty and the administration.
Learn more about Lavine at http://www.mae.ucla.edu/academics/faculty/lavine.htm.

Electrical Engineering Professors Travel to Italy to Give Plenary Talks
Electrical engineering professor and chair Yahya Rahmat-Samii and electrical engineering professor Tatsuo Itoh each presented a plenary talk at the 2004 URSI International Symposium on Electromagnetic Theory in Pisa, Italy, May 23 to 27. The symposium, held once every three years, is considered one of the most important symposiums on electromagnetic theory and its applications. Rahmat-Samii’s presentation was called “Genetic Algorithm And Particle Swarm Optimization: Powerful Paradigms For Unconventional Designs,” and Itoh spoke on “Metamaterial Structures for Microwave Circuit Components.” Learn more about Rahmat-Samii’s current research at http://www.ee.ucla.edu/faculty/bios/yrs.htm and find out more about Itoh’s work at http://www.ee.ucla.edu/mwlab/.

A.V. Balakrishnan, Professor of Electrical Engineering, Awarded Honorary Doctorate
Professor A.V. Balakrishnan, director of the NASA-UCLA Flight Systems Research center, was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from the West University of Timisoara, located in Romania, for his seminal contributions to the analysis and design of control systems. West University is one of the largest technical universities in Central and Eastern Europe. Balakrishnan received his honorary doctorate during the 5th International Conference on Mathematical Problems in Engineering and Aerospace Sciences in Romania.
Learn more about Balakrishnan’s research at http://www.ee.ucla.edu/faculty/bios/balakrishnan.htm.

MEDIA WATCH: UCLA ENGINEERING IN THE NEWS

Profile: Burt Rutan, Aviation Pioneer
Ann Karagozian, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and head of UCLA’s Combustion Research Lab, commented at length for a BBC News profile on Burt Rutan, whose SpaceShipOne was the first private space vehicle to successfully reach space.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3746313.stm

Prenatal Nanotechnology: A Safer Fetal Test?
News organization ScienCentral reports on a new technology being developed to help astronauts get to Mars that may also launch safer tests for expectant mothers. Electrical engineering professor Ming Wu and mechanical and aerospace engineering professor C.J. Kim, both members of the NASA-funded Institute for Cell Mimetic Space Exploration, have been collaborating with fellow CMISE member Edward McCabe, physician-in-chief at UCLA’s Mattel Children’s Hospital. Read the article or watch the news clip.
http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/ view.php3?language=english&type=24119&article_id=218392295&cat=all

Engineering Grads Have Options
Students who graduate with an undergraduate science or engineering degree are finding they can apply their expertise to areas that are traditionally non-scientific. As this UCLA Daily Bruin article reports, graduates are using their engineering degrees to pursue careers in law, business and medicine, among others.
http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/articles.asp?id=29572

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

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