E-BULLETIN
UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science
July 12, 2006

DEAN'S LETTER
Though we are proud of the strong tradition of excellence we have built since the School was established in 1945, today we are engaged in an extraordinarily exciting period of renewal and transformation. We continue to reflect upon how we can best fulfill our mission as a leader in research, education and community service.

Our School has been experiencing significant changes in the physical sense, as well as in terms of our ongoing commitment to excellence in education and research. Along Portola Way on campus, our Engineering 1 replacement building is every day looking closer to completion. This coming year, we will open the new building with pride. Even as we celebrate, however, we already are looking toward the day when we can begin a second building, which will include some very important additions – a distance learning center and auditorium, as well as other cutting-edge research facilities. As well, later this summer, our Center for Embedded Networked Sensing will be moving into their interactive new facility at the School.

In a less physical sense, we also are building upon our undergraduate education initiatives. Committed to providing our students with a broad and practical engineering education, we have made some key revisions to our curriculum to emphasize its breadth and depth. To help our students fulfill their educational goals, we also are pursuing additional endowed scholarships and fellowships.

To make certain our students are receiving the best possible instruction, we also continue to work to attract the nation's best teachers and researchers. The School has recently hired a number of new faculty, and as the details are finalized, I will be talking more about the new members of our teaching family in an upcoming E-Bulletin. Our aim is to recruit a diverse and gifted faculty essential for providing students with world-class instruction and research opportunities.

Although summer has begun and the halls across the UCLA campus are quieter, we are still in full swing here at the School, planning and working toward our exceptional future.

Sincerely,

Vijay K. Dhir
Dean


FEATURE STORIES
Researchers at UCLA Engineering Announce Breakthrough in Silicon Photonics Devices
Building on a series of recent breakthroughs in silicon photonics, researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed a novel approach to silicon devices that combines light amplification with a photovoltaic – or solar panel – effect. To read more, click here.

UCLA Alumnus and Google VP Vinton Cerf Advises Engineering Grads: “Don’t Be Afraid of Failure”
Nearly 6,500 guests and students from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science gathered at commencement to hear the address of Internet pioneer and Google vice president Vinton G. Cerf. Widely known as a “father of the Internet,” Cerf encouraged graduates to "find an engineering career that you truly love. Such work can nourish and sustain in ways that must be experienced to appreciate." To read more, click here.

OTHER NEWS
Revisions Strengthen, Broaden Undergraduate Curriculum
Beginning Fall 2006, a revised curriculum will better prepare UCLA engineering graduates for a rapidly evolving workplace. Each of the School’s seven departments has structured their programs to focus on future technologies and innovations in their respective fields, while emphasizing a solid understanding of fundamental disciplines such as math, the basic sciences, and the humanities. To read more, click here.

Engineering Faculty and Staff Win Awards, Honors

Rick Ainsworth, director of UCLA Engineering’s Center for Excellence in Engineering and Diversity, has been selected to receive an award from the UCLA Academic Senate Committee on Diversity and Equal Opportunity. Awards are given by the committee every other year, based on contributions “beyond the call of duty” involving leadership, innovation, initiatives, or creativity in furthering a fair, open and diverse academic environment at UCLA.

Abeer Alwan, professor of electrical engineering, has received a prestigious Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Fellowship. She is one of only two engineers selected for the fellowship, which is awarded to 50 chosen academics.

Yoram Cohen, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, has been elected as vice-chair of the Separations Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He will succeed as the chair of the Division in 2008.

Thomas Hahn, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, was designated as a Centennial Fellow of the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State University at the recent Centennial Celebration of the Department in June. The designation recognizes his distinguished achievements throughout his career.

Yu Huang, professor of materials science and engineering, has been chosen to receive a “Nano 50” Innovator Award. The Nano 50™ Awards, presented by Nanotech Briefs magazine, recognize the top 50 technologies, products, and innovators that have significantly impacted, or are expected to impact, the state of the art in nanotechnology. Innovators are individuals recognized as a leader or pioneer in a specific area of nanotechnology, with a significant background of accomplishments in advancing the state of the art in nanotechnology. The Nano 50 awards will be presented at a special reception and awards dinner during NASA Tech Briefs National Nano Engineering Conference in Boston, Mass., in November.

Leonard Kleinrock, professor of computer science, delivered a lecture on the future of the Internet at the University of Trento, Italy, in June.

MEDIA WATCH: UCLA ENGINEERING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
EE Times
Silicon laser harnessed
Continuous-wave silicon lasers were demonstrated for the first time last year by Intel Corp. But the new lasers generated too much heat to be practical for CMOS devices. Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Engineering now claim to have the solution: Harness the excess energy with a photovoltaic effect that converts heat back into electricity to power the chip.

United Press International
UCLA creates new silicon photonics devices
U.S. scientists say they have developed a novel approach to silicon devices that combines light amplification with a photovoltaic effect. Building on a series of recent breakthroughs in silicon photonics, UCLA Engineering researchers say they determined not only can optical amplification in silicon be achieved with zero power consumption, but power can be generated in the process.

Photonics.com
New Approach Announced in Si Photonic Devices
A new approach to silicon photonic devices that combines light amplification with a photovoltaic, or solar, effect to generate power was announced today at the 2006 International Optical Amplifiers and Applications Conference in Vancouver. At the conference, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science – the same group that demonstrated the first silicon laser in 2004 – reported that silicon Raman amplifiers possess nonlinear photovoltaic properties, a phenomenon related to power generation in solar cells.

Engineer Online (UK)
Silicon Photonics Breakthrough
Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed a novel approach to silicon devices that combines light amplification with a photovoltaic - or solar panel - effect.

UCLA Today
Tip of the Cap!
Nearly 6,500 guests and students from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science heard Internet pioneer/Google vice president Vinton G. Cerf (pictured with Dean Vijay K. Dhir) tease, “If you are going to screw up in engineering, try to do it big time.” Consider the Tower of Pisa, he told them playfully. “The results will become a tourist attraction in the centuries to come and therefore contribute to the general economic welfare of the local population, if not to the reputation of the engineering profession.”

UCLA Magazine
Don’t go out of the water
It turns out that the kid-friendly conditions at Mother's Beach and other similarly sheltered beaches in Southern California might be just as appealing to some potentially harmful bacteria. That not-so-sunny news arrives in the form of a recent study by researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science that tested the sediments in the surf (the hard-packed sand under the frothy, churned-up water at the beach’s edge).

UCLA Magazine
Water Warriors
RO desalination is the state-of-the-art technology for turning seawater and brackish water into fresh drinking water. But the process is still too problematic to be practical and economical for the parched masses. If we're going to meet the needs of a thirsty planet, we'll look to scientists like 53-year-old chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Yoram Cohen to help do it.

Reuters newswire
South San Andreas fault set for huge quake – study
The southern end of the San Andreas fault near Los Angeles, which has not had a major rupture for more than 300 years, is under immense stress and could produce a massive earthquake. "This is new evidence that tells us the same story that we have known for a while," said Scott Brandenberg, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles school of engineering. "It's a reminder that we need to be ready for it when it happens."

USA Today
Research explores data mining, privacy
As new disclosures mount about government surveillance programs, computer science researchers hope to wade into the fray by enabling data mining that also protects individual privacy. A University of California, Los Angeles professor, Rafail Ostrovsky, said the CIA and the National Security Agency are evaluating a program of his that would let intelligence analysts search huge batches of intercepted communications for keywords and other criteria, while discarding messages that don't apply.

MSNBC
Encryption allows for security and privacy
As new disclosures mount about government surveillance programs, computer science researchers hope to wade into the fray by enabling data mining that also protects individual privacy. A University of California, Los Angeles professor, Rafail Ostrovsky, said the CIA and the National Security Agency are evaluating a program of his that would let intelligence analysts search huge batches of intercepted communications for keywords and other criteria, while discarding messages that don't apply.

Forbes
Research Explores Data Mining, Privacy
As new disclosures mount about government surveillance programs, computer science researchers hope to wade into the fray by enabling data mining that also protects individual privacy. A University of California, Los Angeles professor, Rafail Ostrovsky, said the CIA and the National Security Agency are evaluating a program of his that would let intelligence analysts search huge batches of intercepted communications for keywords and other criteria, while discarding messages that don't apply.

San Jose Mercury News
Research explores data mining, privacy
As new disclosures mount about government surveillance programs, computer science researchers hope to wade into the fray by enabling data mining that also protects individual privacy. A University of California, Los Angeles professor, Rafail Ostrovsky, said the CIA and the National Security Agency are evaluating a program of his that would let intelligence analysts search huge batches of intercepted communications for keywords and other criteria, while discarding messages that don't apply.

The Daily Bruin
Final Reflections: Leader plans to further study national security and WMDs
It may be hard to associate the grim issues of war and nuclear weapons with rosy-cheeked Albert Carnesale, but UCLA's chancellor is among the nation's top experts on nuclear proliferation and national security. "It is common for most engineering faculty who receive government grants to be involved on committees that serve as a sort of 'self-governance' of the programs they are involved with," said Neil Morley, adjunct associate professor in the UCLA Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department.

The Daily Bruin
Final reflections: Building a multidisciplinary legacy
Commentary by Dean Vijay K. Dhir.
Each chancellor who has served UCLA has left behind a unique legacy, and Albert Carnesale is no exception. As UCLA's eighth chief executive, Carnesale has left a positive imprint on the campus that will be felt for years to come.

The Los Angeles Times
Medicine: A Closer Look: Polluted Sand
UCLA researchers have found that the wet sand of some enclosed, family-friendly beaches in Southern California may harbor higher levels of certain bacteria — and by extension certain pathogens — than unsheltered beaches with better water circulation. A team led by Jennifer Jay, assistant professor of environmental engineering, found higher levels of Escherichia coli and enterococci at two sheltered beaches (the enclosed portion of Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro, and Mother's Beach in Marina del Rey) than at 11 open beaches in Santa Monica Bay.

MSN Money
Research Explores Data Mining, Privacy
As new disclosures mount about government surveillance programs, computer science researchers hope to wade into the fray by enabling data mining that also protects individual privacy. A University of California, Los Angeles professor, Rafail Ostrovsky, said the CIA and the National Security Agency are evaluating a program of his that would let intelligence analysts search huge batches of intercepted communications for keywords and other criteria, while discarding messages that don't apply.

Semiconductor International
Breakthrough in Spin-Wave Research
Engineers at UCLA's School of Engineering and Applied Science announced a critical breakthrough in semiconductor spin-wave research. Engineering adjunct professor Mary Mehrnoosh Eshaghian-Wilner, researcher Alexander Khitun, and professor Kang Wang have created three novel nanoscale computational architectures using a technology they pioneered called "spin-wave buses" as the mechanism for interconnection. The three nanoscale architectures are not only power-efficient, but also possess a high degree of interconnectivity.

IEEE Spectrum
Cheap Chips for Next Wireless Frontier
This month, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, are presenting three key transceiver components built in a widely available and inexpensive silicon process technology. UCLA electrical engineering professor Behzad Razavi is taking a different approach from IBM’s. He’s making key parts of his transmitters and receivers using 130-nanometer and 90-nm silicon CMOS manufacturing technology—mature chip-making processes used today to make microprocessors. “If I can put one antenna on a chip, I can put on four,” says Razavi.