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E-BULLETIN
UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science
September 12, 2007
DEAN'S
LETTER
There is always a sense of excitement here at the UCLA Henry Samueli
School of Engineering and Applied Science as the new academic
year draws near.
This fall, we anticipate the largest incoming
freshman class in several years with more than 750 students who
intend to enroll at UCLA Engineering. We saw a 6% increase over
last year in the number of applicants and we are seeing more and
more top-notch students in our applicant pool. I think these figures
speak volumes about the high quality of our undergraduate programs
and we are looking forward to helping these talented students
grow into engineers and computer scientists who are ready to take
on the challenges of the 21st Century.
After a relatively quiet summer, our fall calendar
is filled with events for our alumni, friends and industry partners.
There are many opportunities to reconnect with the School over
the next few months and I hope you can make one of them.
I look forward to seeing many of you at the Rose
Bowl on September 22, as we hold our annual UCLA Engineering Game
Day Party. The weekend of October 19 is UCLA’s annual Parents’
Weekend, and we plan to have several events here at the School
in conjunction with the campus-wide program. In November, we will
hold our annual UCLA Engineering Awards Dinner.
We are extremely proud of the breadth and depth
of our work and during the fall, we will host several programs
where will share our latest research. Two of our major externally
funded interdisciplinary research centers are holding annual reviews
– the Western Institute of Nanoelectronics (WIN) and the
Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS). Later this month,
the Department of Bioengineering will be a co-host of the Biomedical
Engineering Society’s annual national conference, to be
held in Los Angeles. In October, there will be an annual workshop
and forum on the latest in radio frequency identification (RFID)
technology.
Perhaps the biggest highlight for the School will
be the grand opening on October 16 for our much-anticipated Engineering
V building.
For details on all these upcoming events, please
look at the calendar section below.
This is also the time to renew your commitment
to the school by making your annual gift and renewing your membership
in the Boelter Society. Annual support from our alumni, parents
and friends has grown dramatically over the years and it is with
your generosity that we can maintain world-class programs in research,
teaching, outreach and service.
Sincerely,
Vijay K. Dhir
Dean
FEATURE
STORIES
UCLA Engineering holds Summer Research Program for High
School Students
This past summer, 30 high school students from the Los Angeles
metropolitan area took part in the Summer Research Program at
the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science.
This program offered a rare opportunity for high school students
to gain hands-on engineering-research experience. For those who
were already interested in engineering, it gave them a chance
to explore the field in more depth. And for those who did not
have much exposure to engineering, the program opened up a whole
new world to them.
To read more, click
here.
OTHER
NEWS
UCLA Engineering Professor elected as
ASME Fellow
Daniel Yang, professor of mechanical
and aerospace engineering has been elected as a fellow of the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Yang’s
citation: Professor Daniel Yang has made significant contributions
to the advances of manufacturing automation and mechanical design.
His most outstanding accomplishments in research include the establishments
of relationships between product freeform geometry and multi-axis
machine tools; the development of parameter/time conversion for
CNC tracking of parametric curves; the invention of a deviation
function method for the design of new kinematic pairs; and the
investigation on robot kinematics in workspace and dexterity.
UCLA Engineering Professor Speaks
at NIH
Chemical and biomolecular engineering professor James Liao was
a featured speaker at the National Institutes of Health, Systems
Biology Special Interest Group. Liao spoke on "Network Component
Analysis of Nitric Oxide Challenge to Escherichia Coli.”
To view a streaming video of Liao’s talk, click
here.
MEDIA
WATCH: UCLA ENGINEERING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Trips to the NanoFrontier
Plenty
of Clean Water on the NanoFrontier
Eric Hoek, professor of civil and environmental engineering, was
featured on a recent podcast at the website Trips to the Nanofrontier.
The podcast site is part of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies,
which is dedicated to helping ensure that as nanotechnologies
advance, possible risks are minimized, public and consumer engagement
remains strong, and the potential benefits of these new technologies
are realized. The project was established in April 2005 as a partnership
between the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and
the Pew Charitable Trusts.
New Scientist
Ad-hoc
network probes links for smoother calls
An "ad-hoc" wireless network that probes the strength
of connections before configuring itself could make it easier
for cellphone users to hop smoothly between different open networks
during calls. Ad-hoc wireless networks require each device to
transmit as well as receive. By passing signals between each other,
more devices can connect to the network and the coverage can be
extended. Eventually, entire cities might be covered with a wireless
blanket this way, with all sorts of wireless communications devices
sharing signals. Rajit Gadh, professor of mechanical and aerospace
engineering and director of WINMEC, was interviewed for the story.
New Scientist
Diabetes
detector
Diabetes is a rapidly growing problem in the developed world.
It is characterised by high levels of glucose in the blood, but
measuring this accurately can be both invasive and time-consuming.
The current diagnostic tests require a patient either to fast
overnight before giving a blood sample, or drink a specific amount
of glucose in solution and wait a couple of hours before the resulting
sugar level in their blood is measured. Now researchers at the
University of California in Los Angeles, US, have devised another
altogether simpler approach based on what happens to excess glucose
in the body. The story profiles the work of Laurent Pilon, professor
of mechanical and aerospace engineering.
San Jose Mercury News [registration
required]
Researchers
study bacteria at beaches. Tests of sand show microbes present
at many state sites
Here's a term you may start to hear more often: "Sand pollution."
No one knows exactly what's causing it, but scientists do know
that beaches often contain high levels of bacteria linked to the
presence of harmful pathogens. Jennifer Jay, professor of civil
and environmental engineering was interviewed for the story.
---
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