Studies highlight benefit of spatial visualization app in bridging critical STEM education gap
August 30, 2021
Software developed by engineering professors at UC San Diego has improved spatial visualization—a critical skill in STEM careers—in students in high school and college courses, both in person and remotely. Full Story
Researchers develop first steerable catheter for brain surgery
August 18, 2021
A team of engineers and physicians has developed a steerable catheter that for the first time will give neurosurgeons the ability to steer the device in any direction they want while navigating the brain’s arteries and blood vessels. The device was inspired by nature, specifically insect legs and flagella--tail-like structures that allow microscopic organisms such as bacteria to swim. Full Story
UC San Diego among six U.S. institutions in new Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance
July 21, 2021
UC San Diego is one of six universities invited to participate in the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, a scientific collaboration that aims to transform human health on a global scale through the discovery and translation of the biological principles underlying human performance. The UC San Diego arm of the Alliance is led by Andrew McCulloch, a professor in the departments of Bioengineering and Medicine. Full Story
We need to build more EV fast-charging stations, researchers say
May 5, 2021
A team of engineers recommends expanding fast-charging stations for electric vehicles as campuses and businesses start planning for a post-pandemic world. The recommendation is based on a study of charging patterns for electric vehicles on the University of California San Diego campus from early January to late May of 2020, after the university moved most of its operations online. Researchers say the findings can be applied to a broader range of settings. Full Story
The Wave Beneath Their Wings
April 30, 2021
It’s a common sight: pelicans gliding along the waves, right by the shore. These birds make this kind of surfing look effortless, but actually the physics involved that give them a big boost are not simple. Researchers at the University of California San Diego have recently developed a theoretical model that describes how the ocean, the wind and the birds in flight interact in a recent paper in Movement Ecology. Full Story
CAREER awards for three researchers at UC San Diego Contextual Robotics Institute
April 29, 2021
Three researchers at the Contextual Robotics Institute at UC San Diego have received CAREER awards from the National Science Foundation in 2021. Their work ranges from robot mapping, to invertebrate locomotion, to autonomous robotic surgery. Full Story
From self-driving cars, to drones, to healthcare robotics: UC San Diego at ICRA 2021 preview
April 26, 2021
A record number of papers from robotics faculty at the University of California San Diego were accepted to the 2021 International Conference on Robotics and Automation taking place in Xi’an.China, May 30 to June 5. Full Story
UC San Diego Engineering Ranks #9 in U.S. News and World Report Best Engineering Schools Rankings
March 30, 2021
For the second year in a row, the University of California San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering has ranked #9 in the nation in the influential U.S. News & World Report Rankings of Best Engineering Schools. Full Story
Why Commercialization of Carbon Capture and Sequestration has Failed and How it Can Work
March 22, 2021
There are 12 essential attributes that explain why commercial carbon capture and sequestration projects succeed or fail in the U.S., University of California San Diego researchers say in a recent study published in Environmental Research Letters. Full Story
Three-layered masks most effective against large respiratory droplets
March 5, 2021
Researchers have shown that three-layered surgical masks are more effective than single or double-layered masks at stopping large droplets from a cough or sneeze from penetrating through the mask. Full Story
Human-centered mobility and transportation options for disadvantaged communities is the goal of new partnership
February 24, 2021
The University of California San Diego is teaming up with several community-based organizations and the San Diego Association of Governments to improve access to transportation for the county’s low-income and underserved neighborhoods. The team is adopting a human-centered design approach to their work to try and repair the harm done by car-oriented transportation policies of the past. Full Story
Engineer inducted into prestigious biomedical institution
February 22, 2021
Padmini Rangamani, a professor at the Jacobs School of Engineering, has been inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). She was recognized for outstanding contributions to multiscale computational modeling of cellular mechanobiology including spatial signal transduction and membrane trafficking processes. Full Story
This robot doesn't need any electronics
February 17, 2021
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have created a four-legged soft robot that doesn’t need any electronics to work. The robot only needs a constant source of pressurized air for all its functions, including its controls and locomotion systems. The team, led by Michael T. Tolley, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego, details its findings in the Feb. 17, 2021 issue of the journal Science Robotics. Full Story
Engineers earn NASA grant to enable flying taxis
February 12, 2021
A futuristic system of flying taxis and shuttles is one step closer to reality thanks to a team of engineers led by UC San Diego. They received a $5.8 million grant from NASA to create computational design tools that will help US companies develop more efficient air taxi designs. Full Story
In Memoriam: Juan C. Lasheras, Distinguished Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor
February 9, 2021
Juan C. Lasheras, University of California San Diego distinguished professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Bioengineering, passed away on February 1, 2021 after a brief battle with cancer. He was 69 years old. Full Story
Islands without structure inside metal alloys could lead to tougher materials for transportation, energy and defense
January 29, 2021
An international team of researchers produced islands of amorphous, non-crystalline material inside a class of new metal alloys known as high-entropy alloys. This discovery opens the door to applications in everything from landing gears, to pipelines, to automobiles. The new materials could make these lighter, safer, and more energy efficient. Full Story
A call to end funding discrimination against Black scientists in the United States
January 26, 2021
Representatives from a network of women deans, chairs and distinguished faculty in biomedical engineering are calling upon the National Institutes of Health and other funding agencies to address disparities in allocating support to Black researchers. The group made the call to action in the Jan. 26, 2021 issue of the journal Cell. Full Story
Ten suggestions for female faculty and staff during the pandemic
January 21, 2021
“Ten simple rules for women principal investigators during a pandemic,” was published recently in PLOS Computational Biology. It’s perhaps important to note that despite its title, the article is careful to say that the cardinal rule is that there are no rules. So all 10 points outlined are in fact suggestions. Also despite its title, Rangamani says most of the 10 points outlined in the publication can apply to all caregivers juggling work and caregiving during the pandemic. Full Story
Remembering UC San Diego engineering professor Siavouche Nemat-Nasser
January 13, 2021
University of California San Diego engineering professor emeritus Siavouche "Sia" Nemat-Nasser passed away on January 4, 2021 due to complications of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). He was 84 years old. Professor Nemat-Nasser was a Distinguished Professor of Mechanics and Materials in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. He officially retired from UC San Diego in 2019 but remained active as a researcher through his Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials (CEAM). Full Story
Ocean acidification is transforming California mussel shells
January 11, 2021
Comparing new data with samples collected in the 1950s, UC San Diego researchers found that ocean acidification is transforming the composition of California mussel shells from mostly the mineral aragonite to the mineral calcite. Full Story
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Jacobs School alumni kickstart Dean's Scholars of Excellence program
December 15, 2020
Education is the great equalizer. Jacobs School of Engineering alumni Mary Bui-Pham and Dan Pham have seen this play out in their own lives, and have donated the funds to endow a scholarship supporting students with outstanding academic merit, including students who have made or show potential to contribute to diversity, equity and inclusion; first generation; and low-income engineering students. Their gift launched the larger Jacobs School of Engineering Dean’s Scholars of Excellence program, a school-wide scholarship program meant to advance equal access to a Jacobs School education. Full Story
Passing of Shao-chi Lin, Professor Emeritus of Engineering at UC San Diego
December 11, 2020
Shao-chi Lin, Professor Emeritus of Engineering at the University of California San Diego, died on October 8, 2020 at the age of 95. He is remembered by former students and colleagues as a talented and caring teacher, mentor and researcher; and an active member of the campus community. Full Story
Researchers discover a new superhighway system in the Solar System
December 9, 2020
Researchers have discovered a new superhighway network to travel through the Solar System much faster than was previously possible. Such routes can drive comets and asteroids near Jupiter to Neptune’s distance in under a decade and to 100 astronomical units in less than a century. Accordingly, they could be used to send spacecraft to the far reaches of our planetary system relatively fast, and to monitor and understand near-Earth objects that might collide with our planet. Full Story
Veterans Day 2020 at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering
November 10, 2020
In recognition of Veterans Day, the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering is sharing the stories of two student veterans (electrical engineer Jack Bae and aerospace engineer Jeffrey Sei), while building for the future. Full Story
IROS 2020: Autonomous mail delivery, robots practicing bartending, and more
November 5, 2020
From autonomous vehicles to robots practicing bartending and insect-like robots, engineers at the University of California San Diego are showcasing a broad range of pacers at IROS 2020, which is being held virtually from Oct. 25 to Nov. 25. Full Story
$39 Million to better integrate renewables into power grid
October 28, 2020
The National Science Foundation has awarded $39 million to a team of engineers and computer scientists at the University of California San Diego to build a first-of-its-kind testbed to better understand how to integrate distributed energy sources such as solar panels, wind turbines, smart buildings and electric vehicle batteries into the power grid. The goal is to make the testbed available to outside research teams and industry by 2025. Full Story
This 'squidbot' jets around and takes pics of coral and fish
October 5, 2020
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have built a squid-like robot that can swim untethered, propelling itself by generating jets of water. The robot carries its own power source inside its body. It can also carry a sensor, such as a camera, for underwater exploration. Full Story
Material scientists learn how to make liquid crystal shape-shift
September 24, 2020
A new 3D-printing method will make it easier to manufacture and control the shape of soft robots, artificial muscles and wearable devices. Researchers at UC San Diego show that by controlling the printing temperature of liquid crystal elastomer, or LCE, they can control the material’s degree of stiffness and ability to contract--also known as degree of actuation. What’s more, they are able to change the stiffness of different areas in the same material by exposing it to heat. Full Story
Engineering graduate students honored as Siebel Scholars
September 23, 2020
Five Jacobs School of Engineering graduate students pioneering tools to treat rare genetic disorders, studying microbes in cancer, developing noninvasive wearable biosensors, studying the physical principles underlying cell membrane deformation, and developing noninvasive methods for evaluating cardiovascular function, have been named 2021 Siebel Scholars. Full Story
Making space weather forecasts faster and better
September 16, 2020
To improve the ability to forecast space weather, a multidisciplinary team of researchers, including Professor Boris Kramer at the University of California San Diego, received $3.1 million from the National Science Foundation. The researchers, led by Professor Richard Linares at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will also work on speeding up the forecasting abilities that are currently available. Full Story
Eight teams of engineers and physicians work to tackle COVID-19 related challenges
August 20, 2020
The Galvanizing Engineering in Medicine program at UC San Diego is supporting eight COVID-19 related projects in early stages with microgrants. The program is a collaboration between the Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute and the Institute of Engineering in Medicine launched in 2013 to bring engineers and clinicians together to develop innovative technologies and solve challenging problems in medical care. Full Story
UC San Diego named 4th best public research university in prestigious global rankings
August 17, 2020
Shanghai rankings celebrate campus as a world-renowned research powerhouse. Full Story
Engineer Earns Presidential Award for Improving Underrepresented Student Access to STEM Experiences
August 7, 2020
Olivia Graeve, a UC San Diego professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, has received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring from the White House. The award was created in 1995 to honor extraordinary individuals whose efforts have helped provide underrepresented groups with access to opportunities in STEM. Full Story
A Prototype for Help in the Fight Against COVID-19
July 23, 2020
In the midst of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic that had UC San Diego researchers racing to understand the complexities around the virus’s spread and to find ways to combat it, engineers and fabrication specialists at the Qualcomm Institute’s Prototyping Lab leapt into action. Vacuum exhaused isolation lockers, or VEILs, produced in the Prototyping Lab are ready to be delivered to local hospitals. Full Story
Engineer and mathematician receive Newton Award for Transformative Ideas during COVID-19 pandemic
July 21, 2020
Two UC San Diego professors—Melvin Leok from the Department of Mathematics (Division of Physical Sciences) and Boris Kramer from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (Jacobs School of Engineering) are among the 13 award recipients of the Newton Award for Transformative Ideas during the COVID-19 Pandemic from the Department of Defense. Full Story
New model connects respiratory droplet physics with spread of Covid-19
July 20, 2020
Respiratory droplets from a cough or sneeze travel farther and last longer in humid, cold climates than in hot, dry ones, according to a study on droplet physics by an international team of engineers. The researchers incorporated this understanding of the impact of environmental factors on droplet spread into a new mathematical model that can be used to predict the early spread of respiratory viruses including COVID-19, and the role of respiratory droplets in that spread. Full Story
$18M Boost to Materials Science Research at UC San Diego
July 9, 2020
The National Science Foundation has awarded University of California San Diego researchers a six-year $18 million grant to fund a new Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). These research centers are transformative for the schools that earn them, putting their materials science research efforts into the global spotlight. In addition to research and facilities funding, MRSEC centers provide sustained research opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students, and resources to focus on diversifying the pool of students studying materials science. The UC San Diego labs funded by this new MRSEC will focus on two important, emerging approaches to build new materials aimed at improving human lives. Full Story
UC San Diego NanoEngineers to lead MRSEC research thrust on Predictive Assembly
July 8, 2020
In some ways, the field of materials science is where the pharmaceutical sciences were twenty years ago. A team of University of California San Diego researchers is working to change that. The team makes up the "predictive assembly" research thrust of the new $18M Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Today, computational and predictive tools are used in the pharmaceutical industry in order to design "small molecule" drugs with particular properties and behaviors. The challenge is that the design-before-you-synthesize approach hasn't worked for the larger-scale materials that are critical for many applications beyond small-molecule drugs. That's the work that will be done by the team led by nanoengineering professors Andrea Tao and Tod Pascal from the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Full Story
Creating an engineering senior design project...at home
July 2, 2020
Curbside delivery of 3D-printed parts, the cooperation of roommates, weekend build sessions in Riverside and communication, communication, communication. This is what it took for graduating engineering students, staff and faculty at UC San Diego to transition the hands-on, team-based capstone mechanical engineering design course to remote instruction in the age of COVID-19. Full Story
Researchers develop low-cost, easy-to-use emergency ventilator for COVID-19 patients
June 23, 2020
A team of engineers and physicians at the University of California San Diego has developed a low-cost, easy-to-use emergency ventilator for COVID-19 patients that is built around a ventilator bag usually found in ambulances. The team built an automated system around the bag and brought down the cost of an emergency ventilator to just $500 per unit--state of the art models cost at least $50,000. The device's components can be rapidly fabricated and the ventilator can be assembled in just 15 minutes. The device’s electronics and sensors rely on a robust supply chain from fields not related to healthcare that are unlikely to be affected by shortages. Full Story
Using LEGO to test children's ability to visualize and rotate 3D shapes in space
June 18, 2020
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a test that uses children’s ability to assemble LEGO pieces to assess their spatial visualization ability. Spatial visualization is the ability to visualize 3D shapes in one’s mind, which is tied to increased GPAs and graduation rates in STEM college students. Full Story
How Stimulus Dollars are Spent will Affect Emissions for Decades
June 11, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have led to a record crash in emissions. But it will be emission levels during the recovery—in the months and years after the pandemic recedes—that matter most for how global warming plays out, according to a new Nature commentary from researchers at the University of California San Diego. While the skies have been noticeably cleaner, countries like the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, South Africa and others have recently relaxed laws controlling pollution and vehicle energy efficiency standards. Full Story
Graduating students honored with engineering Awards of Excellence
June 11, 2020
Six students were selected from among their peers to receive an Award of Excellence for their outstanding academic, leadership and community contributions. Full Story
These flexible feet help robots walk faster
June 1, 2020
Roboticists at the University of California San Diego have developed flexible feet that can help robots walk up to 40 percent faster on uneven terrain such as pebbles and wood chips. The work has applications for search-and-rescue missions as well as space exploration. Full Story
Making matter out of light: high-power laser simulations point the way
May 28, 2020
A few minutes into the life of the universe, colliding emissions of light energy created the first particles of matter and antimatter. We are familiar with the reverse process—matter generating energy—which occurs in an atomic bomb, for example, but it has been difficult to recreate that critical transformation of light into matter. Now, a new set of simulations by a research team led by UC San Diego’s Alexey Arefiev point the way toward making matter from light. Full Story
Engineers develop low-cost, high-accuracy GPS-like system for flexible medical robots
May 18, 2020
Roboticists at the University of California San Diego have developed an affordable, easy to use system to track the location of flexible surgical robots inside the human body. The system performs as well as current state of the art methods, but is much less expensive. Many current methods also require exposure to radiation, while this system does not. The system was developed by Tania Morimoto, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego, and mechanical engineering Ph.D. student Connor Watson. Their findings are published in the April 2020 issue of IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. Full Story
Undergraduate engineers design neonatal ECMO simulation
May 11, 2020
In collaboration with physicians and surgeons at Rady Children’s Hospital, a team of undergraduate mechanical engineering students developed a neonatal simulation system for a critical and rare surgical procedure called ECMO. They developed this realistic simulation system- believed to be the first for neonatal patients—for their senior design project. Full Story
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Students harness their knowledge for ventilator challenge
April 28, 2020
Two groups of engineering students at UC San Diego spent their spring break harnessing their knowledge to contribute to the ventilator shortage the world is facing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Full Story
Undergraduates simplify intubation tool for senior design project
April 16, 2020
A team of UC San Diego undergraduate engineers helped design a simple, all-in-one tool to perform endotracheal intubations, which could simplify the steps clinicians need to take when performing the time-sensitive, complex procedure. The mechanical engineering students took on the challenge as their senior design project, with direction from project sponsor Dr. Taylor Graber of the Department of Anesthesiology at the UC San Diego School of Medicine. Full Story
Economic Impact of COVID-19 will Make the Fight Against Climate Change Harder
April 15, 2020
Measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus have reduced the demand for fuel and slashed oil prices. Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the chief long-term cause of climate warming, have slid perhaps by one-fifth and pollution is down, but can we expect COVID-19 to create lasting change in reversing global warming?“I doubt it,” said David Victor, professor of international relations at the University of California San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. “While the pandemic might alter societies permanently, the same market forces that drive our dependence on fossil fuels are still in play and may even be reinforced with the economic fallout of COVID-19.” Full Story
Thanks to 'flexoskeletons,' these insect-inspired robots are faster and cheaper to make
April 8, 2020
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new method that doesn’t require any special equipment and works in just minutes to create soft, flexible, 3D-printed robots. The structures were inspired by insect exoskeletons, which have both soft and rigid parts--the researchers called their creations “flexoskeletons.” Full Story
Company founded by engineering alumni advances 1-hour COVID test
April 7, 2020
Medical diagnostic company Fluxergy, founded by UC San Diego engineering alumni, submitted an Emergency Use Authorization to the FDA for their quick, point-of-care COVID-19 test. Full Story
UC San Diego Engineers and Doctors Team Up to Retrofit and Build Ventilators
March 26, 2020
Even as university campuses close across the nation in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, a team of engineers and physicians at the University of California San Diego is rapidly developing simple, ready-to-use ventilators to be deployed if the need arises.The project kick-started several weeks ago when news started to trickle in that communities in Northern Italy with widespread COVID-19 were in dire straits.“One of the biggest things we heard was that there weren’t enough ventilators to treat all of the patients coming into the hospitals,” said James Friend, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Department of Surgery at UC San Diego. “It’s clear that if we’re not careful, we might end up in the same situation.” Full Story
This wearable device camouflages its wearer no matter the weather
February 21, 2020
Researchers at the University of California San Diego developed a wearable technology that can hide its wearer from heat-detecting sensors such as night vision goggles, even when the ambient temperature changes--a feat that current state of the art technology cannot match. The technology can adapt to temperature changes in just a few minutes, while keeping the wearer comfortable. Full Story
Ultrasound device improves charge time and run time in lithium batteries
February 18, 2020
Researchers at the University of California San Diego developed an ultrasound-emitting device that brings lithium metal batteries, or LMBs, one step closer to commercial viability. Although the research team focused on LMBs, the device can be used in any battery, regardless of chemistry. Full Story
Lim(b)itless in India: UC San Diego Students Travel Abroad to Empower Amputees
February 6, 2020
In November, 2019, 10 UC San Diego students filed into a bustling amputee clinic in Jaipur, India. On one side of the room, men and women, some bearing crutches, watched as their new limbs took shape under the staff’s careful hands. For many of them, a prosthetic limb represented the chance to regain their mobility, independence and livelihoods. The students’ visit to the Jaipur Foot clinic—a non-profit known around the world for providing affordable, prosthetic limbs and other mobility aids to those in need—marked more than a year of painstaking work to develop technology connecting amputees directly to prosthetists. The work is part of Project Lim(b)itless, an initiative founded by Albert Lin, a recent amputee and researcher at the Qualcomm Institute (QI) at UC San Diego. Full Story
Passion drives True Tritons to service
January 30, 2020
From creating scholarships and providing leadership, to student mentoring and preserving the arts, four shining examples of Triton passion and commitment will be honored Feb. 7 at UC San Diego’s True Triton Celebration to be held in the Great Hall on campus. Full Story
Mechanical engineering student awarded Brooke Owens Fellowship
January 24, 2020
Surya Vohra, a mechanical engineering student at UC San Diego, has been selected as a 2020 Brooke Owens Fellow. The Fellowship is awarded to exceptional undergraduate women in aerospace. This marks the fourth year—since the beginning of the Brooke Owens Fellow program—that a UC San Diego engineering student has been awarded a fellowship. Full Story
Engineering professor Graeve inducted into Mexican Academy of Sciences
January 16, 2020
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor Olivia Graeve has been inducted into the Academia Mexicana de Ciencias (Mexican Academy of Sciences or AMC). The AMC, established in 1959, is a non-profit non-governmental association of distinguished members of the Mexican scientific community. Graeve, a Tijuana native and UC San Diego alumna, is one of only three corresponding members inducted in 2019. Corresponding members are researchers who reside outside of Mexico but have made significant contributions to the development of science in Mexico. Full Story
The Epic Lives of Albert Lin
January 9, 2020
UC San Diego engineering alumnus Albert Yu-Min Lin can be described in many ways: explorer, engineer, scientist, artist, surfer, humanist, traveler, philosopher, father. It’s a challenge to capture Lin, whether in a few words or just for a quick phone call. He seems to have an endless supply of momentum—an energy, curiosity and optimism as big as the world he is continually exploring. Full Story
Thin hair is stronger than thick hair, study shows
December 13, 2019
Despite being four times thicker than human hair, elephant hair is only half as strong -- that's just one finding from researchers studying the hair strength of many different mammals. Their work shows that thin hair tends to be stronger than thick hair because of the way that it breaks. Full Story
UC San Diego launches Institute for Materials Discovery and Design
December 13, 2019
We are pleased to announce the formation of the San Diego Institute for Materials Discovery and Design, a joint initiative of the Jacobs School of Engineering and Division of Physical Sciences at the University of California San Diego. Our goal is to position UC San Diego as the recognized global academic leader in nanoscale and quantum materials design and discovery. The Institute’s unique approach will be to apply data analytics and machine learning together with rapid materials synthesis and multi-scale characterization in order to accelerate the discovery, design, synthesis and evaluation of novel functional materials. Full Story
News Obituary: Professor Joanna McKittrick
December 12, 2019
Joanna McKittrick, a pioneering engineer at the University of California San Diego and a renowned expert in materials science, passed away Nov. 15, 2019. She was 65. McKittrick was one of the first women to join the engineering faculty at UC San Diego in 1988, in what is now the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and was then Applied Mechanics and Engineering Sciences (AMES). She is remembered by her colleagues as a generous collaborator and by students and alumni as an inspiring and caring mentor. McKittrick was a great advocate for under-represented students in science and engineering and served as research advisor for many undergraduate students through the years. Full Story
This App Teaches Sketching Skills to Improve Graduation Rates in Science and Engineering
November 19, 2019
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a touchscreen app to teach students how to sketch 2D projections and 3D views freehand. This teaches students spatial visualization--the ability to think in 3D. This skill is important in many STEM fields, from Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) in engineering to using ultrasound for medical procedures. The Spatial Vis Engineering app is now available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for phones and tablets, and can also run on newer Chromebooks. Full Story
UC San Diego Alumni Power San Diego Robotics Ecosystem
November 14, 2019
From companies worth billions of dollars to startups employing a small number of people, UC San Diego engineering alumni are at the core of the robotics ecosystem here in San Diego County.This was clearly evident at the sixth annual robotics forum organized by the UC San Diego Contextual Robotics Institute Nov. 7. The forum focused exclusively on local companies this year and was dubbed the San Diego Robotics Forum for the occasion. The goal was to showcase the breadth and depth of the region’s robotics strengths, and solidify San Diego’s reputation as Robot Beach. Full Story
Measuring cell-cell forces using snapshots from time-lapse videos of cells
November 5, 2019
A new computational method can measure the forces cells exert on each other by analyzing time-lapse videos of cell colonies. It could enable researchers to gain fundamental insights into what role intercellular forces play in cellular biology and how they differ in healthy and diseased states. Full Story
UC San Diego Scientists Awarded Nearly $5 Million to Study Triggers of Deadly, Toxic Algal Blooms
October 29, 2019
Researchers from the University of California San Diego want to know what causes an oceanic algal bloom to turn deadly. To find out, researchers are gearing up to hunt for blooms along California’s coast using a suite of technologies that can target and sample ocean microbes and sift through genetic code in real time. All of this is made possible by a new $4.9 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The multidimensional effort will build upon recent discoveries about these temperamental microscopic algae under a project funded by NOAA’s Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB), a nationally competitive research funding program. Full Story
Piranha-proof fish scales offer inspiration for better armor
October 16, 2019
Material scientists have discovered what makes the scales of the massive Amazonian freshwater fish, Arapaima gigas, resistant to breaking when a piranha bites. The answer could serve as inspiration for stronger, lightweight and flexible synthetic armors. Full Story
Clingfish biology inspires better suction cup
October 15, 2019
A team of engineers and marine biologists built a better suction cup inspired by the mechanism that allows the clingfish to adhere to both smooth and rough surfaces, such as rocks in the area where the tide comes and goes. Researchers reverse engineered the clingfish’s suction disk and developed devices that cling well to wet and dry objects both in an out of water. The devices can hold up to hundreds of times their own weight. They could be used in a wide range of applications from handling and packaging for produce, to robotic grippers in manufacturing, to the recovery of archaeological artifacts. Full Story
These new soft actuators could make soft robots less bulky
October 11, 2019
UC San Diego engineers have developed a way to build soft robots that are compact, portable and multifunctional. The advance was made possible by creating soft, tubular actuators whose movements are electrically controlled, which makes them easy to integrate with small electronic components. Full Story
Building binational bridges through STEM
October 10, 2019
For seven weeks this summer, 120 high school and college students called UC San Diego’s campus home as they conducted groundbreaking research on how the human brain works, how to design materials to withstand earthquakes, how to build safer batteries, and 57 equally challenging topics. These students hailed from both the United States and Mexico, and were here to use science as a means of developing friendships that will last a lifetime, and maybe even trickle down to more positive binational relations. Full Story
Research Reveals Self-sharpening Mechanism in Sea Urchin Teeth
September 19, 2019
Even millions of chewing cycles and regular contact with rocks and hard shells can’t dull sea urchins’ teeth. New research from Northwestern Engineering researchers, in collaboration with the University of California San Diego, reveals that the chemical composition and microstructure of sea urchin teeth are optimized for sharpness preservation – findings with the potential to influence the design of tools for mining, boring, and machining operations. Full Story
Undergraduate engineers advance shock wave mitigation research
September 13, 2019
A team of undergraduate engineers at UC San Diego has discovered a method that could make materials more resilient against massive shocks such as earthquakes or explosions. The students, conducting research in the structural engineering lab of Professor Veronica Eliasson, used a shock tube to generate powerful explosions within the tube—at Mach 1.2 to be exact, meaning faster than the speed of sound. They then used an ultra high-speed camera to capture and analyze how materials with certain patterns fared. Full Story
Lasers enable engineers to weld ceramics, no furnace required
August 22, 2019
Using lasers, engineers have developed a new ceramic welding technology that works in ambient conditions, making it more practical than traditional methods that require melting the parts in a furnace at extremely high temperatures. This could make it possible to build ceramic-encased electronics. Full Story
Researchers Adopting Global Approach to Studying Microplastics and Microfibers
August 20, 2019
Scientists at UC San Diego are working to understand plastic degradation in the ocean, particularly smaller particles called microplastics and related microfibers. They are monitoring microfibers around the world to better understand how these fibers enter and spread in the environment, while also partnering with industry to identify possible avenues to limit plastic pollution and develop remediation strategies. Full Story