UC Davis Engineering Progress, Winter 2018

WINTER 2018

Engineering Alums Build New Technology for Sustainable Plastics PAGE 12

DESIGN SHOWCASE Thursday, June 7, 2018 • 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. • ARC Pavilion Judges Luncheon • 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. • ARC Ballroom The Engineering Design Showcase is the culminating experience for graduating seniors.

A senior design project synthesizes all the skills students learn at UC Davis and is required to complete an engineering degree. Teams work together to design and prototype a product, device, process or software system. This event brings together project teams from all eight departments for an opportunity to share student designs with the public.

The College of Engineering invites industry partners to review and provide expert feedback to student teams on their exhibits and project demonstrations. If you are interested in volunteering as a judge, please contact Reina Gonzalez Smarkel, smarkel@ucdavis.edu, 530-752-8305.

Prior to the showcase, judges are invited to attend a special luncheon in the ARC Ballroom. The luncheon provides networking opportunities with faculty and industry partners and a chance to hear the latest college news. RSVP here: http://bit.ly/2018-design Admission is free and open to the public. For more information about the Design Showcase, visit www.engineering.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/senior-engineering-design-showcase.

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CONTENTS 4 Message from the Dean 5 Princeton’s Carter

Discusses Quantum Materials for Sustainable Energy

Engineering Progress is published twice a year by the College of Engineering at UC Davis.

Jennifer Sinclair Curtis Dean, College of Engineering Jessie Catacutan Executive Assistant Dean for Administration and Finance Jim Schaaf Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies Case van Dam Associate Dean for Facilities and Capital Planning Jean VanderGheynst Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies Felix Wu Associate Dean, Academic Personnel and Planning Melinda Seevers Assistant Dean, Development and External Relations DEPARTMENT CHAIRS Bryan Jenkins Biological and Agricultural Engineering Alyssa Panitch Biomedical Engineering Roland Faller Chemical Engineering Amit Kanvinde Civil and Environmental Engineering Matthew Farrens Computer Science M. Saif Islam Electrical and Computer Engineering Jeff Gibeling Materials Science and Engineering Stephen Robinson Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Bonnie Dickson Communications Specialist Academic Technology Services Design

College of Engineering University of California, Davis One Shields Avenue, Kemper Hall 1042 Davis, CA 95616

http://engineering.ucdavis.edu

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6 Faculty Emeriti Dinner 8 High-Frequency Chip – Next-Gen Technology

12 COVER: Engineering Alums Build New Technology for Sustainable Plastics

15 Creator Challenge Series 20 College Hosts National Academy of Engineering Symposium

22

Energy Graduate Group Welcomes Inaugural Class

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ENGINEERING PROGRESS Aditi Risbud Bartl Director, Marketing and Communications

UC Davis Engineering Progress • Winter 2018

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Message from the Dean

What an exciting time for UC Davis Engineering!

The prominence of our college continues to grow, fueled by the outstanding accomplishments of our students, faculty and alumni. This issue of Engineering Progress highlights just a few key examples of these achievements.

Today, we are graduating more Aggie engineers than ever before. In the past six years, the number of our graduating B.S. engineers has doubled and now exceeds 1,000 graduates per year. To complement our student growth, 45 new engineering faculty have joined our college in the past two years. Along with all this growth, our engineering community is also becoming more diverse. Our college is ranked first among the top 50 engineering colleges nationwide in the percentage of female faculty. Last year, Forbes named UC Davis the number one college in America for women in STEM. Our college remains deeply committed to the student experience. More first-year students are working on engineering projects through our new Engineering Design and Communications course. In this course, our students dive into the action, creativity and teamwork that are integral to engineering. Increasing this type of engagement for our students is our college’s highest priority and will be enabled by our expanding Engineering Student Design Center.

On the research front, we continue to lead in technical advances in biomedical imaging, microelectronics and many areas of sustainability— including food, water, energy and infrastructure. UC Davis is also becoming a global leader in coffee research, thanks to chemical engineering professors Tonya Kuhl and William Ristenpart. This past year, both were instrumental in founding the first post-harvest coffee research center in the U.S. here at UC Davis, leveraging their wildly popular course “The Design of Coffee.”

The chemical engineering course remains the most popular elective course on campus.

As you can see, there is much to be proud of. Thank you for your continued support and connection with our college.

Go Aggie Engineers!

Join us at

Picnic Day! Saturday, April 21, 2018

WE’RE SOCIAL! Follow the College of Engineering on your favorite social channels

engineering.ucdavis.edu facebook.com/UCDEngineering twitter.com/UCDavisCoE

Jennifer Sinclair Curtis Dean, UC Davis College of Engineering ­4 U C D AV I S C O L L E G E O F E N G I N E E R I N G

instagram.com/UCDavisEngineering youtube.com/UCDavisEngineering

Princeton’s Emily A. Carter Discusses Quantum Materials for

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, Emily A. Carter, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University, spoke with College of Engineering students, staff and faculty about her work on sustainable energy. This lecture was part of the College’s Distinguished Lecture Series.

At Princeton, Carter is the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment, and holds faculty appointments in mechanical and aerospace engineering and applied and computational mathematics. Trained as a chemist, Carter’s expertise is in quantum mechanics. Her team uses quantum mechanical simulations to understand the behavior of molecules and materials for sustainable energy technologies.

“In 2007, I had an awakening when I read the latest Intergovernmental Impact on Climate Change report, and was struck by the fact that human beings were the cause of global warming,” Carter said. “I realized there were lots of interesting ways in which my expertise could help offer some alternatives to the burning of petroleum and coal.”

By Aditi Risbud Bartl

She went on to discuss her wide-ranging research portfolio from the last decade, emphasizing investigations of quantum materials for solar cells and fusion reactor walls, among other projects.

Carter pointed out that the process of making solar cells is energy-intensive and, apart from silicon uses materials that are scarce. Using simulations to study the energy levels of layers in a solar cell, Carter and her team can optimize their functionality and sustainability.

For example, she is optimizing the transparent conducting oxide layer in solar cells by replacing indium tin oxide (indium is a scarce element) with magnesium oxide or zinc oxide alloys with nickel oxide, which is cheaper and more sustainable.

Carter also outlined her efforts in understanding how chemical species—in this case, high-energy ions and neutrons— can be controlled in a fusion reactor. These high-energy particles knock atoms off the interior walls of a reactor, compromising their integrity.

Her team is investigating routes to slow down these particles and transfer heat to a turbine that generates electricity, resulting in a sustainable system. One potential solution is to use a “liquid” metal wall made of lithium that adheres to a solid wall, much like water in a circulating fountain.

Speaking candidly, Carter encouraged the audience to take on grand challenges in engineering.

“Engineers, and students in particular, have a really important role to play. You’re going to be faced in this century with problems the rest of humankind left behind for you,” she said.

“There are many ways you can contribute to make sure the planet is sustainable for many centuries to come.”

“ENGINEERS, AND STUDENTS IN PARTICULAR, HAVE A REALLY IMPORTANT ROLE TO PLAY... THERE ARE MANY WAYS YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE TO MAKE SURE THE PLANET IS SUSTAINABLE FOR MANY CENTURIES TO COME.” Photo: Bonnie Dickson/UC Davis

– Emily A. Carter

Dean Emily A. Carter E N G I N E E R I N G P R O G R E S S / Winter 2018 5

Annual Faculty

EMERITI DINNER COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING DEAN JENNIFER S. CURTIS hosted an engineering faculty emeriti dinner on November 3, at the Putah Creek Lodge at UC Davis. The annual gathering is an opportunity for college leadership, faculty, staff and students to connect with emeriti faculty and to share news and updates from the college.

This year’s gathering included a panel of current engineering students, who spoke about why they chose to study at UC Davis and their experiences in the College of Engineering. The students also talked about their involvement with extracurricular student clubs and design teams. The student panel included Vibhav Altekar, a senior in electrical engineering; Cheryl Fichter, a chemical engineering senior and the president of the UC Davis student chapter of the Society of Women Engineers; Heather Lynch, a sophomore in aerospace science and engineering; Jon Gordon, a civil engineering senior; and Sonia Krishna, an electrical engineering senior.

Dean Curtis welcomes guests to the 2017 Emeriti Faculty Dinner.

Marjorie Hartsough and Professor Emeritus Bruce Hartsough

Student Panel from left to right: Heather Lynch, Cheryl Fichter, Vibhav Altekar, Sonia Krishna and Jon Gordon

Heather Lynch chats with guests during dinner.

Distinguished Professor Pieter Stroeve and Professor Emeritus Wolfgang Kollman Dean Curtis, Professor Emeritus Richard Christensen and Kristine Christensen

Photos: Reeta Asmai/UC Davis

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Engineering Welcomes New Assistant Dean of

DEVELOPMENT AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS MELINDA SEEVERS joined UC Davis in 2017 as the Assistant Dean for Development and External Relations for the College of Engineering, bringing with her more than a decade of experience in strategic relationship building and high-level corporate and foundation giving. Seevers leads the college’s fundraising and external relations team to engage alumni, build individual and corporate partnerships and to further philanthropic investments in the college.

A Southern California native, Seevers grew up watching air shows with her dad, who was an aerospace engineer and former U.S. Air Force pilot. By the time she was 18, Seevers had soloed her first plane.

After earning her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Seevers spent her early career as a project engineer, small-business owner and independent contractor in the aerospace and aviation industries. In 2005, she transitioned into engineering education and research with the College of Engineering at Boise State University, a role that ultimately launched her into development and corporate relations.

During her time at Boise State, Seevers engaged students and industry through the creation of a lower-division undergraduate internship program funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, part of the Engineering Schools of the West Initiative.

“I was very passionate about how we were recruiting and retaining women, underrepresented minorities, first-generation college students and former military,” Seevers says.

By Bonnie Dickson

Not only was the pilot program essential to improving diversity and student retention rates within the college, it led to closer and more meaningful relationships with industry partners. Her work resulted in a 2006 paper, “Improving Engineering Undergraduate Retention via Research and Internships,” published by the American Society for Engineering Education.

The same year, Seevers became the first dedicated director of development for the College of Engineering at Boise State.

As director, she successfully led the college’s first fundraising campaign which included the university’s largest gift and first Keck Foundation grant. She also significantly advanced the college’s donor and alumni engagement programs while at Boise State.

In 2011, Seevers relocated to the University of Colorado, Boulder where she served as senior director of corporate and foundation relations for their College of Engineering and Applied Science.

While there, Seevers finalized a multi-million-dollar sponsorship, which resulted in significant annual contracted research directed to the university.

Now at UC Davis, Seevers is eager to work with college leadership to match the philanthropic goals of engineering alumni and industry with the vision and goals of the college.

“The college has some ambitious infrastructure expansions on the horizon,” she says. “I’m looking forward to working with colleagues and volunteers to see these projects and opportunities for our students come to life.”

Melinda Seevers, Assistant Dean of Development and External Relations. Photo: Reeta Asmai/UC Davis E N G I N E E R I N G P R O G R E S S / Winter 2018 7

Graduate student Hossein Jalili displays the millimeter-wave/terahertz phased array chip prototyped in the UC Davis Millimeter-Wave Research Center in the College of Engineering.

Brings Researchers Closer to Next-Generation Technology

By Bonnie Dickson

A NOVEL, HIGH-FREQUENCY ELECTRONIC CHIP potentially capable of transmitting tens of gigabits of data per second — a rate that is orders of magnitude above the fastest internet speeds available today — has been developed by engineers at UC Davis.

Omeed Momeni, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and doctoral student Hossein Jalili designed the chip using a phased array antenna system. Phased array systems funnel the energy from multiple sources into a single beam that can be narrowly steered and directed to a specific location.

“Phased arrays are pretty difficult to create, especially at higher frequencies,” Momeni said. “We are the first to achieve this much bandwidth at this frequency.”

The chip prototyped by Momeni and Jalili successfully operates at 370 GHz with 52 GHz of bandwidth. For comparison, FM radio waves broadcast between 87.5 and 108 MHz; 4G and LTE cellular networks generally function between 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz with up to 20 MHz of bandwidth.

Most modern electronics are designed to operate at lower frequencies. However, the growing demand for faster communication, and new and emerging applications of sensing and imaging are driving the creation of technologies that function at higher frequencies.

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Reaching speed limit of 4G networks “Theoretically, 4G cellular networks have reached their data rate limit,” Momeni said. “As we continue to migrate to systems like cloud computing and next-generation cellular networks, the need for speed is growing. Higher frequencies mean more bandwidth and more bandwidth means higher data rate.”

The tiny piece of hardware designed by Momeni and Jalili is evidence that it is possible to harness the large available bandwidth at millimeter-wave and terahertz bands on a single, compact chip. This is an important step toward the development of scalable systems that can be used to sharpen technologies like spectroscopy, sensing, radar, medical imaging and high-speed communication.

In future work, Momeni plans to integrate the chip into imaging and communication systems.

The research was supported by a five-year National Science Foundation CAREER grant awarded to Momeni. The ongoing project is titled “Scalable Traveling and Standing Wave Structures for High-Power and High-Efficiency Terahertz and mm-Wave Radiator and Phased Array Systems.”

Momeni and Jalili presented the chip and related research at the 2017 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference.

A journal article is forthcoming.

Photo: Maria Ines Perez-Vargas/UC Davis

ALFRED CHUANG,

Magnet CEO and UC Davis Alumnus, Delivers Spring 2017 Commencement Address

By Bonnie Dickson

NEVER GIVE UP and always see things through to completion. These were the life lessons imparted by Alfred Chuang, UC Davis alumnus and founder and CEO of Magnet Systems Inc., in his address to more than 650 graduating seniors at the College of Engineering’s 2017 spring commencement.

During his remarks, Chuang reflected on his experiences growing up in Hong Kong and the obstacles he faced securing a visa to study and work in the United States.

“For us immigrants, and for “I CAN’T THINK OF A those who are not—your parents, your grandparents or great greatMORE EXCITING TIME grandparents are likely immigrants— IN THE TECHNOLOGY we had to fight and hustle just to stay in America,” Chuang said.

INDUSTRY. AND I Even after his initial student CERTAINLY CAN’T visa application was rejected, IMAGINE A MORE Chuang was determined to study in America. He eventually secured PREPARED GROUP OF a visa and went on to earn a TALENTED STUDENTS TO bachelor’s in computer science from the University of San Francisco EMBARK ON FURTHER and a master’s in computer science ADVANCING THE WORLD with a specialization in distributed data management from UC Davis AND MAKING IT A in 1986.

BETTER PLACE.” Chuang then worked for Sun Microsystems, a former Silicon Valley – ALFRED CHUANG computer systems and software company, before co-founding an enterprise software company, BEA Systems. As BEA’s CEO and chairman of the board, Chuang oversaw a risky acquisition that resulted in the company missing its next earnings goal.

Despite the significant setback, Chuang refused to give up.

“We worked extremely hard, and eventually our strategy prevailed. BEA became the biggest system supplier for e-commerce in the world,” he said.

Chuang encouraged graduates to never give up, even in the face of discouraging setbacks, because the world’s greatest innovations are still ahead.

“I can’t think of a more exciting time in the technology industry,” Chuang concluded. “And I certainly can’t imagine a more prepared group of talented students to embark on further advancing the world and making it a better place.”

Alfred Chuang, CEO of Magnet and UC Davis Alumnus, was the keynote speaker at the College of Engineering’s 2017 spring commencement ceremony at the UC Davis ARC Pavilion.

College of Engineering Dean Jennifer S. Curtis presents Alfred Chuang with a gift from the college.

Photos courtesy of UC Davis E N G I N E E R I N G P R O G R E S S / Winter 2018 9

“I CAME TO UC DAVIS BECAUSE I NEEDED A MAJOR RESEARCH UNIVERSITY WITH A STRONG BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING PRESENCE, INCLUDING A STRONG COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND SCHOOL OF MEDICINE” – Steven George, Professor of Biomedical Engineering

ME

ET

THE

THE UC DAVIS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING hired 45 new faculty members from 2015 to 2017 to meet a 50 percent increase in student growth since 2010. Like the students in their classrooms, laboratories and clinics, our engineering faculty come from a wide range of backgrounds, bringing diverse perspectives and experiences to share with our community.

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Andre Daccache

Jennifer Mullin

Andre Daccache is an assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering who specializes in agricultural water management and irrigation engineering. Before joining UC Davis, Daccache was a senior consultant at the International Agronomic Mediterranean Institute of Bari in Italy, where he worked on capacity building and water-related projects for South Mediterranean countries. He received his Ph.D. in hydraulics and pipeline systems from the Polytechnic University of Bari in Italy in 2008.

Jennifer Mullin is a lecturer in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. Her research focus is on engineering design education with an emphasis on creativity, design thinking and the impact of design experiences on student’s self-concept and development. She earned her Ph.D. in engineering education from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2010 and has experience teaching engineering design at a projectbased high school, community colleges and through numerous informal learning programs.

Isaya Kisekka Isaya Kisekka is an assistant professor with dual appointments in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. His research on precision irrigation and water management takes a systems approach to agricultural water management to help farmers optimize their water use while maintaining profit and ensuring minimal environmental impact. Kisekka earned his Ph.D. in agricultural and biological engineering from the University of Florida in 2013.

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Biomedical Engineering Steven George

Mohammad Sadoghi

Biomedical engineering professor Steven George leads a multidisciplinary research program that designs tissue-engineered models of cardiac, pancreas and cancer microenvironments using stem cell and microfabrication technology. His current work, funded by a $6 million, five-year NIH grant, involves creating a model of atrial fibrillation with live human heart cells on a chip. These tissues have applications in drug discovery and personalized medicine. George earned his M.D. from the University of Missouri in 1991 and his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Washington in 1995.

Computer science assistant professor Mohammad Sadoghi’s research focuses on rethinking the foundation of database systems for future hardware to cope with the unprecedented scale, proliferation and heterogeneity of modern data. His long-term vision is to build a new secure data science platform to enable realtime fusion and exploration of data at a web scale. He received his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Toronto in 2013.

Computer Science Samuel King Computer science associate professor Samuel King received his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Michigan in 2006. King’s research is focused on computer security and the design of systems for fighting fraud. Prior to joining UC Davis, King taught at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and worked as a software engineer to help companies like Twitter and Lyft battle fake accounts and fraud.

Jason Lowe-Power Jason Lowe-Power, assistant professor of computer science, conducts research around the development of new hardware, software and system architecture to enable the next wave of computing. His research targets the performance and scalability of important applications such as big data analytics and high-performance computing. He received his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2017.

Joshua McCoy Computer science assistant professor Joshua McCoy conducts research to enable new, playable experiences through the novel use of artificial intelligence techniques. His crossdisciplinary research approaches involve game technology, social science, artificial intelligence and design. McCoy earned his Ph.D. in computer science from UC Santa Cruz in 2012.

Aditya Thakur Aditya Thakur is an assistant professor of computer science. Thakur received his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2014.

His research and teaching efforts focus on programming languages, automated reasoning and software engineering. He seeks to aid in the development of tools and techniques to improve the reliability and performance of software systems.

Zhou Yu Zhou Yu, an assistant professor of computer science, designs algorithms for real-time intelligent interactive systems that coordinate with user actions that are beyond spoken languages, including non-verbal behaviors to achieve effective and natural communications. She was recognized in FORBES’ 2018 “30 Under 30” in Science list for her research on the optimization of human-machine communication via studies of multimodal sensing and analysis, speech and natural language processing, machine learning and human-computer interaction.

Materials Science and Engineering Jeremy Mason Jeremy Mason is an assistant professor of materials science and engineering whose research involves the use of computational materials science and applied mathematics to model the evolution of material microstructures and phase transitions. He aims to improve our computational capabilities to the point that they can usefully guide experiments in the laboratory. He earned his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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Cover Story

John Bissell and Ryan Smith inspect samples at Origin’s West Sacramento pilot plant.

Build New Technology for Sustainable Plastics

By Bonnie Dickson

A West Sacramento chemical technology company founded by UC Davis engineering alumni John Bissell and Ryan Smith employs a new chemical synthesis technology to convert renewable organic materials into biodegradable plastics.

WHEN JOHN BISSELL AND RYAN SMITH WERE SENIORS at UC Davis in 2008, civil and environmental engineering professor Frank Loge encouraged them to participate in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s People, Prosperity and the Planet competition. Their team’s research project, which turned sewage into biodegradable plastic using microbes and fermentation, won first prize.

Inspired by the potential to develop and market more environmentally-conscious products from organic waste, chemical engineers Bissell, Smith and their classmates licensed a piece of technology from UC Davis and started their own company, Micromidas, now called Origin Materials.

Today, Origin has raised more than $90 million in capital and has successfully developed several patented chemical synthesis technologies to convert renewable materials such as cardboard, sawdust and wood chips into commodity chemicals used to manufacture the world’s plastics. In late 2017, Bissell and Smith began scaling-up Origin’s operations with the goal of introducing bio-based plastics to the global consumer market by 2020.

Tackling the World’s Plastic Problem At a pilot chemical plant in West Sacramento, Bissell, Origin’s chief executive officer, holds a small glass vial filled with a bright, white powder. The powder is polyethylene furanoate, or PEF, a high-performance polymer made from wood waste and other completely renewable biomass materials.

“You never see PEF this white,” Bissell says. “One of our flagship products goes into this.”

PEF is a renewable, sustainable substitute for polyethylene terephthalate, or PET. Traditional PET is one of the most important commodity chemicals in the world due to its versatility in manufacturing synthetic polymers, or plastics, used for things like single-use plastic water bottles.

The PEF plastic products created from Origin’s chemicals have the same look and feel as petroleum-based PET plastics, but are made from 100 percent renewable source materials and are biodegradable.

The vast majority of traditional PET plastics are derived from non-renewable fossil fuels and do not break down naturally in the environment. This means that most of the plastics Photos: Maria Ines Perez-Vargas/UC Davis

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humankind has ever made still exist in some form today, often as plastic waste and pollution.

Origin is far from being the only chemical company to successfully convert biomass into useful chemical compounds to make PEF. They are, however, the first chemical company to simplify the chemical conversion process into a single step. This translates directly to cost, says Smith, Origin’s chief technology officer.

“It’s a blockbuster chemical technology,” he adds. “What really attracted us to developing this technology is the idea that in a single step, you can take something like wood chips, put it into our reaction system, and out of that system have single, isolated, chemical intermediates.”

These chemical intermediates can be used to make new polymers, surfactants and carbon blacks—materials like PEF— that are used to manufacture a wide range of consumer products.

This includes clothing, food storage containers, plastic water and soda bottles and more.

Bissell characterizes Origin’s simplified chemical technologies as new, economic, fundamental building blocks for the chemical industry.

“If you introduce something that is characteristically different and also highly sustainable, you dramatically increase the number of options that people have to make new materials and products,” Bissell says.

Reaching the Global Market The success of Origin’s chemical technologies at their pilot plant recently attracted the attention of industry giants Nestlé

and Danone, the world’s two largest bottled water companies.

In 2017, the three companies announced a research and development partnership to develop a commercial-scale process to produce plastic bottles that are 75 percent bio-PET by 2020 and 100 percent bio-PET by 2022. The partnership between Origin, Nestle and Danone aims to replace the world’s traditional fossil materials with bio-based plastics that are not only better for the planet, but more economical to produce.

“We’re poised to change the way that the chemical and materials industry source their materials to make a significant number of important products,” Smith says.

These important products include anything that uses plastics— from single-use plastic bottles to food and product packaging.

Once Origin’s technology is successfully developed at a commercial scale, the company will make it accessible for the entire chemical and materials industry.

“We think aligning big, forward-thinking customers with new technology is a really powerful combination,” Bissell says of Origin’s business approach.

Construction of a demonstration plant is currently underway in Canada and is slated for completion in early 2019. The demonstration plant will produce 15,000 tons of product each year, roughly equal to 100 rail cars of material. The commercialscale operations will be 20 times larger than the demonstrationscale plant.

But building a chemical company from the ground up is not a trivial undertaking. The world is much different today compared to a century ago when the oldest titans of the chemical industry were founded, Bissell explains. continued on page 14

Above: A sample of the biomass material used

by Origin to make its chemical intermediates.

Below: A PEF sample at Origin.

Origin’s pilot plant in West Sacramento.

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Sustainable Plastics continued from page 13 “A lot of the classical mechanisms used to govern, manage and grow the infrastructure of the company may not make the most sense anymore,” he says. “We don’t necessarily have these constraints. We can build better and more efficiently.”

UC Davis Roots When Bissell and Smith graduated from UC Davis, they had a business idea and a lead on a promising chemical technology.

Nine years later, their chemical startup company is poised to change the global chemical commodity market.

Despite the company’s global ambition, Origin remains firmly rooted in Northern California.

“As a company, we believe in Sacramento in a big way,” Bissell says. “We also believe that UC Davis provides a great foundation as an academic institution for the area.”

Bissell says the company’s proximity to the state capital is ideal for continued research and development of Origin’s technologies, citing the region’s expertise in environmental research and policy and UC Davis’ expertise in food and agriculture, sustainability and biotechnology.

Bissell and Smith say building and maintaining relationships with peers and faculty from UC Davis has also been critical for the growth of their company. When Origin was first formed,

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the company relied on the facilities, instruments and experts at UC Davis and the College of Engineering to develop some of its early technologies.

“We’ve always been close to the university, broadly speaking, especially when we were first starting out,” Bissell says.

Origin’s founders also say they were inspired by the Graduate School of Management’s business boot camps and competitions like “Big Bang!,” which provides workshops, mentorship, financing guidance and networking opportunities to accelerate commercialization and advance the startup process.

Bissell is a graduate of the UC Davis Green Technology Entrepreneurship Academy, which is now part of the Mike and Renee Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at GSM. The course helped Bissell and his early partners develop a viable business plan and learn how to secure venture capital.

Reflecting on their journey since graduating, Bissell and Smith say starting out with a clear value proposition and building and maintaining relationships is key for aspiring entrepreneurs.

“It’s important to figure out, not just how to use your skills, but also how to direct them towards something that the world needs,” Bissell says. “We’ve created something that combines economics, performance and sustainability. For us, that’s a big win.”

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING HOSTS UNIVERSITY’S FIRST

By Bonnie Dickson

LAST YEAR, the UC Davis Student Startup Center engaged with more than 400 students for the university’s first Creator Challenge Series. The student maker competition is designed to help students successfully develop their entrepreneurial and startup ideas into a viable business or product.

“Events like this are what make the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship here at Davis,” said Liz Tang, director of the Student Startup Center at UC Davis and the lead coordinator of the Creator Challenge Series.

The 2017 competition kicked-off with an Ideathon, where students participated in a series of skill-building workshops to learn about new and emerging technologies. The culminating events for the series are the 24-hour Create-a-thon, where student teams designed and built a minimum viable product to pitch to potential investors, and the Sharkathon, where the top teams are invited to pitch their business plans and projects to potential investors.

The team JAPA, short for Just a Parking App, developed a realtime, mobile app to help users locate available parking spots on campus. The team won first place in the competition and are now working with UC Davis Transportation and Parking Services to develop and launch their app at the main UC Davis campus and at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.

Another team, Ccolor used augmented reality to correct three types of color blindness. The app can also be used as a tool to

help color-seeing users create platforms and materials that are accessible for users who are color blind.

The app is currently available on Apple’s mobile app store.

The 2018 Creator Challenge Series will begin on April 28 at the UC Davis ARC Ballroom. If you are interested in participating in the 2018 series as a mentor, contact Liz Tang at ectang@ucdavis.edu or visit www.startup.ucdavis.edu.

Photos courtesy of the UC Davis Student Startup Center

Team JAPA further developed their prototype at the 2017 Create-a-thon.

The Creator Challenge Series is largely funded

by Assembly Bill 2664, the UC Innovation and Entrepreneurship Expansion Bill authored by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks.

The 2017 series was made possible with support from these partners:

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College of Engineering

FACULTY RECOGNITION At a faculty celebration last fall, the college honored the following faculty who received major national and international awards, fellowships and appointments, as well as the most prestigious college and university awards from September 30, 2016 – September 1, 2017.

Biological and Agricultural Engineering ■■

Tina Jeoh – UC Davis

Civil and Environmental Engineering ■■

Chancellor’s Fellow ■■

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Bryan Jenkins – American

■■

Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Fellow and UC Davis Distinguished Professor

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Kurt Kornbluth – UC Davis

■■

of Health Young Investigator Award ■■

Tingrui Pan – American Institute

for Medical and Biological Engineering Fellow ■■

Academy of Engineering Election ■■

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David Rocke – American Institute

for Medical and Biological Engineering Fellow ■■

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Steven George – Biomedical

Engineering Society Fellow ■■

Michael Savageau – American

Academy of Microbiology Fellow ­16 U C D AV I S C O L L E G E O F E N G I N E E R I N G

■■

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Bruce Gates – Michel Boudart

Award for Advances in Catalysis ■■

Alexandra Navrotsky – Professional

Member of the World Academy of Ceramics

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering ■■

Materials Science and Engineering ■■

■■

Yong Jae Lee – Army Research

Office Young Investigator Award and UC Davis Hellman Fellow ■■

Cindy Rubio Gonzalez – UC Davis

Hellman Fellow

Subhash Mahajan – Acta

Materialia Gold Medal ■■

James Shackelford – 2019 ASM

International Albert Easton White Distinguished Teacher Award

Zhaojun Bai – Society for Industrial

and Applied Mathematics Fellow

Raissa D’Souza – American

Physical Society Fellow

Computer Science ■■

Jane Gu – Qualcomm Faculty

Award

Chemical Engineering

Simon Cherry – National

Academy of Inventors and American Academy for the Advancement of Science Fellow

Deb Niemeier – National Academy

of Engineering Election

Atul Parikh – American Institute

for Medical and Biological Engineering Fellow

Ross Boulanger – National

Juan Sebastian Gomez-Diaz –

European Association of Antennas and Propagation Leopold B. Felsen Award for Excellence in Electrodynamics

Heather Bischel – 2017 Zeno Karl

Schindler/EPFL Prize in Environmental Sciences and Sustainability

for Medical and Biological Engineering Fellow Jamal Lewis – National Institutes

■■

Resources Association David R. Maidment Award

Biomedical Engineering

■■

Alissa Kendall – UC Davis Geoff Schladow – American Water

Hussain Al-Asaad – Academic

Senate Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching

Chancellor’s Fellow

■■

Kent Leach – American Institute

■■

Fellow

Chancellor’s International Engagement Achievement Award

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Alex Forrest – UC Davis Hellman

Electrical and Computer Engineering

■■

Klaus van Benthem – American

Ceramic Society Richard M. Fulrath Award

ENGINEERING PROGRESS IS GOING DIGITAL! Do we have your email address?

Ensure you receive the latest information from us by keeping your records up-to-date. http://bit.ly/coe-contact

E N G I N E E R I N G P R O G R E S S / W i n t e r 2 0 1 8 17

A new catheter probe developed in biomedical engineering professor Laura Marcu’s lab combines intravascular ultrasound with fluorescence lifetime imaging to image the tiny arteries of a living heart.

Combines Light and Ultrasound to Measure Plaques

By Holly Ober

TO WIN THE BATTLE AGAINST HEART DISEASE, cardiologists need better ways to identify the composition of plaque most likely to rupture and cause a heart attack.

Angiography allows them to examine blood vessels for constricted regions by injecting them with a contrast agent before X-raying them. But because plaque does not always result in constricted vessels, angiography can miss dangerous buildups of plaque. Intravascular ultrasound can penetrate the buildup to identify depth, but lacks the ability to identify some of the finer details about risk of plaque rupture.

Professor Laura Marcu’s lab in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UC Davis has now combined intravascular

Jennifer Phipps, Julien Bec and Professor Laura Marcu test the new catheter probe in the Marcu Lab.

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ultrasound with fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIm) in a single catheter probe that can image the tiny arteries of a living heart.

The new catheter can simultaneously retrieve structural and biochemical information about arterial plaque that could more reliably predict heart attacks.

An optical fiber in the catheter sends short laser pulses into surrounding tissue, which fluoresces with tiny flashes of light in return. Different kinds of tissue—collagen, proteins, lipids—emit different amounts of fluorescence.

At the same time, an ultrasound probe in the catheter records structural information about the blood vessel.

Seeking FDA Approval for Human Trials The combination FLIm-IVUS imaging catheter provides a comprehensive insight into how atherosclerotic plaque forms, aiding diagnosis and providing a way to measure how plaques shrink in response to therapy.

The new catheter has been tested in living swine hearts and samples of human coronary arteries.

The catheter used in the study is flexible enough to access coronary arteries in a living human following standard procedures. It does not require any injected fluorescent tracers or any special modification of the catheterization procedures.

The new technique could not only improve understanding of mechanisms behind plaque rupture—an event with fatal consequences—but also the diagnosis and treatment of patients with heart disease.

Marcu’s group is currently working to obtain FDA approval to test this new intravascular technology on human patients.

The new device is described in a recent paper, “In vivo labelfree structural and biochemical imaging of coronary arteries using an integrated ultrasound and multispectral fluorescence lifetime catheter system,” published in Scientific Reports.

Photos: Reeta Asmai/UC Davis

UC DAVIS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

APPAREL AND MORE! All UC Davis Stores profits go back to student programs and services.

Shop UC Davis Stores for all your College of Engineering gear, from T-shirts and sweaters to caps and messenger bags.

Visit our co-branded online store with Promoversity, where you can get specialized gear at competitive prices.

costore.com/UCDavisRetail

College Hosts National Academy of Engineering

SYMPOSIUM

By Bonnie Dickson

ON NOV. 16-18, the UC Davis College of Engineering hosted more than 60 engineers RESEARCHERS AND ENGINEERS FROM BOTH ACADEMIA AND INDUSTRY DISCUSSED CUTTING-EDGE DEVELOPMENTS RELATED TO TECHNOLOGIES FOR SPACE EXPLORATION, NEXT-GENERATION SOLAR CELLS, NEUROENGINEERING AND COMPUTATIONAL IMAGING DURING THE MEETING.

from the U.S. and European Union for the National Academy of Engineering’s 2017 Frontiers of Engineering symposium.

The goal of the symposium was to facilitate an interdisciplinary transfer of research, ideas and methodologies between outstanding early-career American and European engineers under the age of 45 from industry, universities and other research institutions.

In his remarks during the first day of the symposium, UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May, an electrical engineer, praised College of Engineering Dean Jennifer Curtis for bringing the transatlantic meeting to Davis. May also highlighted the university’s commitment to environmental sustainability and the importance of increasing diversity in engineering to accelerate innovation.

“I champion diversity not only for the sake of social equity, or because it’s the right thing to do,” May said. “I also promote it because it gives us better outcomes.”

Curtis echoed the chancellor’s support of diversity in engineering education at UC Davis.

“The College of Engineering continues to make our environment welcoming and supporting to women and underrepresented students, and our unwavering dedication to student success and diversity sets us apart from other large, public institutions of higher education,” she said.

Researchers and engineers from both academia and industry discussed cutting-edge developments related to technologies for space exploration, next-generation solar cells, neuroengineering and computational imaging during the meeting.

Highlights of the symposium’s first day included a presentation by William Pomerantz, vice president of special projects for Virgin Orbit, on the democratization of space

Frontiers of Engineering symposium attendees

Photo: Reeta Asmai/UC Davis ­20 U C D AV I S C O L L E G E O F E N G I N E E R I N G

Chemical engineering professor Tonya Kuhl gives visitors an overview of the UC Davis Coffee Center during a tour of the Coffee Laboratory.

French researcher Benoit Larrat and mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Sanjay Joshi co-chaired the neuroengineering technical session.

and the company’s developments in commercial space travel. Pomerantz detailed the engineering approaches behind Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne program, which uses a Boeing 747-400 to launch a small, low-Earth orbit satellite. The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced it will partner with Virgin Orbit on the launch of their experimental satellites as early as January 2019.

UC Davis mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Sanjay Joshi co-chaired the neuroengineering technical session, which included presentations and discussions on neural signal measurement and processing, neural implant design, clinical applications and the future of neuroengineering development and commercialization. Joshi directs the Robotics, Autonomous Systems and Controls Laboratory at UC Davis, where he conducts research related to the building of assistive devices that are controlled by natural electrical signals from the human body.

After two days of intensive technical sessions, symposium attendees were invited to tour the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Sciences, the Engineering Student Design Center and the UC Davis Coffee Laboratory.

The National Academy of Engineering is a private, independent, nonprofit institution that provides engineering leadership in service to the federal government on matters involving engineering and technology. The National Academy of Engineering has more than 2,000 peer-elected members, senior professionals in business, academia and government who are among the world’s most accomplished engineers. Twelve faculty in the UC Davis College of Engineering are National Academy of Engineering members.

The EU-US Frontiers of Engineering symposium is held once every three years and is the newest National Academy of Engineering Frontiers program. The symposium is hosted in partnership with the European Council of Academies of Applied Sciences, Technologies and Engineering.

Photos on this page: Lucy Knowles/UC Davis Engineering Student Design Center manager Mike Akahori displays a 3D-printed heart created by students.

E N G I N E E R I N G P R O G R E S S / W i n t e r 2 0 1 8 21

WELCOMES INAUGURAL CLASS

By Bonnie Dickson

New graduate program prepares students to tackle today’s complex energy challenges “THE MISSION OF THE ENERGY GRADUATE GROUP IS TO PRODUCE GRADUATES WHO WILL BE ENERGY LEADERS AND EXPERTS IN GOVERNMENT, THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND ACADEMIA.”

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THE UC DAVIS ENERGY GRADUATE GROUP welcomed its first class of graduate students last fall. Building on the university’s rich expertise in sustainable energy systems, the 16-student cohort will conduct interdisciplinary research to address pressing environmental, economic, policy and social challenges related to energy production and consumption in California, the United States and the world.

The program’s curriculum is designed to address energy systems broadly, with a focus on renewable energy, energy efficiency, and the electricity grid. The program is hosted by the UC Davis Energy and Efficiency Institute and its affiliated research centers, programs and partnerships, which are recognized as national and world leaders in energy education and research.

“There are very few programs out there that actually focus on energy in terms of graduate degrees,” said Alissa Kendall, chair of the Energy Graduate Group and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering. “This new program addresses a global demand for graduates with interdisciplinary training.”

California’s global leadership in energy efficiency, renewable energy and grid storage also makes UC Davis uniquely suited to host a graduate energy program, Kendall said.

In addition to coursework and research, EGG students interact with researchers and leaders from industry, government and public interest groups leading California’s clean energy movement. As part of their orientation last fall, the graduate group met with state and non-profit agencies, stakeholders and industries in the Sacramento region and San Francisco Bay Area.

The four-day orientation introduced students to the major players in California’s energy system, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co., Chevron, the California Energy Commission, the California Air Resources Board and the California Independent System Operator which manages the flow of electricity across 80 percent of California’s and a small part of Nevada’s grid.

The program’s fall seminar course also brought local, regional and national energy leaders to UC Davis to share their expertise with students. Among the fall speakers were two Nobel laureates, Steven Chu and Marilyn Brown. Chu is an expert in physics and climate change from Stanford University. Brown is a professor of

sustainable systems at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a presidential appointee to the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority—the nation’s largest public power provider. She also serves on the Department of Energy’s Electricity Advisory Committee.

“It was wonderful to host these energy leaders on campus and have them share their knowledge and insights with EGG students,” said Mark Modera, interim faculty director of the Energy and Efficiency Institute and professor of civil and environmental engineering and mechanical and aerospace engineering. “I was deeply impressed by the interactions these students had with our speakers; they came prepared and asked insightful questions. I look forward to adding more high-caliber students to our program in the coming year.”

Students who complete the program will earn master’s or doctoral degrees in energy systems. EGG graduates will use training in engineering, physical sciences, economics, environmental sciences, management, sociology and policy to interact effectively with policymakers, engineers, scientists and academics. The program currently offers a science and technology development track and a policy and management track.

EGG is accepting applications for fall 2018. The general deadline for applications is April 1. For more information, visit www.energy.ucdavis.edu.

The inaugural class of Energy Graduate Group students Back row (left to right): Madison Hoffacker, Junia Compostella, Jin Wook Ro, Nick Pappas, Zane McDonald, Ryan Barr, Alex Campbell, Sadanand Wachche, Greg Chin Front row (left to right): Alex Sloan, Leticia Pineda, John Martindill, Mark Lozano, Kabian Ritter, Armando Casillas, Lisa Slaughter. Photo courtesy of the UC Davis Energy and Efficiency Institute

E N G I N E E R I N G P R O G R E S S / W i n t e r 2 0 1 8 23

2017 Graduate Studies Keynote Address: Silicon Valley Leader

PREM JAIN

By Aditi Risbud Bartl

PREM JAIN, ENTREPRENEUR AND CEO of startup Pensando Systems,

“DON’T STRIVE TO BE A STAR IN THE SKY—THERE ARE ALREADY PLENTY OF THOSE. FROM THE GROUND LEVEL, YOU CAN ACTUALLY SEE MORE CLEARLY. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO MOVE FORWARD IN YOUR LIVES GUIDED BY YOUR PASSION AND YOUR HEART, AS WELL AS A SPIRIT OF CEASELESS CURIOSITY AND INQUIRY.” – PREM JAIN

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delivered the keynote address during the UC Davis 2017 Graduate Studies Commencement Ceremony held earlier this year.

Once described as the “heart” of Cisco Systems Inc., Jain held various leadership roles in the company, most recently serving as senior vice president of Cisco Insieme to build next-generation data center solutions.

Jain holds a bachelor of engineering degree with honors from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) in India, and a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from UC Davis. After graduating from UC Davis, Jain launched a startup, Crescendo, later acquired by Cisco. The success of this multibillion-dollar venture has led to a fruitful career as a serial entrepreneur.

During his address, Jain described his upbringing in New Delhi, India. His father wanted him to join the family business—manufacturing and selling turbans—but his mother wanted him to pursue higher education, something she had not been given the opportunity to do.

Going against his father’s wishes, Jain followed his own path, going to college at BITS and later, hitchhiking from Kabul to London with a budget of $1 per day. The trip was successful, and he repeated the experience several times, saying it taught him to tackle the “surprises and curveballs life throws at you.”

Jain also shared his philosophy for the “best kind” of success, stressing the need to anticipate change and communicate with honesty, transparency and humility.

“Don’t strive to be a star in the sky—there are already plenty of those,” he said.

“From the ground level, you can actually see more clearly. I encourage you to move forward in your lives guided by your passion and your heart, as well as a spirit of ceaseless curiosity and inquiry.”

Photo courtesy of UC Davis Graduate Studies

ENGINEERING ALUMNA to Receive Aggie Service Award

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING ALUMNA CYNTHIA MURPHY-ORTEGA received the UC Davis Cal Aggie Alumni Association’s Aggie Service Award for her exemplary dedication to the university in 2017.

The CAAA Aggie Service Award honors a UC Davis graduate who has demonstrated exemplary pride and dedication to the university through a personal commitment of time and energy, volunteerism and leadership over the last year.

After graduating from UC Davis with a bachelor’s in chemical engineering in 1991, Murphy-Ortega joined Chevron as an engineer. Now in her 26th year with the company, she serves as a manager in Chevron’s University Partnerships and Association Relations group, where she develops strategic relationships with universities and national associations to support the curriculum, faculty and facilities that are needed to lead students to success after college.

Murphy-Ortega currently serves on the Engineering Dean’s Executive Committee and the program advisory committee for the Leadership in Engineering Advancement Diversity and Retention program at UC Davis, where she was influential in Chevron’s founding partnership of the program, as well as the Avenue-E community college transfer program designed to recruit, retain and graduate diverse populations of students.

In addition to her support of student recruitment and retention programs on campus, she has also directed Chevron’s support to establish multiple scholar awards for deserving engineering students at UC Davis, as well as funding to support teaching, laboratory spaces and career services programs.

Beyond UC Davis, Murphy-Ortega is involved with programs to promote diversity in engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.

The CAAA honored Murphy-Ortega and other outstanding alumni at the 45th Annual Alumni Awards Gala on Feb. 2, 2018 at the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

She is one of seven exceptional individuals who were selected to receive a CAAA alumni award for their impact on UC Davis and the world.

This year’s award recipients were: ■■

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Emil M. Mrak International Award: Liliana Ferrer ’87 of Sacramento, California Outstanding Alumna Award: Margaret Lapiz ’89 of Alamo, California Young Alumnus Award: Jesse Rodriguez ’13 of Elk Grove, California Distinguished Friend Award: Ernest E. Tschannen of Orangevale, California Aggie Service Award: Cynthia Murphy-Ortega ’91 of Vallejo, California CAAA Distinguished Achievement Award: John E. Madigan ’70, MS ’72, DVM ’75 of Woodland, California Jerry W. Fielder Memorial Award: Patrick John Sherwood ’86 of Danville, California

Chemical engineering alumna Cynthia Murphy-Ortega in the College of Engineering’s LEADR Student Center Photo: Karin Higgins/UC Davis

E N G I N E E R I N G P R O G R E S S / W i n t e r 2 0 1 8 25

Thanks to the generosity of many College of Engineering supporters, in fiscal year 2016-17 the college raised $11.5 million in gifts and grants from businesses, foundations, alumni and friends. Gifts targeted faculty research and teaching, undergraduate scholarships, graduate student awards, and equipment needs. $500,000 and above Chevron Corporation Hyundai Maury Hull, Ph.D. & Karen Hull Sodick Co. Ltd. Brian Underwood & Carol Blacutt-Underwood $100,000-$499,999 American Heart Association National Center AppoTech Limited Arizona State University Bencafé Center for Advancing Women in Technology DMG Mori Heising-Simons Foundation HYDATA Corporation Intel Corporation Jet Propulsion Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC Microsoft Corporation North Carolina State University Peet’s Coffee & Tea Pennsylvania State University Rizo-Lopez Foods Inc. Shih-Ping Wang and Shih-Yuan Wang Partnership Stanford University Texas A&M University Texas Instruments Inc. University of Minnesota Wilbur Curtis Company Inc. Jerry M. Woodall, Ph.D. & Nancy Bulger, Ph.D. $50,000-$99,999 American Society for Engineering Education Analog Devices Inc. Beijing Hisign Technology Co. Ltd. Michael & Jody Coffey Ford Motor Company Brian & Louanne Horsfield Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd Keysight Technologies Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials Mars Incorporated Max Kade Foundation Mercon Coffee Corporation Pacific Gas & Electric Company Earl & Suzette Rennison Edwin F. Rizo Sandia National Laboratories William & Cynthia Schaff University of Illinois at Chicago W&Wsens Devices Inc. $25,000-$49,999 Almond Board of California American Vineyard Foundation

Café Soluble S.A. California Canning Peach Association Cisa Agro S.A. Cobham Advance Electronic Solutions Inc. Richard & Joy Dorf Edison International Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine L3 Technologies Inc. LeapDroid Inc. MACOM NEC Laboratories America Inc. Northrop Grumman NVIDIA Corporation Sanford Research Center Save the Children Sigma Designs Inc. Space Systems Loral Stryker Corporation Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences $10,000-$24,999 Ariston Medical Inc. California Tomato Research Institute Inc. Rebecca & Bruce Conrad Environmental Engineers of the Future George & Ruth Bradford Foundation Haley & Aldrich Inc. Inphi Corporation Intel Programmable Solutions Group Joseph Beggs Foundation for Kinematics National Marine Mammal Foundation Princeton University Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis Robert Bosch LLC Stephen K. Robinson, Ph.D. & Jill Brigham Specialty Coffee Association Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Dennis W. Walden King & Linda Won $5,000-$9,999 Adobe Systems Inc. Aerojet Rocketdyne Brown and Caldwell Diane M. Bryant Alland Chee ConeTec Education Foundation Fund CTU Precast Kenton S. Day, Ph.D. Robert C. Doss

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Bradley & Teresa Dyer Susan Ellis & Mark Linton Pam Fair & Glen Sullivan Frank C. Gill Layton & Melinda Han Neville C. Luhmann, Ph.D. Micron Technology Foundation Inc. Nomad Bioscience GmbH RadiaBeam Technologies LLC SAGE Engineers Inc. Tetra Tech Inc. $1,000-$4,999 Keith E. Abey Warren Abey AECOM American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Kristen Andersen Jon B. Archer AT&T Inc. Edward N. Bachand Beckman Coulter Foundation Arthur T. Bliss Alayne D. Bolster Richard A. Bradley Donald M. Bray Bright Funds Foundation William & Elizabeth Brown Don O. Brush, Ph.D. Michelle B. Bryden Howard J. Bush Daniel J. Campbell Chih-Kang Chen, Ph.D. Henry S. Chu, Ph.D. Coronal Group LLC Kenneth E. Culver Cunningham Engineering Corporation Robert H. Davis, Ph.D. James DeLoach Donna R. DeVries Thomas G. Elam Farrell Design-Build Companies Inc. Forell/Elsesser Engineers Inc. Fugro Consultants Inc. GEI Consultants Geopentech Inc. Geosyntec Consultants Karl Gerdes, Ph.D. & Pamela Rohrich, DVM Bruce R. Gilbert John R. Goss, Ph.D. Carl A. Gowan Graniterock Griffin Soil Group John J. Guzman Gary Hackney & Natalie Poole James D. Hallenbeck Hayward Baker Inc. HDR Inc. Michael F. Helmer Frederick H. Hoffman

Alan P. Jackman, Ph.D. JAFEC USA Inc. Jack S. Kasahara Kevin & Gail Keck John D. Kemper, Ph.D. Klohn Crippen Berger Ltd. Michael & Hilary La Tondre Dieter G. Lamprecht Yuchi Lin Lockheed Martin Corporation Earl W. McCune, Ph.D. Karen A. McDonald, Ph.D. Raymond Merala Metaxas Properties Micro-Vu Miller & Axline Courtney N. Mizutani Kathryn Nash National Center for Women & Information Technology Lawrence H. Nelson, Ph.D. Kenneth B. Nittler Ted & Jeanine Odell Carolyn M. Primus, Ph.D. Provenance Vineyards Deborah A. Raasch Richard D. Noble, Ph.D. Russel P. Rudden Holly Runyon Mary E. Serra James F. Shackelford, Ph.D. Anthony J. Silveira Matthew Simons Leah M. Stroup Ann Studer Kathryn L. Tolin TRUiST Union Pacific Railroad Bruce & Marie West David M. Wilbur Kevin R. Woolf Charles R. Wright $500-$999 Advanced Geosolutions Inc. Babak Alizadeh-Taheri, Ph.D. Arup Kristin Baier BGC Engineering Inc. Muriel R. Brandt George R. Branner, Ph.D. CH2M HILL Inc. Sandeep Chopra Joann E. Christensen Daniel J. Chu Cotton, Shires & Associates Inc. Ryan H. Doctor Earth Mechanics Inc. Daniel J. Eddleman David W. Erickson Ryan B. Fawkes Linda N. Finley Andrew J. Fong Steven K. Fong Professor James L. Fridley

Alexander A. Friedman, D.Engr.

Geopier Foundation Company Mark A. Gondree, Ph.D. Gregg Drilling & Testing Inc. Haley & Aldrich Inc. Chuanhu He John J. Stimson Steven G. Henry Leonard R. Herrmann, Ph.D. Son H. Ho Myron & Sharna Hoffman Thomas L. Holzer Donna M. Hom Thomas K. Landgraf Anthony T. Iwamiya Feiling Jia, Ph.D. Maxim D. Jovanovich Kang J. Jun Andrew E. Kato Vivek Khare Marie-Odile Kippen Ruth L. Knipe Joe L. Lee John A. Lilygren, Jr. Shirley D. Loomis Jeffrey Lund & Rashimi Garde Joy McKee Pascal P. Nespeca, Ph.D. Trung Q. Nguyen Kurt N. Ohlinger, Ph.D. Terry M. Ota Russell A. Peery Peloton Coffee Roasters Fred Redeker Gregory F. Redinbo Bill Roberson Rosemary B. Robinson Rockridge Geotechnical Inc. Angela A. Rodriguez Harrold J. Rust III Shannon & Wilson Inc. David R. Shonnard, Ph.D. Andrew J. Simanek Melina M. Simon Caryn A. Slane Fred H. Stephenson Kenneth H. Stokoe II, Ph.D. Jon A. Struck W. Randall Sturgeon William A. Taplin Daniel P. Teuthorn Jeffrey S. Thompson Andrew J. Towarnicky Arthur J. Toy John O. Weinberg John & Annette White Yanyan Yang, Ph.D. Kevin Y. Yen August & Erin Zajonc David J. Zuffi

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Percent of Women Faculty Among Top 50 Engineering Programs

ST

Post-Harvest Coffee Research Center in the U.S.

Full-Body PET Scanner in the World

– U.S. News and World Report

Students

Faculty

4,547

228

30% Women 23% Underrepresented groups 4.1 Years - mean time to degree LEADR Student Support Center Engineering Design & Startup Centers

45 hired, 2015-17 to meet 50% student growth since 2010

Undergraduate Students

Departments • Biological & Agricultural • Biomedical • Chemical • Civil & Environmental • Computer Science • Electrical & Computer • Materials Science • Mechanical & Aerospace

Total Faculty

14

Members of the National Academies

1,234

Graduate Students

National Academy of Engineering: 12 National Academy of Medicine: 1 National Academy of Sciences: 1

489 Masters 745 Ph.D.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS #

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Doing the Most for the American Dream – NY Times College Access Index

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Best Public U.S. University – Wall Street Journal

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Campus Sustainability

Chancellor Gary May

– UI GreenMetric World Ranking

Electrical Engineer

Contributions to the “Public Good” – Washington Monthly

1

Best Value College for Women in STEM (U.S.) – Forbes

UC Davis College of Engineering One Shields Avenue Davis, CA 95616

engineering.ucdavis.edu facebook.com/UCDEngineering twitter.com/UCDavisCoE instagram.com/UCDavisEngineering youtube.com/UCDavisEngineering

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UC Davis Most Sustainable University in World – University of Indonesia’s 2016 GreenMetric ranking