2018-19 UC Irvine Samueli School of Engineering Dean's Report

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

University of California, Irvine

PER SPE CTI VES

PERSPECTIVES

CONTENTS

4 10 16 32 40 44

Snapshot

Notable

Inclusion

Discovery

Distinction

Connections

For more than 23 years, nothing has been more important to me than the education and aspirations of the next generation of engineering students. I have served on more than 15 national advisory and corporate boards, and my mantra remains the same. The most important thing we can do as educators is to develop diverse engineers who are analytically and experimentally sound, culturally aware and globally connected.

We value the range of perspectives that this inclusive culture brings to the Samueli School, and we’ve discovered that this environment leads to an increase in creative collaborations and innovative solutions. In fact, research productivity today is at the highest level in the school’s history. Over the past two academic years, seven of our faculty – six of them, women – earned National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development awards.

Last spring, I issued a challenge to engineering educators nationwide: 50/50 by 2025. That means women and underrepresented minorities will comprise fully half of engineering schools’ faculty and students. This is something we are working vigorously to accomplish at the Samueli School, and I am pleased with our progress.

Last fall, the U.S. Department of Education awarded 2018 GAANN (Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need) grants to three Samueli School engineering professors. The awards, totaling nearly $750,000 per year for up to three years, are given to faculty to help them recruit and support promising graduate students. These GAANN funds enable the school to enroll more women and underrepresented minority students in engineering doctoral programs.

Over the last five years, our undergraduate female enrollment has increased by 39% and our underrepresented student population by 29%. Our graduate enrollment at the Ph.D. level is up, and we have accepted the most diverse class ever. As we grow our faculty ranks, we have exceeded the national average (17%) of women engineering educators at 21%. Over the last five years, we’ve hired more than 50 faculty, of which greater than 40% are women or underrepresented. Of our school’s six departments, half are chaired by female faculty members.

More undergraduate students are making the Samueli School their choice for an engineering education, as demonstrated by the largest incoming class to date. The school’s emphasis on hands-on learning is attracting high-achieving students who want more than a textbook education. Our freshman experiential learning program gives undergraduates a design-build-andtest experience from day one. Putting these skills to task, many of our undergraduate teams competed successfully last year in competitions.

5050 2025 BY

Equity in U.S. engineering education by the year 2025.

Equity in U.S. engineering education by the year 2025.

What does 50/50 mean?

Students participating in our Anteater racing program benefited from the philanthropic support of parents and industry to renovate the Vehicle Performance Engineering Lab. The workspace is now equipped with professional-grade tools and upgraded electrical, lighting and compressed air systems.

Another lab in Engineering Gateway is undergoing a makeover thanks to an industry partner’s generosity. The HORIBA Group committed $9 million for the Horiba Institute for Mobility and Connectivity, an effort that will focus research and education on combining energy and transportation sectors into an integrated and complementary system.

Capping off an excellent year, we were thrilled to announce that the Royal Society of London elected our own Distinguished Professor H. Kumar Wickramasinghe a fellow for his significant contributions to the field of nanotechnology. He joins the likes of past fellow luminaries including Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking.

We enter this fall with a renewed commitment to inclusive excellence. These values are fundamental to advancing the mission of a public research university. Our efforts to shift the culture and support a wide range of perspectives are already making a substantial difference. These positive trends have generated a level of momentum that augurs well for the future.

It means reimagining engineering leadership to reflect all of us, as well as our discipline. It means by 2025, half of the nation’s engineers will be underrepresented minorities and/or women.

This is U.S. Engineering Education:

83%

57%

of engineering faculty are men

of engineering faculty are white

79%

62%

of engineering bachelor’s degree recipients are men

of engineering bachelor’s degree recipients are white

74%

60%

of engineering master’s degree recipients are men

of engineering master’s degree recipients are white

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

77%

The award-winning Dean’s Report is published annually in early fall by the Samueli School’s Communications Department.

62%

of engineering Ph.D. recipients are men

of engineering Ph.D. recipients are white

We’re asking engineering educators and leaders to look at how many women, people of color, LGBTQIA+ and people with disabilities are:

Gregory Washington, Ph.D. Stacey Nicholas Dean of Engineering

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

Faculty Members

Undergraduate Students

Graduate Students

School Leaders

What does your organization look like?

How might it achieve 50/50 by 2025?

Partners

Director of Communications: Shelly Nazarenus Communications Manager: Lori Brandt Principal Writer & Editor: Anna Lynn Spitzer Design: m2design group Publisher: Mike Delaney, Meridian Graphics

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ON THE RISE

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Construction of the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building is on track for a fall 2020 grand opening. The six-story, 205,000-square-feet structure is located in the heart of the campus’s engineering and sciences quad along UCI’s Ring Road. The ISEB will include researchers from three schools – engineering, physical sciences, and information and computer sciences – bringing diverse disciplines and perspectives to finding advanced solutions for complex regional and global challenges.

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

3

SNAPSHOT DEGREES GRANTED

89

2014-15

63

2015-16

Ph.D

M.S.

B.S.

STUDENT ENROLLMENT

642

324

682

336

2016-17

87

2017-18

81 97

2018-19

FALL 2014

805

284 261

742 815

262

3,246

1,046

FALL 2015

1,005

FALL 2016

958

FALL 2017

961

FALL 2018

940

3,332 3,615 3,728

GRADUATE UNDERGRADUATE

3,916

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS FALL 2018 BY DEPARTMENT

4

518

315

533

1,099

119

1,232

BIOMEDICAL

CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR

CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL

ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

INCOMING FRESHMEN FALL 2019

22%

4.12 AVERAGE GPA

1,885

FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS

AVERAGE SAT

UNDERGRADUATE DIVERSITY

39%

34%

FROM LOW-INCOME FAMILIES

1,017

962

FEMALES

UNDERREPRESENTED

29%

INCREASE OVER 5 YEARS

INCREASE OVER 5 YEARS

GRADUATE STUDENTS FALL 2018 BY DEPARTMENT

135

62

151

310

73

149

BIOMEDICAL

CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR

CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL

ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

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SNAPSHOT FACULTY ACHIEVEMENTS

1 14 8 8 28 6 10 14 2 1 6

FACULTY GROWTH

128

131

132

FALL 2016

FALL 2017

139

142

ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON FELLOW NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING MEMBERS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF INVENTORS PRESIDENTIAL YOUNG INVESTIGATOR AWARDEES

FALL 2015

FALL 2018

FALL 2019

NSF CAREER AWARDEES

NIH NEW INNOVATORS

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT ENGINEERING PROGRAM RANKINGS

ENDOWED CHAIRS AND PROFESSORSHIPS

21

DISTINGUISHED PROFESSORS

CHANCELLOR’S PROFESSORS

PUBLIC UNIVERSITY UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM

st

PUBLIC UNIVERSITY GRADUATE PROGRAM

22

ND

CHANCELLOR’S FELLOW

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

RESEARCH EXPENDITURES 2017-18 BY SOURCE

$82.1M

$48.8M

FEDERAL

$13.6M

INDUSTRY

$12.3M

STATE

$7.4M

OTHER

RESEARCH EXPENDITURES 2017-18 BY DEPARTMENT

$35.7M BIOMEDICAL SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

$8.4M

$9.7M

CHEMICAL AND MATERIALS SCIENCE

ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

$16M CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL

$11.2M MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE 7

SNAPSHOT TOP RESEARCH AWARDS

FOR 2017-18

$4,999,450 $2,518,291 $1,999,266 $1,815,529 $1,132,119 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

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INVENTION DISCLOSURES

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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

“UCI Pathways to Engineering Collaborative” Lorenzo Valdevit, professor, materials science and engineering

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

“A Novel Bandage Contact Lens Against Resistant Fungal Infections with Ocular Drug Delivery” Albert Yee, professor, chemical and biomolecular engineering

AECC BEIJING INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICAL MATERIALS

“UCI Centre for Fundamental Study of Novel Structural Materials” Enrique Lavernia, Distinguished Professor, materials science and engineering

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

“MacroAlgae Cultivation Modeling System” Kristen Davis, assistant professor, civil and environmental engineering

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

“A Bi-Directional Brain-Computer Interface for Restoration of Walking and Lower Extremity Sensation after Spinal Cord Injury” Payam Heydari, professor, electrical engineering and computer science

2018-19

22 PATENTS

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LICENSING ACTIVITY

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

GIFT SOURCE

GIFT PURPOSE

2018-19

2018-19

$15.7M $11,706,058 $1,531,971 $1,465,748 $874,948 $73,112

$15.7M $7,280,326

CORPORATIONS

$7,160,976

INDIVIDUALS

$794,436

FOUNDATIONS OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

$416,100

RESEARCH AND INSTRUCTION DEPARTMENT AND PROGRAM SUPPORT STUDENT SUPPORT EMERGING OPPORTUNITIES

ALUMNI

DONOR SUPPORT

2014-15

CASH DONATIONS

2015-16

GIVING

$7.2M

2018-19

$7.7M

2018-19 SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

772

NUMBER OF GIFTS

$35.8M

2016-17 2017-18

646

NUMBER OF DONORS

$16.1M $15.7M

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NOTABLE BREAKTHROUGH DEVICE About 2 million people in the U.S. suffer from myalgic encephalomyelitis, known as chronic fatigue syndrome. The condition is hard to diagnose because it has lacked a clear biomarker.

Researchers at UCI and Stanford University have developed a blood-based assay tool that

shows early signs of being an effective test for the condition in humans. The new technology developed by lead researcher Rahim Esfandyarpour, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science, relies on the different responses to stress exhibited by blood cells of ME/CFS sufferers versus blood cells of healthy individuals.

Aggravating the cells in both samples with a dose of salt, the researchers then applied electric current and measured the results. Among the cells of those feeling the symptoms of fatigue, there was a marked change in the current, an indication that the cells were affected by ME/CFS. The assay device relies on advancements in nanotechnology, microfabrication and direct electrical detection of cellular and molecular properties. Test results are further refined through artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms.

KITCHEN CHOPPER A team of materials science engineering students participated in The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society’s Bladesmithing Competition in San Antonio, Texas. Thirtythree teams competed in the contest, which challenges students from around the world to produce a knife blade by hand hammering or trip hammer forging. The UCI students produced a distinctive blade made from W-2 tool steel, a malleable steel that can be easily formed at high temperatures and hardened relatively simply. The knife features a hamon,

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a visual effect created on the blade by the hardening process. Originally created by Japanese swordsmiths, the hamon indicates a transition between the harder steel at the blade’s edge and the tougher, more ductile

steel in the center. Thus, the team named its entry “East Meets West: Kitchen Chopper,” because it combined Western blade design and forging with Eastern heat-treatment processes. This was the first time a UCI team had attended the competition. Team captain Calvin Harris Belcher said they now “have a better idea of how to plan our timeline for designing, testing and applying the procedures for making a blade.”

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

FOUR WINNERS Four engineering students — Andrew Rowley, Bryce Wilson, Courtney Kay Carlson and Kimmai Phan — have received Graduate Research Fellowships from the National Science Foundation. The competitive program recognizes and supports outstanding students who are pursuing research-based graduate degrees in science and engineering.

Rowley and Wilson are working toward doctorates in chemical and biomolecular engineering, Carlson is earning a doctorate in biomedical engineering and Phan just graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and will pursue a doctorate in the joint program between Georgia Tech and Emory University. The students are among 24 from UCI who will receive three years of annual funding.

RAPID STD DETECTION Samueli School biomedical engineering researchers have developed a novel microfluidic platform capable of rapidly detecting multiple sexually transmitted viral infections. The technology uses blood or saliva samples and can diagnose HIV, HPV and HSV simultaneously in less than 20 minutes.

The researchers used a five-step protein-array assay for the multiplexed detection of these viruses’ antibodies on an integrated microfluidic system. They say the technology can be adapted with different protein microarrays to detect a variety of other infections, such as dengue or chikungunya virus. The device could provide a promising approach for identification, analysis and monitoring of infectious disease, particularly in lowresource settings.

“This technology would allow clinicians to extend their ability to diagnose and start treatment in the field or at the bedside, providing point-of-care services for viral infections,” said Neha Garg, lead investigator and a graduate student researcher in the lab of Abe Lee, professor of biomedical engineering and co-investigator.

NEXT-GENERATION SPACE BLANKET Drawing design inspiration from the skin of stealthy sea creatures, Samueli School engineers developed a next-generation, adaptive space blanket that gives users the ability to control their temperature.

“Ultra-lightweight space blankets have been around for decades – you see marathon runners wrapping themselves in them to prevent the loss of body heat after a race – but the key drawback is that the material is static,” said Alon Gorodetsky, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.

“We’ve made a version with changeable properties so you can regulate how much heat is trapped or released.”

The UCI researchers took design cues from various species of squids, octopuses and cuttlefish that use their

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adaptive, dynamic skin to thrive in aquatic environments. A cephalopod’s unique ability to camouflage itself by rapidly changing color is due, in part, to skin cells called chromatophores that can instantly change from minute points to flattened disks.

“We use a similar concept in our work, where we have a layer of these tiny metal ‘islands’ that border each other,” said Erica Leung, a graduate student in chemical and biomolecular engineering. “In the relaxed state, the islands are bunched together and the material reflects and traps heat, like a traditional Mylar space blanket. When the material is stretched, the islands spread apart, allowing infrared radiation to go through and the heat to escape.”

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MUSIC MODULE Derek Dunn-Rankin, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, assigned a novel musical stack project to students in the mechanical engineering senior design course. In teams of six, the students created 36 modules that played music. Each module needed to receive a signal from a falling ball to start and turn on an indication light, play an assigned measure of music, then release the ball quietly to the next module in the sequence at the appropriate time. The modules had to align precisely so that the signal ball transferred safely from one module to the next via a PVC pipe.

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The final exam involved stacking the modules together in groups of six; each group played notes from a different instrument, like in an orchestra. The six stacks played the song like a band, and then the students placed them all in one stack and tried to play the final song in a fully constructed tower. “The goal of this comprehensive design challenge is to work in a group to design, construct, test and then demonstrate one component of a system that will work in concert with the other components to create a unified whole,� explained Dunn-Rankin.

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

COVERWORTHY RESEARCH Two assistant professors of mechanical and aerospace engineering – Solmaz Kia and Yoonjin Won – had discoveries featured on the cover of research journals.

ADVANCING DIVERSITY Biomedical engineering doctoral student Erik Gonzalez-Leon won a three-year $50,000 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellowship in recognition of his leadership potential. Working in the lab of UCI Distinguished Professor Kyriacos Athanasiou, Gonzalez-Leon uses self-assembling methods to tissue engineer the meniscus, the thin fibrous cartilage between joint surfaces. He adds biochemical stimuli during tissue culturing to enhance the meniscus’s mechanical properties in an effort to bring it closer to native tissue.

“I am excited to be a representative of the HHMI Gilliam Fellowship, and I look forward to doing my part in advancing diversity in the sciences,” GonzalezLeon said. “This fellowship will allow me to focus not only on my own scientific endeavors, but also provides a platform for me to spark interest in the sciences among underrepresented groups.”

Kia’s paper, published in the June 2019 IEEE Control Systems Magazine, focuses on a system used in distributive computing to average sets of time-varying signals. This is important in many network applications that rely on ongoing time-stamped signals, like distributed energy systems or sensor sampling. Solving this problem is challenging because local interactions among networks involve only partial information, and the quantity that the network seeks to compute is constantly changing as the local computers run their routines.

The article addresses the dynamic average consensus problem and the distributed coordination algorithms available to solve it. It was written in the form of a tutorial, said Kia, to provide a reference that presents recent developments in a unified way.

Won and graduate student Youngjoon Suh published their nanomaterials research in a March issue of the journal Small.

Structural defects are a constant challenge for materials scientists, who seek ways to control them in order to create better, stronger materials. Won and Suh found ways to control a certain defect, known as grain boundaries, which occur during self-assembly.

“Self-assembly has been a unique technique because it has the capability to be scaled up,” said Won. “It has been a great challenge to create perfect large-scale layers of the nanoparticles – that’s what many researchers have been pursuing. So we try to understand the mechanism of the making of cracks, called grain boundaries, and how they form.”

EMBRYOLOGIC A biomedical engineering team led by graduate student Ning Ma won second place in its semifinal round of the 2019 Rice University Business Plan Competition. The proposed company, called Embryologic, has developed a noninvasive imaging device that can assess the quality of an embryo for in vitro fertilization. Ma is a graduate student in the lab of Michelle Digman, biomedical engineering associate professor. Embryologic’s device uses fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy to measure intrinsic fluorescent signals from pre-implantation embryos. “We have developed a machine learning algorithm called the embryo viability index to select the best embryo with the highest developmental potential,” said Ma. “We hope to bring safety and confidence to future parents going through in vitro fertilization.”

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INCLUSIVE FELLOWSHIPS The U.S. Department of Education awarded 2018 GAANN (Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need) grants to three engineering faculty members: G.P. Li, Faryar Jabbari and Martha Mecartney.

The grants provide fellowships to graduate students who have excellent records and are studying in fields designated as areas of national need. The awards help faculty and institutions recruit and support promising graduate students. Funds are renewable for three years based on successful implementation, and UCI’s Graduate Division provides 25 percent matching funds.

Li, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, was awarded $199,000 per year to support four graduate students in electrical, electronic and communications

engineering. Jabbari, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, received $248,750 per year to support four fellowships in aerospace engineering, while the 25 percent matching funds supported a fifth student. Mecartney’s grant totaled $298,500 per year to support six Ph.D. students with tuition, fees and a stipend.

TEENY TINY ANTEATER

Mecartney, professor of materials science and engineering, said that over the last 10 years with support from GAANN funds, doctoral programs in her department have more than doubled the enrollment of women and achieved an eight-fold increase in enrollment of underrepresented minority students. Jabbari noted that the funds help his department better coordinate activities with the California Alliance for Minority Participation, increasing the number of doctoral students from traditionally underrepresented groups.

A familiar sight on campus, UCI’s quirky Anteater mascot comes in many sizes, from the 8-feet.-tall human incarnation that cheers at basketball games to stuffed animals only inches high. Now, materials science and engineering Professor Lorenzo Valdevit has made a novel, 3D-printed version. It could be the smallest Anteater ever – too small to be seen in detail with anything except a scanning electron microscope.

QUADFLAPPER VICTORY Samueli School engineering students who built a Flapping-Wing Micro Air Vehicle (FWMAV) earned third place and $5,000 in the Cornell Cup competition at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida in May 2019.

Inspired by the agility, maneuverability and stability of insects, the FWMAV project is under the guidance of Haithem Taha, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. The students’ FWMAV device, called the quadflapper, uses

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a traditional quadcopter design, but instead of spinning propellers, it has four sets of ornithopter wings. It features the same maneuverability and performance of a quadcopter but without the noise and hazards of spinning blades. “It makes a fun toy, and is so much safer than anything with propellers,” said sophomore Sam Hince, one of the quadflapper pilots.

The tiny mascot, which appears to the human eye to be a small dot, measures 60 microns in length and stands on a 30-micron-long base. (A micron is one-millionth of a meter. For comparison, a human hair is about 75-100 microns thick.)

The miniature Anteater was printed on a Nanoscribe 3D printer, from an acrylate polymer, with a process called two-photon polymerization direct laser writing.

Valdevit said this new process has allowed researchers to build new materials with nanoscale details. “You can print things of almost arbitrary complexity and fabricate very intricate objects in ways you cannot with traditional subtractive processes.”

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

FLYING HIGH The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Foundation recognized David Morata with the Orville and Wilbur Wright Graduate Award. A graduate student in aeronautics engineering, Morata is conducting research in aeroacoustics, or aircraft noise. He is part of a team that investigates ways to minimize the acoustic impact of the air transportation industry. This involves

studying the physical mechanism of noise generation, modeling it accurately to make predictions and developing new tools that help with assessment. Morata was one of two students in the nation to receive the $5,000 award, which is given annually in memory of the Wright brothers’ contributions to the evolution of flight, and to honor full-time graduate students.

HEARTY SUPPORT The American Heart Association has bestowed two-year $50,000 fellowships on two biomedical engineering graduate students – Yan Li and Courtney Carlson.

Li is designing and building a high-speed intravascular imaging system to detect and characterize atherosclerosis, a narrowing of the arteries due to the buildup of plaque. Her trimodal system will simultaneously analyze the arteries using optical coherence tomography, ultrasound and near-infrared fluorescence.

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Carlson is engineering mammalian cells that can record their own developmental history in their DNA, and then optimizing those cells to study congenital heart disease. Her plan is to develop cells that will be able to “remember” the intensity or duration of any environmental stimulus they’ve been exposed to throughout development.

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IN

We believe that true progress is made when different perspectives come together to advance our understanding of the world around us.

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2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

ANNA LYNN SPITZER AND LORI BRANDT

SHARON HENRY

COMMITTED TO A CULTURE OF

CLUSION Twenty years ago, at the annual meeting of the National Academy of Engineering, thenpresident Wm. A. Wulf tackled the subject of diversity in engineering. Two decades later, his assessment about the value of inclusive representation still rings true.

Wulf’s definition of diversity includes the traditional representation of women and underrepresented minorities. At a fundamental level, a diverse group is essential to good engineering because people from different cultures and backgrounds experience the world differently. “Those differences in experience are the ‘gene pool’ from which creativity springs,” he argued.

Wulf also emphasized “individual diversity.”

An individual’s breadth of experience is vital to creativity as well as to good engineering.

“Engineering is a very creative profession,” Wulf stated. “As in any creative profession, what comes out is a function of the life experiences of the people who do it. Sans diversity, we limit the set of life experiences that are applied, and as a result, we pay an opportunity cost – a cost in products not built, in designs not considered, in

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constraints not understood, in processes not invented.”

UCI Samueli School’s overarching goal is to enhance the diversity of faculty, students and staff to reflect California’s demographic trends. Under the leadership of Dean Gregory Washington, the school has made significant progress. In the past year, nearly half of the 15 new faculty hired were women and underrepresented minorities, and graduate enrollment at the Ph.D. level has grown in size and diversity.

We’ve discovered that a natural outcome of inclusive excellence is an increase in creative collaborations and innovative solutions. In fact, research productivity is at the highest level in the school’s history.

Our faculty reflects a broad range of perspectives based on age, gender, origin, culture and ethnicity.

On the following pages, meet six faculty members who enrich the school’s classrooms, labs and community every day with their considerable life experiences.

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OUTREACH ADVOCATE

Michelle Digman is passionate about STEM outreach, because that’s how she got hooked on science. As a high

school student in Illinois, Digman rode a bus on weekends to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, about 40 minutes away, for the Saturday Morning Physics lecture series.

The Fermilab (named after physicist Enrico Fermi) has been the birthplace of significant achievements in particle physics research over five decades. Its free Saturday program features tours and lectures for youth delivered by Fermilab scientists.

“That really spoke to me, seeing this group of scientists and hearing about their work and what they did on a daily basis,” says Digman, associate professor of biomedical engineering and an NSF CAREER award winner.

Originally from Bolivia, Digman’s family immigrated to the U.S. when she was very young. After high school graduation, she chose the local community college because she didn’t want to burden her family; her church’s congregation helped with tuition. Digman went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and a doctorate in chemistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR MICHELLE DIGMAN

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2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

While working on her dissertation about protein interactions, Digman discovered physicist Enrico Gratton at the university’s Urbana-Champaign campus. Gratton ran the Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics (LFD), the first national facility dedicated to fluorescence spectroscopy.

Working at the LFD, Digman became skilled at fluctuation microscopy and live cell imaging techniques. Gratton offered her a postdoctoral position, and when he moved to UC Irvine in 2006, Digman and the LFD came too.

“Michelle brought a crucial knowledge about culturing and manipulating live cells to our work in the lab,” says Gratton. “I realized at the time that cells and tissues were the next frontier for fluorescence microscopy, and she was instrumental in this transition for the LFD. This expertise is still the hallmark of our lab today.” Coincidentally, Gratton’s father was a student of Fermi’s, and Gratton was named Enrico in honor of the famous physicist.

In her research, Digman looks at quantifying spatial and temporal dynamics of proteins during cell migration, characterizing metabolic alterations in cells and tissues, and developing new imaging technologies using fluorescence dynamics to look at processes in living cells. She became LFD co-principal investigator in 2010, and joined the UCI faculty in 2013. She has developed five novel imaging methods, including the widely used Raster image correlation spectroscopy and the phasor approach to fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy.

Digman investigates cancer – specifically breast cancer – biology, trying to understand the process of invasive cells and tumors to identify underlying mechanisms. With NSF funding, she studies the role of mitochondria in tumor cells, particularly how the mitochondria seem to be transported to cellular edges when grown in 3D. This 3D approach presents a challenge with optics, she says, so there is a need for imaging techniques that can follow cells and obtain information in the 3D space.

She’s also researching metabolic changes in embryos. Her team has developed a noninvasive imaging device that can assess the quality of an embryo for in vitro fertilization. They can study alterations of intrinsic fluorescent biomarkers that provide important information about cellular health, cancer invasiveness, neurodegenerative dysfunctions and embryo development.

“We have been able to determine alterations of metabolism in Huntington’s Disease, recognize glioblastoma cell subpopulations, measure changes in metabolism when breast cancer cells are grown on different collagen densities and even predict the best embryos for implantation,” she explains.

Digman strives to give students some of the same experiences that inspired her. “As a woman and underrepresented minority in engineering, I recognize the barriers,” she says.

In 2011, she initiated the Undergraduate Student Initiative for Biomedical Research, a program for underrepresented community college students and outstanding high school students. To date, nearly 150 students have experienced science through this program.

The Spanish-speaking professor also feels strongly about mentoring and engaging undergraduates in research, based on her own history. Through the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, she spent a summer conducting materials science research in the lab of James Ibers, a well-known chemist at Northwestern University. Digman, an undergraduate, worked with graduate students in their investigations of rare earth metals, making crystals and characterizing the structures to see if they held additional properties. Concocting her own mixture of elements, Digman made a variant of the crystal, and her graduate mentor did the characterization to determine that it did indeed have conductive properties. “It was crazy, and a big deal!” Digman recalls. She was one of three authors on the peer-reviewed journal article, her first published research.

Since joining the faculty six years ago, Digman has mentored six doctoral students, five master’s students, 14 undergraduates, 10 high schoolers and 12 visiting scholars or research specialists. Many have gone on to publish their own research or win grants, scholarships or competitions.

“My work with Michelle has been the most productive of my career,” says Gratton. He adds that Digman’s interactions with researchers of all nationalities, genders and colors, and her ability to bring diversity to her field, department and group have benefited everyone. “She is committed to training students of diverse origins, and I believe this diversity has been very important to the success of the LFD and both of our labs.”

A WOMAN AND “AS UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY IN ENGINEERING, I RECOGNIZE THE BARRIERS.”

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PERSPECTIVE DETECTIVE Mohammad Al Faruque had never interacted with a computer when he decided to major in computer engineering. Instead, he relied on his gut and the little information

he had garnered about the role computers were expected to play in the future. In 1996, he started at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), one of only 45 students admitted to the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in the country’s most prestigious engineering school.

He had always thought he would follow his father into civil engineering.

Raised in a middle-class Bangladeshi family, Al Faruque had parents who insisted on the best education possible for their son, sending him off to Mirzapur Cadet College, a highly regarded residential school, in seventh grade. It was during high school, in a conversation with an acquaintance who was a couple of years older, that Al Faruque changed direction. The friend told Al Faruque he was planning to major in computer engineering at BUET, and the idea intrigued the younger student. “He told me he was going to the top undergrad school to study computers, and I said, ‘Oh, that’s what I have to do.’ I knew there was something there, that it would become the most important technology in the world.”

At the time, computer engineering consisted primarily of building hardware and software. But during his graduate work in Germany in the early 2000s, Al Faruque says, he saw change underfoot. Computers were being integrated into other systems: roads, transportation, the power grid, manufacturing, biological systems and chemical systems. It was a transformative time for the young engineer.

It was during this period that his career focus and approach to engineering sharpened. “Computer engineering is a broad discipline.

I was a good programmer and I knew hardware but I was not focused,” he says. “I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.” He credits his graduate advisers with sparking his interest in embedded systems.

Al Faruque had noticed that many of these embedded computer systems inherently contained flaws. His instincts told him that engineers would need a new approach to remedy these issues. “We had to come up with different engineering perspectives in order to investigate and understand the problems,” he says. “Engineering must not be only one discipline; a computer engineer must be able to talk to people across other disciplines.”

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That realization was a wakeup call. “The problems were in these interfaces, in these interactions between fields. I thought, there’s my interest. I will try to find the problems in the intersections.”

And he has. After earning his master’s degree from Aachen Technical University and a doctorate from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, both in Germany, he worked as a research scientist at Siemens Corporate Research and Technology division in Princeton, New Jersey. There, he helped pioneer a collaborative, networked energy management strategy for providing power to electric vehicle charging stations located in residential neighborhoods. His efforts led to a Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award from the Research & Development Council of New Jersey.

Siemens was the only company in the U.S. he had applied to, and Al Faruque says it was a good choice. “They gave me freedom to work on projects that I liked,” he says.

His goal, though, always was to become a professor. He joined UC Irvine in 2012.

His new focus on cybersecurity led him to an investigation of 3D printers, and he was able to prove conclusively that they were leaking information as they operated. He and his team found that placing a smartphone alongside the machine as it printed objects layer-by-layer allowed it to capture acoustic signals that contained information about the exact movements of the nozzle. Hackers could use that information to reverseengineer printed items.

“This opened up a completely new world of understanding about systems design,” Al Faruque, associate professor of electrical engineering, says. He has gone on to build a robust program in systemlevel cybersecurity and pioneered a concept called “secured by design.”

“If you can understand why a system is leaking,” he says, “you can build the system so that it does not leak the information.”

Al Faruque and his group then turned their attention to DNA synthesizer machines used in drug development. They found the same information leakage issue, but the urgency was orders-of-magnitude greater. “When you’re dealing with human DNA sequences and billions of dollars for pharmaceutical companies,” he says, “people see the importance of taking these leaks seriously.”

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

“WHEN YOU CHANGE YOUR HAT, LOOK AT IT FROM A DIFFERENT ANGLE, THINGS GET VERY INTERESTING.”

Al Faruque has secured nearly $4 million in funding from multiple agencies, including NSF, DOD, DARPA and the U.S. Navy. He is currently using his expertise to investigate semiconductor hardware for the Navy, looking for surreptitiously placed Trojan viruses or worms.

His research efforts have brought him a wide range of recognition, including two IEEE early career awards. In addition, Al Faruque holds eight U.S. patents.

All his accomplishments have only strengthened his decades-old belief that engineers must cooperate across fields and other boundaries if they are to be successful.

“Everything looks good when you view it from a ‘normal’ perspective,” he says. “But when you change your hat, look at it from a different angle, things get very interesting.”

Diversity in his lab is a priority. All of his students are very good friends, despite coming from different backgrounds, he says, and their differences add to their productivity. “I find a very organic strength happening in the lab. They don’t have ego issues and they see the value of diversity.”

Sujit Rokka Chhetri is one of Al Faruque’s former students. From Nepal originally, he graduated this year with a doctorate and is about to start a new job in Silicon Valley at Palo Alto Networks. “Besides academics and research, Professor Al Faruque has inspired me to maintain a good network of collaborators from different domains, and engage in sharing and exploring novel ideas,” Chhetri says. “This has allowed me to stay updated with multiple scientific fields, which ultimately helps me to have the knowledge and experience needed to further my career.”

“I think diversity is very powerful,” sums up Al Faruque. “I moved from country to country, to different places, worked in industry ... I think it helped me a lot. It’s still helping.”

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR MOHAMMAD AL FARUQUE

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

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PASSIONATE PROMOTER As an undergraduate at Venezuela’s Simon Bolivar University in the late 1970s, Roger Rangel made a practical decision. He chose

to major in mechanical engineering, even though he really liked physics better. At the time, Venezuela was a prosperous country, home to many international companies in a variety of industries. “I was trying to play it safe to make sure I would get a good job somewhere besides a university. So of course I ended up in academia!” he says, laughing at the irony.

To add to that irony, Rangel ended up living permanently in the U.S. After studying heat transfer, combustion, fluid dynamics and math in graduate school at UC Berkeley, where he

earned master’s and doctoral degrees, Rangel joined UC Irvine’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Specializing at first in spray combustion and atomization – the study of how liquids in a stream break into smaller drops – he later transitioned into droplet interaction and deformation.

In recent years, though, Rangel has tapered down his research activity to focus on three pursuits that provide important visibility and value for the Samueli School. The MAE professor has increased his teaching load and has made his thermodynamics and fluid mechanics lectures available on YouTube, allowing students in countries around the world to learn tuition-free. And he leads

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2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

ARE A DIVERSE SOCIETY; “WE I THINK THE UNIVERSITY SHOULD REFLECT THAT.” managing a small startup,” says Rangel, whose responsibilities include administrative, logistical and technical support. “I see how much industry values these students’ hands-on experience.”

two influential schoolwide programs: the Balsells Fellowship and HyperXite.

The Balsells program, initiated in 1995 and named for benefactor Pete Balsells, who left the Catalonia region of Spain when he was 18, provides scholarships to bring promising students from Catalonia to UCI. Originally aimed at graduate students, the program has grown to include funding for postdoctoral scholars and even undergraduates completing their senior projects. It is funded jointly by the Balsells Fellowship Fund, the Catalan government and the Samueli School.

Rangel was instrumental in starting the program, and has continued as its chief administrator for nearly 25 years. He remembers reading an announcement about Balsells’ gift and was so enthused he called the philanthropist directly. “I already had a trip planned to Barcelona, and I called Pete and offered to help in any way I could.”

Again, Rangel’s motives were practical. “It was 1994, and we needed to find qualified graduate students for the engineering school,” he says. “Nobody in Spain knew about UCI.” Rangel visited all the Catalan universities with engineering programs. “I walked the hallways, handing out flyers to students and putting them on bulletin boards,” he recalls.

There were three applicants the first year, with only enough funding for one. Today, 16 Catalans – who first must be accepted to UCI through normal channels – are funded each year. Rangel estimates 200-plus students to date have participated in the program, more than a quarter of whom have remained in California.

“I’m extremely proud of what we have accomplished,” he says.

“There is no program like this on the whole campus. It has produced so many high-quality Ph.D.

Arwa Tizani joined the HyperXite team in 2016 and was team captain two years ago. Now a graduate student in mechanical engineering, she also works full time as an engineer for Musk’s Boring Co., an infrastructure and tunnel construction company.

students. They are among the best in the school.”

Former Balsells fellow Alba Perez Gracia is now an associate professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Idaho State University. She says the Balsells program played a big role in influencing her research and ultimately, her career. “I was already interested in robotics but the Balsells fellowship gave me the chance to interact with worldclass kinematicians and ultimately become a professor myself,” she says. “I wish all universities had similar programs ... and especially professors like Roger Rangel, able to devote part of their time to making it work.”

Then, about four years ago, Rangel added HyperXite to his portfolio.

Several of his best students had come to Rangel’s office one afternoon and told him about a new challenge headed by SpaceX’s Elon Musk to develop a high-speed, self-propelled transportation pod suspended on a cushion of air. The prototype eventually would traverse a onemile track at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, and could possibly provide the blueprint for a new statewide transportation approach. Musk was organizing a

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

college competition; the students wanted to enter and asked Rangel to be their faculty adviser.

After studying their proposal, he agreed. In January 2016, UCI’s HyperXite team traveled to Texas A&M to compete in the first international Hyperloop Pod design competition. The team was one of just 125 selected to present its pod design to judges out of nearly 1,000 written proposals.

HyperXite, which presented a full pod design and its levitation subsystem, placed fifth overall, the highest-placing team from California.

That win qualified HyperXite as one of 30 teams to move forward to the build-test round of the competition in January 2017, where they finished as semifinalists. The team went on to compete the following two years, but did not finish quite as high in the rankings. Their adviser says team members have gained something far more important than trophies, though.

In addition to acquiring engineering, fundraising and management experience, several of the graduating students have gone on to engineering jobs at aerospace companies. “It’s not just the technical expertise; for the leaders on the team, it’s like

Tizani credits Rangel with influencing the team’s success – and her own career. “He was an amazing adviser... he would constantly find ways we could improve, and then allow us to find the most effective solution ourselves. In my career today, I still use the management skills he taught me when I was team captain.”

The students aren’t the only ones who have benefited from their experiences. Rangel’s participation in the YouTube venture, the HyperXite team and the Balsells Fellowship Program – in addition to a couple of years he spent at short-term visiting research positions in Spain and Italy – have opened his eyes to the importance of inclusion in engineering.

He has seen the engineering school’s student population grow more diverse over his 34 years on the faculty, and he uses his leadership as a way to contribute to the trend. “I try to bring diversity to the engineering student body through all of my programs,” Rangel says.

Ever the pragmatist, he adds: “I used to be just a numbers person when evaluating applicants: what is the GPA? What is the GRE? Now I am aware that we need to consider diversity when evaluating students or applicants. We are a diverse society; I think the university should reflect that.”

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CHESS MASTER When Iryna Zenyuk started playing chess with her grandfather at the tender age of 4, she enjoyed the camaraderie and loved the challenge. What she didn’t appreciate at the time is how those early chess games would influence her life and add inestimable value to her future career.

Zenyuk, who researches renewable energy, is an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering. She is also a former U.S. National Chess Team member and international contender who attained the title of Woman International Master.

For Zenyuk, chess and academia are similar. They’re intellectually stimulating, require careful thinking and spot-on strategizing, and entail hours of preparation. And both allow for high-level problem solving, something Zenyuk relishes.

Born in what is now Ukraine, Zenyuk lived an idyllic life with her parents, brother and grandparents. The straight-A student, who loved math and science, describes herself as a tomboy. Her father was a petroleum engineer – a career the young Zenyuk planned to pursue – and her mother was a musician and music teacher.

A chess prodigy, she began competing with a local club at age 7. “I liked to compete,” Zenyuk says. “The chess club was mostly boys, and having a chance to beat them was a fun aspect of the competitions.”

Everything changed when she was 8. Her father died suddenly, and the following year, her mother, unable to support her family in the recession that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, joined a sister in New York City. Zenyuk and her brother stayed behind in Ukraine, moving in with an aunt’s family until their mother could establish herself and send for them.

In the transition, Zenyuk stopped playing chess. “For my aunt to get me to chess lessons was quite difficult,” she says.

It wasn’t long, though, before a coach from her former club tracked her down and asked her to rejoin the team. She did, beginning a 20-year-plus streak of competitions and an unrelenting quest for improvement.

After joining her mother in New York at age 15, Zenyuk began her ascent in U.S. chess. She debuted in the rankings

the very first year, becoming a Woman International Master seven years later, in 2008. She played thousands of tournaments during her high school and college years, including 10 consecutive years of national championships.

She participated in the first World Mind Games in China as an undergraduate at New York University, and it was then that she decided to pursue a career in renewable energy. “When I saw Beijing,” she says, “I thought, we really need some better solutions for the energy crisis. I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”

She finished her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, then took a year off to play chess full time before returning to graduate school at Carnegie Mellon University. With doctorate in hand, she started a postdoctoral fellowship at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. It was then that she faced a painful decision.

Zenyuk realized that in order to continue with chess, she would need to devote more time and energy than she had. She decided to prioritize her career instead. The fact that she had recently accomplished her lifelong goal of making the U.S. Olympic team rendered her decision even more difficult.

“I just declined,” she says of the Olympic invitation. “I just decided I was going to stop. It was hard but it had to be done.”

Close friend Irina Krush, a seven-time U.S. Women’s Chess champion and Grandmaster, understands Zenyuk’s decision. “Her life had come to a point where playing wasn’t compatible with the requirements of her career. It didn’t seem to be a matter of choice really,” says Krush. “I always admired her fighting spirit and love for chess. I know that she’s passionate about her field and works very hard at it. ... The drive and work ethic she showed in chess was simply transferred to her career.”

After completing her postdoc, Zenyuk joined the faculty at Tufts University, where she stayed for three years before moving to California. “California has these great goals toward clean energy,” she says, “and this is the state to be in if one wants to advance that.”

Her interest in fuel cells and other clean energy technologies led her to UC

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2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

Irvine and the National Fuel Cell Research Center, where she is now associate director, overseeing fundamental research. “The NFCRC has been doing this work for the last 20 years, pushing the limits of policy and systems design,” Zenyuk says. “I’m very passionate about this.”

Her research interests include electrolyzers, which convert electricity into hydrogen; next-generation lithium metal batteries; and fuel cells and other forms of renewable energy for transportation and the grid. She seeks to improve the efficiency of these technologies, making them less expensive and more accessible.

“Iryna has expertise in battery and proton-exchange membrane fuel cell technologies that are both complementary to our historical areas of expertise and transformational to our future research impact,” says Professor Jack Brouwer, NFCRC director.

“Her energy, hard work and expertise ... are greatly broadening the scope and impact of our research.”

Zenyuk has made impressive strides, including an NSF CAREER award, two national fellowships and other recognition. And along the way she has built a diverse lab comprising students in chemical engineering, materials science, electrical engineering and physics.

Lessons learned through chess help Zenyuk mentor her students. “We play the game, we lose the game, we study our mistakes and we learn from them, and then we play another game,” she says. “Translating this feedback loop into mentoring Ph.D. students is really challenging but I feel it’s one of the most important things I got from chess – learning how to improve and teaching this to my students.”

She is also passionate about women in science. Her history in chess, a competitive field dominated by men, has bestowed on her an inability to tolerate bias of any kind, she says. “Just because I’m a relatively young woman doesn’t mean I can’t be an engineering professor or have a good idea. I feel there is an unconscious bias that is still a problem in science, and we really need to be direct about it.”

She lauds UCI and her department in particular, for inclusivity.

“We have about 40% women in this department. It changes the way the discussion happens when you have a substantial number of women in the room. The dynamics change completely.”

Zenyuk is determined to keep diversity alive in her lab. “We are here to educate students and we really need to make sure we include everyone,” she says.

FEEL THERE IS AN UNCONSCIOUS BIAS “ITHAT IS STILL A PROBLEM IN SCIENCE.” SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

25

ENVIRONMENTAL ALLY

Adeyemi Adeleye does not eat oysters. He decided this after participating in a research experiment at the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory in Rhode Island. As a postdoctoral research associate, Adeleye contributed to a study on how marine organisms responded when exposed to carbon-based nanomaterials in their environment. The organisms researchers used were oysters; clearly, based on Adeleye’s subsequent decision, it did not go well for the mollusks.

At the EPA from 2016-18, Adeleye developed a research program that answered some of the basic questions environmental scientists have about a nanomaterial called graphene oxide. Graphene family nanomaterials are increasingly used in filtration devices, electronics, material coatings and biomedicine, and they are very likely to make their way into aquatic ecosystems.

“Yemi’s research into the fate, distribution and effects of GO helps guide the EPA managers in charge of processing new materials permits to ensure the correct information is reported,” says Kay Ho, an EPA environmental research scientist and Adeleye’s former supervisor. “A truly efficient researcher, he can assess a situation and

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quickly discern which aspects of the situation, be it scientific, logistic or human resources, will require the least or the most effort. He can swiftly determine the best approaches to a problem, or if it is better not to take that problem on at all.”

Adeleye left the EPA last year to become an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Samueli School, where his research involves improving water sustainability. He investigates the release, fate and effects of emerging pollutants in the environment and develops new technologies for water treatment and pollution remediation.

“Emerging does not mean that they are new pollutants but they are pollutants to which we haven’t given much attention,” says Adeleye.

“Some of these pollutants are building up in the environment, and we need to address them.”

Adeleye is concerned with PFAS, a group of manmade chemicals manufactured and used in various industries around the world, including the United States, since the 1940s. Found in food, household products, workplaces, drinking water, fish, animals and humans, these chemicals don’t break down and can accumulate over time, in the environment and the body.

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

“BEING ABLE TO SEE MY PAST SELF IN THEM PLAYS INTO HOW I DO MY JOB AND RELATE WITH THE STUDENTS.”

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR ADEYEMI ADELEYE

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

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Research has started to show these chemicals can have a negative impact on humans, including causing cancer.

Adeleye hopes to learn exactly what happens to them in the environment and more importantly, how he can contribute toward removing them.

“I’m looking at developing small-scale technologies based on nanomaterials to control the fate of these persistent pollutants in our water system,” he says. “If we understand the environmental chemistry of the pollutants, we can make materials with enhanced properties to help break them down or remove them.”

Growing up in Nigeria, Adeleye was astutely aware of his country’s environmental problems and how a simple challenge like pollution can become a complex national issue. He lived most of his life in the city of Lagos, where issues of litter and poor drainage combine to become an even larger concern when it rains, with floods carrying refuse through the streets.

DYNAMIC TRAILBLAZER

Adeleye also was exposed to the Niger Delta oil region, where his father worked. “I saw firsthand the environmental degradation that was caused from oil extraction/exploitation,” he says.

Nigeria is the largest oil and gas producer in Africa, and the country’s economy is heavily dependent on the oil sector.

However, the Niger Delta region has experienced a wide range of environmental pollution, degradation, human health risks and socioeconomic problems associated with petroleum production. In addition, the region has experienced a number of petroleum-related incidents, which soured relationships between oil-producing host communities, multinational oil companies and the Nigerian government, resulting in ethnic and political unrest.

“I saw how environmental issues couple with poverty to create chaos, and a lot of people were pushed to the brink. You can’t just take from the land and put nothing back,” says Adeleye, who is a first-generation college student. He also is the first in his family to earn a Ph.D. and become a professor. He initially thought he would go into medicine, but the environment held a stronger sway.

Adeleye earned both master’s and doctoral degrees in environmental science and management at UC Santa Barbara, where he was affiliated with the Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology. He became interested in newer pollutants, such as engineered nanomaterials, pharmaceuticals and microplastics. “In most places today, there are no regulations as to how much of these pollutants are allowed to be released from wastewater treatment plants into water bodies. The regulation of these emerging contaminants depends heavily on the availability of scientific data showing their fate and effects in their environment; I hope my research group can contribute in this regard.”

Adeleye is happy to be back in California and at UC Irvine.

“California is at the forefront of many environmental issues,” he explains.

The opportunity to return to the UC system felt like coming home, although he finds UCI more diverse than UCSB. “I’ve always been in the minority wherever I go, which was a big shock for me when I moved to the U.S. from Nigeria. But here at Irvine, I’m seeing a mixed proportion of people in a way I’ve never seen it before anywhere in the state.”

His own first-gen experience comes in handy at UCI, where more than half of the current student body are the first in their family to attend college. “This identity helps me understand the pressure and uncertainties a lot of our students go through.

Being able to see my past self in them plays into how I do my job and relate with the students.”

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2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

Martha Mecartney wanted to be an astronaut. As a child,

she loved math and science, and remembers being captivated by the 1969 moon landing. Never mind that at the time, only men were astronauts.

“I thought that was stupid,” she says, with characteristic candor. “I thought they would certainly figure out that didn’t have to be a requirement, so I didn’t worry about it.”

Luckily for UC Irvine, Mecartney’s nearsightedness derailed dreams of space. Instead, after a foray into classics during her undergraduate years at Case Western Reserve University, she switched to metallurgical engineering and materials science, specializing in the composition and structure of ceramics.

“It had physical chemistry, solid state physics and an entire course on the structure of glass,” she says, her voice still reflecting the wonder she felt more than 40 years ago. “And I thought, how cool is that?”

If she realized at the time that almost all metallurgical engineers were men, she never let that worry her either. She would go on to become a champion for women and underrepresented minorities, working to improve the chance that they, too, could become engineers.

Mecartney, professor of materials science and engineering, has a long history of activism. In the late ’90s, as UCI associate dean of graduate studies, she formed a consortium with other UC schools and successfully wrote the first AGEP (Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate) proposal, bringing millions of NSF dollars to the campus to increase the number of underrepresented doctoral students in STEM. She was faculty director for UCI’s Program for Diversity in Engineering Education, a DECADE graduate diversity mentor and an ADVANCE equity adviser, to name just a few roles.

“I do believe that women and underrepresented minorities bring something special to engineering,” she says. “In how you teach, what kinds of problems you research, how you run your group ... including different perspectives is really important.”

She also advocates for first-generation students and those coming from lowincome backgrounds. “There are all these different groups of people who traditionally haven’t been able to go to college, certainly not in engineering and not on to graduate school,” she says. “My whole focus outside of research is finding ways to really push access and to become more inclusive.”

Mecartney was in her third year of studying classics when she decided to change her major to engineering, despite knowing that she would have to start from scratch. It ended up taking her six years to graduate with bachelor’s degrees in both majors but she took the plunge. “I thought, this is worth it. Because I can graduate and have a job that will be interesting.”

After earning her doctorate at Stanford, Mecartney spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart, Germany, before joining the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota. She was the only woman in her department. When she left UM five years later, she was still the only woman in the department.

“They did hire another one after I left,” she laughs.

She decided to seek a position in California, where her then-boyfriend was living. She had arranged interviews at Cal Tech, UCLA and USC when she phoned a colleague to tell him of her plans. “He said, ‘You should look at UC Irvine.’”

“I said, ‘UC where?’” She laughs again.

“I had never even heard of Irvine.”

PROFESSOR MARTHA MECARTNEY

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

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After visiting the campus, though, the decision became crystal clear.

“The vibe of this place – young, growing, energetic – it just appealed to me so much. None of the other places were even considerations anymore.”

In 1990, she joined the UCI Department of Mechanical Engineering, which housed the materials science faculty at the time.

Again, she was the department’s sole woman. Mecartney never felt alone though. She joined the Faculty Women’s Association, where women at all levels interacted and discussed issues, including their work. “That was another way of making connections with people across campus, and it was a big source of support for me,” she says.

She recalls her department colleagues extending the welcome mat when she arrived. “There were some wonderful, supportive people,” she says, specifically mechanical engineering Professor J. Michael McCarthy, whom she remembers regularly inviting all the assistant professors to lunch.

“We would all sit at a table at the Phoenix Grill: the first Asian American faculty member; the first African American faculty member; me, the first woman in the department. That idea of promoting community inside the department was a really powerful way to get people to feel that they belonged.”

McCarthy recalls those days too.

“I vividly remember when Martha came to UCI,” he says. “Her warmth and enthusiasm for her teaching, her research and her colleagues was apparent in everything she did.”

He also notes her influential role as associate graduate dean. “She was always quick with ideas to address the needs of our underrepresented minority students. She was and is an inspiration for her commitment and hard work on behalf of our entire university community.”

In nearly 30 years at the Samueli School, Mecartney has continued to advance diversity. She has secured four GAANN (Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need) grants from the U.S. Department of Education, giving the graduate programs in chemical engineering and materials science the equivalent of 40 years of graduate student funding. “This really helped

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2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

us expand and support additional students, with the subtheme of ‘Let’s get students who traditionally haven’t gone to graduate school.’”

I DO “ BELIEVE THAT WOMEN AND UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES BRING SOMETHING SPECIAL TO ENGINEERING.”

She has seen progress, but there is more to do. “The question is: how do we make engineering attractive to students in general, which also applies to women and other groups? Are we getting it across to students that they can help solve problems with water, energy, health?”

Key to the effort: creating an inclusive environment so students will feel they belong and can succeed. “How do we capture those students so they don’t spend three years being classics majors before they figure out they could be doing engineering?” she deadpans.

One way, she believes, is mentoring. A strong proponent of undergraduate research – she has mentored more than 70 undergrads, in addition to 30-plus doctoral candidates and nearly 20 master’s students – Mecartney seeks opportunities to pass on her considerable expertise.

Her current research is multipronged. In addition to developing ceramics for energy applications, she has returned to basic research on grain boundaries; she studies how to manipulate defects to promote or hinder heat conduction. She also focuses on flash sintering, an approach to creating ceramic materials by applying an electric field to ceramic powder.

The amazement she felt more than 40 years ago about her chosen field has not waned. “What I find fascinating is how we take these crystal structures and predict what kind of properties we’ll have. But then we can change what happens in this material,” she says. “It’s been a lifelong interest.”

So too, is advancing opportunities for women and other historically underrepresented groups. Her vision involves continuing to create supportive communities that bring together students, faculty and staff in pursuit of diversity and inclusion.

“People are human and we have emotions. And if we pay attention to that and create community, then all kinds of diversity can flourish within that,” she says.

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

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DISCOVERY

SNOWPACK ALERT

Small temperature increase has significant impact on water supply Today in California, more than 50 state, national and private agencies pool their efforts in collecting snow data.

An estimated three-quarters of the water used by farms, ranches and dairies in California originates as snow in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, but the future viability of that resource is projected to be at increased risk due to global climate change. In research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Samueli School researchers found that a 1.0 degree Celsius increase in the global average winter temperature will lead to a 20% jump in the likelihood of belowaverage snow accumulation in the high country, resulting in lower spring runoff.

Two degrees of average winter warming can cause the probability of belowaverage snow water equivalent to climb to 40%.

“Changes in average temperature around the world will have an impact

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on how widespread and long lasting the seasonal mountain snowpack will be,” said lead author Laurie Huning, UCI postdoctoral scholar in civil and environmental engineering. “In general, we have found that warmer conditions will decrease the amount of water stored in the mountain snowpack, forcing its center of mass to higher elevations.”

The researchers analyzed historical data to quantify the volume and the extent of the Sierra snowpack, finding that warmer temperatures should cause the bulk to gradually shrink and be concentrated at higher elevations over time. For example, under a 1.5 degree Celsius temperature increase, there is a nearly 80% likelihood that the center of mass of the mountain snowpack will inch above 8,300 feet in elevation; the probability goes to 90% with 2.0

degrees of heating. The researchers said the impact will vary depending on what sector of the Sierra Nevada range is being observed, identifying the northwestern quarter to be most threatened.

“In addition to the resources used in the state’s agricultural sector, the Sierra Nevada snowpack also provides about 60% of the water supply for the people of Southern California,” said co-author Amir AghaKouchak, associate professor of civil & environmental engineering and Earth system science. “Our study has shown that this important natural water storage mechanism that supports our economy and the lives of millions is highly sensitive to change from global warming.”

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

REWIRING THE BRAIN

Rehabilitative tool could mitigate the effects of stroke Stroke can leave its victims with ongoing deficits, including one known as foot drop, which affects up to 60% of those who have suffered a stroke.

The patient cannot lift his/her foot toward the ankle completely – a process called dorsiflexion – which results in a compromised gait. Two Samueli School researchers are part of a team that is developing a rehabilitative tool that they think can help patients reestablish important brain-muscle connections and relearn proper dorsiflexion.

The team, which includes biomedical engineering professor Zoran Nenadic and David Reinkensmeyer, professor of mechanical & aerospace engineering and anatomy & neurobiology, received a five-year, $3.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate the effectiveness of their

electroencephalography (EEG) braincomputer interface and functional muscle stimulator.

The device includes an electrode-laden elastic cap, an amplifier that magnifies brain signals and sends them from patient to computer, and a functional electrical stimulator, which attaches to the patient’s tibialis anterior (shin) muscles. Electrodes in the cap capture and send brain waves through the amplifier and into the computer as the patient, who is watching the computer screen for prompts, tries to dorsiflex.

Algorithms recognize the specific brain waves tied to dorsiflexion, and as the patient attempts this movement, the device sends electric signals to his/her leg muscles.

That direct stimulation causes the patient’s foot to dorsiflex. It also sends an

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electrochemical signal called an action potential back to the spinal cord, where the signal meets the patient’s brain wave signals. This meeting and activation of the peripheral nervous system with the central nervous system can lead to positive outcomes.

More than 7 million people in the U.S. are stroke survivors.

Nenadic and Reinkensmeyer believe that simultaneously activating the brain and nervous system can lead to a “rewiring” at the spinal cord and/ or motor cortex level, and they are optimistic that this can inspire the brain to reestablish the missing connections.

“If we are successful,” says Nenadic, “patients could have improved ability to walk after stroke, which will increase the social reintegration of this patient population.”

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ROADMAP TO THE FUTURE

Researchers develop a blueprint for renewable hydrogen technologies Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles are critical to California’s goal of getting 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on its roads by 2025.

UCI’s Advanced Power and Energy Program (APEP) is actively involved in the integration of hydrogen into a 100% renewable electric grid and transportation sector. Late last year, its efforts were boosted when it received a grant from the California Energy Commission to develop a deployment roadmap for building out production facilities to serve a growing demand in the state for renewable hydrogen. The plan will provide significant details for action required through 2025; it will take a broader view, with higher-level outlooks in five-year increments, through 2050.

The roadmap will address the cost and performance of renewable hydrogen technologies, including electrolysis, organic conversion via anaerobic digestion and gasification; it also will focus on associated processes, such as gas conditioning and

reformation. The availability of feedstock, as well as cost and site requirements for each production technology will be characterized.

APEP researchers will develop renewable hydrogen demand scenarios based on forecasts for fuel cell electric vehicle deployment as well as other potential sources of demand for renewable hydrogen.

These include stationary fuel cells; the movement of goods; port, marine and rail applications; and refining and fertilizer production.

Information will be integrated into a time-phased deployment scenario for the evolution of renewable hydrogen production facilities, along with associated costs and recommendations for integrating the network into the existing hydrogen supply chain.

The roadmap also will include recommendations for future regulatory, policy and research components.

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2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

MATERIALS MILESTONES

IMRI marks first year with significant findings It was a productive year for the Irvine Materials Research Institute and its director, Xiaoqing Pan, professor of materials science and engineering.

First, Pan and his fellow UCI materials scientists, along with collaborators at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nanjing University, Pennsylvania State University and Cornell University, made a breakthrough discovery in the study of oxide heterostructures, substances that have the potential to revolutionize advanced electronics, memory technologies and photovoltaics. Using scanning probe and transmission electron microscopy techniques, the researchers reported the direct observation of an anisotropic conductance at a ferroelectric-insulator interface. The findings, which focused on bismuth ferrite material, can be extended to similar ferroelectric systems. “We believe our results will open a possibility of realizing new ferroelectric-based devices, which would function in a substantially different way than current technologies,” said Pan, who holds the Henry Samueli Endowed Chair in Engineering.

A few months later, Pan and his team made a breakthrough in directly imaging a platinum precursor compound and its dynamic transformation into nanocrystals.

The observation was made in real space

and real time in IMRI’s state-of-the-art transmission electron microscopy facility.

Knowing the dynamics and kinetics of materials transformation can lead to the ability to fine-tune substances to exhibit desired properties in fields ranging from energy conversion and storage to pharmaceuticals.

Finally, in June, the researchers, along with collaborators at China’s Nanjing University and the University of Nebraska, unveiled a new process for producing oxide perovskite crystals in flexible, free-standing layers. A two-dimensional rendition of this substance is intriguing to scientists and engineers, because 2D materials have been shown to possess remarkable electronic properties, including high-temperature superconductivity. Such compounds have potential as building blocks in multifunctional high-tech devices for energy and quantum computing, among other applications.

“Through our successful fabrication of ultrathin perovskite oxides down to the monolayer limit, we’ve created a new class of two-dimensional materials,” said Pan. “Since these crystals have strongly correlated effects, we anticipate they will exhibit qualities similar to graphene that will be foundational to next-generation energy and information technologies.”

260 research projects involving funds of $127 million were enabled by IMRI.

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LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Next-generation positioning system provides interference-free navigation Current military instruments, like missiles and ground/air vehicles, often rely on global positioning systems for location, navigation and control. The problem, though, is that GPS signals are weak and therefore vulnerable to outside interference.

instrument. To function properly, the gyroscope must be vacuumsealed to isolate it completely from the environment. “For something like this to oscillate in open air would be equivalent to a person running in water or in melted caramel,” Shkel says.

Hackers have turned this susceptibility into a form of modern warfare. They can “spoof ” GPS systems, creating havoc by directing instruments away from their intended targets.

The team also has developed algorithms to control the device’s electronics and compensate for residual imperfections. But perhaps more impressive is the fact that they also received Phase 3 funding – a rare occurrence in DARPA projects, according to Shkel. The additional funding allows the project to expand from a two-dimensional gyroscope architecture to a 3D version. Each has a separate design and different functionality.

Andrei Shkel, Samueli School mechanical and aerospace engineering professor, and his team are working with the U.S. military to develop an alternative positioning system. Armed with DARPA funding of more than $2.9 million, they are fabricating a tiny gyroscope as part of a selfcontained inertial measurement unit (IMU). The IMUs can work alone or in conjunction with GPS – taking over during a GPS outage, for example – to provide interference-free navigation.

In addition to designing and fabricating the gyroscope – which can range from 1 millimeter square to about 7 millimeters square – Shkel and his team are creating packaging for the

If Shkel’s team is successful, the IMUs they eventually will produce will increase exponentially in sensitivity, shrink from the size of an apple to that of an apple seed, and thanks to photolithography, be mass-produced, reducing cost by orders of magnitude.

“It’s important to have the right tools, the right people and good cleanrooms, which we have at UCI,” Shkel says. “It’s a very exciting and impactful project.”

“ You can turn on your hair dryer and

easily jam or overpower GPS signals.

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”

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

Professor Michelle Khine’s lab is well-known for employing Shrinky Dinks as a platform for medical applications.

BETTER BREATHING

Wearable device tracks respiration Samueli School biomedical engineers have developed a wearable, disposable respiration monitor that provides highfidelity readings on a continuous basis. Designed to help children with asthma and cystic fibrosis and those with chronic pulmonary conditions, the inexpensively produced sensors were created using the popular children’s toy Shrinky Dinks, thin sheets of plastic that are painted or drawn on and then shrunk with heat.

Placed in two positions – one between the ninth and 10th ribs and another on the abdomen – the Band-Aid-like devices track the rate and volume of the wearer’s respiration by measuring the local strain on the application areas. The information gleaned could, in the case of asthma, help warn of an oncoming attack.

The devices are made by applying a very thin layer of metal to a sheet of the plastic toy and then heat-shrinking it to cause

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corrugation. The film is then transferred to a soft, stretchy material – similar to a small bandage – that can be adhered to a patient. Signals from embedded sensors can be transmitted via Bluetooth to be displayed on a smartphone app.

The lab of Michelle Khine, where the devices were developed, is well-known for employing Shrinky Dinks as a platform for medical applications. About a decade ago, Khine innovated the use of the toy to produce microfluidic devices. “It’s amazing that this toy for kids has enabled us to create these robust sensors that may one day benefit children and others around the world,” she said.

The new technology has been tested on healthy subjects, and plans are underway for a pilot trial with a small number of asthma sufferers.

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TINY POWERHOUSES

Nanowire research yields new information on battery storage

“

These findings present an important and emerging theme in the interface between nanotechnology, energy and life.

”

Batteries are ubiquitous in 21stcentury life, powering everything from cell phones and tablets to toys, gadgets and increasingly, even medical devices and vehicles. So battery capacity, or the ability to store an electric charge, has long been of interest to scientists looking to improve these tiny powerhouses.

Samueli School researchers are making new inroads into understanding the role that carbon nanowires might one day play in extending the capacity of a type of battery known as a supercapacitor. Peter Burke, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, cautions that the research is not directed at everyday alkaline batteries – at least not yet – but rather at tiny supercapacitors, which power biomedical devices, sensors and other miniature electronics.

Burke and a group of graduate students studied the electrochemical

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capacitance between carbon nanotubes and the saltwater solution known as an electrolyte, which is key to the battery’s ability to store a charge. In a paper published in ACS Nano, they measured and analyzed the capacitance of these systems, learning more about how the charge is stored and what factors can improve that storage ability. In contrast to previously studied electrode material, the team found that quantum mechanics plays a key role.

Burke and his collaborators used a 0.1-millimeter-square tangle containing approximately 10,000 one-dimensional, atomic-sized wires called nanotubes.

Each nanotube is only a few atoms wide and because of its extremely small size, has different quantum mechanical behavior than regular metals.

Researchers measured their combined capacitance and came away with new insights, including a

better understanding of the quantum mechanics of these tiny electrodes; the ability to shrink the capacitor down to a tiny surface area, which could store a lot of electricity; and the knowledge that carbon provides different quantum effects than other metals.

In follow-up research recently published in Nature Communications, Burke and his team took on the much harder task of measuring capacitance in individual nanowires. “The amount of electrical energy stored in one carbon nanotube is so tiny that it’s extremely hard to measure,” Burke said.

“This work shows how quantum mechanics plays a role in nanowire-based energy-storing battery devices,” Burke said. “It lays the intellectual foundation for understanding a whole new class of electrodes for battery applications.”

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

GENETIC ARCHITECT

Live cells boost directed evolution Researchers reported this year that they have accelerated and simplified directed evolution, a process that involves reengineering biomolecules to perform beneficial new functions.

The field is revolutionizing drug development, chemical engineering and other applications.

While the process has always involved painstaking and timeconsuming laboratory work, the Samueli School team utilized live cells to do most of the heavy lifting.

By inserting a specially engineered DNA replication system into yeast, the scientists were able to coax selected genes to rapidly and stably mutate and evolve as the host yeast cells reproduced.

Previously, for scientists to screen biomolecules to see if a desired function had been achieved, they needed to build

a DNA library in a test tube and insert that DNA into the cells, a laborious and difficult process. The UCI team eliminated this step entirely in their new approach, by letting the cell’s internal machinery do all of the work.

“By moving high rates of diversification into cells in a targeted manner, we can grow and pressure those cells to evolve into something new from any genes of our choosing,” said first author Arjun Ravikumar, who earned his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering at UCI last fall. “Our work has reduced evolution to an extremely rapid, straightforward and scalable process.”

According to senior author Chang Liu, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, when using directed evolution to create a better enzyme or protein, the number of evolutionary

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cycles becomes very important, because each one can be seen as a step toward a new or improved function. “But if each cycle requires repetitious test-tube DNA molecular biology processing, you can only reasonably go through a few iterations,” he said. “We have figured out a genetic architecture that allows biomolecular evolution to be very fast.”

In addition to speeding and simplifying directed evolution, Liu said this new technique can allow scientists to perform additional types of experiments that they had difficulty doing in the past. For example, in their study, the UCI researchers described how they evolved an enzyme in 90 replicate experiments in order to figure out all the ways it could adapt to a certain condition – in this case how a malarial target could develop resistance to a certain drug.

“ Our work

has reduced evolution to an extremely rapid, straightforward and scalable process.

”

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DISTINCTION

Distinguished Professor of electrical engineering and computer science, H. Kumar Wickramasinghe, has been elected a fellow by the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge. Past fellows, who are elected for life, include Isaac Newton, Christopher Wren, Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking. With more than 100 patents to his name, Wickramasinghe is a pioneer in nanotechnology research and innovation.

He led the development of such technologies as the vibrating-mode atomic force microscope, magnetic force microscope, electrostatic force microscope, Kelvin probe force microscope, scanning thermal microscope and apertureless near-field optical microscope. Many of these are now standard instruments for nanoscale characterization. Founded in 1660, the Royal Society is the world’s oldest scientific academy in continuous existence and an independent scientific academy of the United Kingdom.

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With their wealth of research experience and abundant accomplishments, Samueli School faculty represent the best and brightest in the field of engineering. From national awards to media recognition to international honors and research collaborations, our faculty continue to distinguish themselves.

Pramod Khargonekar,

vice chancellor for research and Distinguished Professor of electrical engineering and computer science, won the 2019 IEEE Control Systems Award for outstanding contributions to robust and optimal control theory. His research contributions span systems and control theory and applications, including foundational contributions to robust and H-infinity optimal control theory. His work has had wide-ranging impact on theoretical developments in the field as well as the emergence of computer-aided design tools. Khargonekar also was named a fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society, for his efforts to further science or its applications.

He was recognized for his contributions to systems and control theory, applications to manufacturing and energy, and leadership in engineering research, education and innovation.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers honored Yoonjin Won, mechanical and aerospace engineering assistant professor, with its Electronics and Photonics Packaging Division 2018 Early Career Award. The award recognizes a young engineer – fewer than 10 years into his/her career – for outstanding technical achievements in the area of electronic and photonic packaging as demonstrated through papers, patents or product development, as well as service to the field. Won explores novel thermal metamaterials to improve phase-change performance and to create unique combinations of thermal and fluidic transport for applications including microfluidic cooling devices, thermal interfaces and energy-conversion processes.

David Reinkensmeyer

was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). A professor of anatomy and neurobiology who has joint appointments in the departments of mechanical & aerospace engineering, biomedical engineering, and physical medicine & rehabilitation, Reinkensmeyer was one of 157 medical and biological engineers worldwide inducted this year into the prestigious category. AIMBE recognized Reinkensmeyer “for innovative contributions to rehabilitation robotics and neural engineering, and for design of practical devices to enhance patient recovery.”

The Mexican Academy of Sciences has invited Marc Madou to join its ranks as a corresponding member.

Madou, a Chancellor’s Professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, specializes in the application of miniaturization technology to chemical and biological problems (BIOMEMS). He works on carbon-MEMS, a CD-based microfluidic platform and equipment for use in extreme point of care, and collaborates with scientists internationally (Korea, Malaysia, Germany, Denmark, Spain) and especially in India and Mexico. Currently, he has projects with colleagues at Tecnologico de Monterrey and Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.

Madou publishes with his Mexican colleagues in the areas of carbon-MEMS and CD-fluidics EPOC.

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

Han Li won a National

Science Foundation Early Career Development award to support her research in engineering metabolism inside cells. Li, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, will receive $500,000 to support her research.

Synthesis of chemicals from renewable resources by metabolically engineered microbes holds promise for transforming the current fossil fuel-based chemical industry toward a sustainable future. Although numerous fuels, pharmaceuticals and commodities have been manufactured by engineering metabolism, the vast majority of these processes failed to proceed beyond lab scale because their efficiency is still low.

Li’s research will contribute a universal technology to make metabolism more easily understandable and engineerable.

Syed Ali Jafar, professor

of electrical engineering and computer science, has been acknowledged – for the fifth consecutive year – as among the world’s most influential scientific minds, according to the 2018 Highly Cited Researchers list published

by Clarivate Analytics.

The annual list includes preeminent researchers from around the world in 21 fields of the sciences and social sciences, as well as researchers who were recognized for cross-field impact, all of whom have demonstrated great influence as measured by citations to their work. Jafar also won the 2018 IEEE Communications Society and Information Theory Society Joint Paper Award. The paper settles an intriguing mystery regarding the fundamental limits of wireless networks, specifically what the impact is on network performance when transmitters are uncertain about the state of the channels through which signals propagate.

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Biomedical engineering professor Abe Lee was elected to the Biomedical Engineering Society 2018 Class of Fellows. He was one of 21 selected this year by his peers to receive this honor.

Fellow status is awarded to society members who demonstrate exceptional achievements in the field of biomedical engineering, and have a record of membership and participation in BMES. Lee also was named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. It’s the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in originating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have had a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.

Lee is UCI’s ninth NAI fellow.

Nancy Da Silva,

professor of chemical & biomolecular engineering and biomedical engineering, was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). The fellow designation is a prestigious one, representing the top two percent of medical and biological engineers from around the world. One of 157 inductees this year, Da Silva was recognized for “outstanding contributions to biomolecular engineering, particularly in metabolic pathway engineering, protein synthesis and molecular tool development for yeast.”

The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics recognized Soroosh Sorooshian with a fellowship. Sorooshian is director of the UCI Center for Hydrometeorology & Remote Sensing and a Distinguished Professor of civil & environmental engineering and Earth system science. An internationally recognized expert in water resources engineering, Sorooshian has vast experience working with international organizations and looking at the big picture of worldwide precipitation and weather extremes.

The union recognized his “exceptional contributions and international cooperation, leadership in hydrologic sciences from basic to applied research and to operational use worldwide.” He is one of seven to receive the honor, conferred every four years.

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Enrico Gratton, professor

of biomedical engineering, was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering “for seminal, outstanding contributions to the fields of fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging to study structure and function of biomolecules.” Gratton also was named the 2019 Avanti Award in Lipids winner by the Biophysical Society, which honored him for more than 30 years of pioneering work in the development and application of spectroscopy techniques for studying biological membranes.

His work has led to the determination of membrane heterogeneity and membrane nanodomains. BPS President Angela Gronenborn, from the University of Pittsburg, praised Gratton’s impact on the field. “Enrico has been furthering our understanding of biophysics for over 30 years and we look forward to honoring his lifetime’s work.”

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Michelle Digman,

associate professor of biomedical engineering, earned a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development award.

Digman will receive $500,000 for her project to develop an imaging platform with a fastorbital tracking technique to follow mitochondria with nanometer precision and, at the same time, noninvasively measure metabolic changes at the local environment in cancer cells. “My lab is excited to continue to push the envelope in developing imaging technologies to noninvasively track mitochondrial recruitment and how environmental cues influence mitochondrial function within specific regions inside cancer cells, which may lead to aggressive cancer invasion.”

The Office of Naval Research awarded Zak Kassas, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, a Young Investigator Program grant of $750,000 over three years for his work on non-GPS navigation technology. The ONR seeks new and innovative navigation technologies that will provide accurate, reliable, maintainable and affordable systems for naval surface, subsurface, air and ground platforms and forces.

In addition, the Institute of Navigation presented Kassas, with its 2018 Samuel Burka Award for a paper titled “LTE Receiver Design and Multipath Analysis for Navigation in Urban Environments,” published in the Winter 2018 issue of NAVIGATION. The paper presented a novel, computationally efficient receiver design for navigating exclusively with cellular LTE signals in urban environments, which often experience significant multipath-induced errors.

Amir AghaKouchak,

associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, is one of only 10 scientists worldwide – and the sole researcher from the United States – to be recognized by the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics with its 2019 Early Career Scientist Award. The honor acknowledges outstanding research in Earth and space sciences as well as international research cooperation. AghaKouchak’s interdisciplinary research traverses hydrology, climatology, statistics and remote sensing to address critical global water-resource issues.

Haithem Tata, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, was awarded a Faculty Early Career Development award from the National Science Foundation. He will receive $500,000 over five years from the NSF Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation, which supports the integration of research and education. His project focuses on understanding the fundamental aspects and mechanisms of the dynamic interaction between the wing-body and fluid dynamics during flight.

The research will boost the design capabilities of micro air vehicles and other drones, which have potential for use in a wide variety of applications.

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR For Andrei Shkel, engineering runs in the family. His father,

older brother and son are all engineers. And his daughter, a UCI sophomore in electrical engineering, is on her way.

Shkel grew up in Belarus, excelling in math, physics and chemistry, and competing in the youth science Olympics. He followed his brother to the prestigious Lomonosov Moscow State University, where he studied applied mathematics and theoretical mechanics. A graduate exchange program took him to the University of Wisconsin - Madison; it was at UC Berkeley, as a postdoctoral scholar, that he became interested in microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS).

“MEMS was a new field back in the late 90s, but it was so exciting, this technology of building very small devices out of silicon,” says Shkel. “I was able to build on my solid theoretical foundation and develop an understanding of microfabrication techniques.”

The 2019 Innovator of the Year has spent nearly two decades at UCI inventing MEMS technologies. Before joining the mechanical and aerospace engineering faculty at the Samueli

School in 2000, Shkel consulted for MEMS Solutions, a startup company. “I was so inspired by the dynamic startup culture in the late 90s, which was so productive,” he says.

“I embraced it and have incorporated what I learned there into my research program at UCI.” Headquartered in his state-of-the-art MicroSystems Laboratory, his researchers go through the full MEMS development cycle: theory, design, modeling, fabrication, control architectures and electronics, packaging and sophisticated test and evaluation experiments. Many of Shkel’s former graduate students now work at large tech companies, such as Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Fairchild and Northrop Grumman, to name a few.

He’s mentored 38 graduate students and 18 postdocs over the years.

Shkel’s research group plays a worldwide leadership role in the development of chip-scale gyroscopes and inertial measurement units (sensors). This technology is essential for navigation, positioning, targeting and stabilizations with applications spanning military, consumer electronics and

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medical prosthetics. His team is making products orders-of-magnitude smaller and with a potential to be less expensive with the goal of replacing the large, expensive gyroscopes and accelerometers used today without sacrificing accuracy. His group is the first in the world to demonstrate experimentally that microchip-scale inertial sensors are capable of approaching navigationlevel performance.

“It’s counterintuitive really because current technology can make them small but not precise. We are challenging the status quo,” says Shkel. His technology is a primary candidate to replace fiber optic gyroscopes and eventually, ring laser gyroscopes, which are used in all commercial and military planes, military guidance systems, satellites and high-end robotic systems.

Shkel’s origami-style navigation “tool of the future” was displayed at the Smithsonian’s design museum in New York and at the Netherlands’ Cube Design Museum.

$20M+ 250 40 8 1

in extramural research funding

during the last 10 years

peer-reviewed publications issued patents pending patents published book

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CONNECTIONS

THE POWER OF

UCI trustee, professor work together to promote diversity in engineering

PARTNERSHIP PART ELIZA PARTIKA

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STEVE ZYLIUS

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

Inspired by her experiences as an engineering student and young professional, Regina Ragan, UCI professor of materials science and engineering, sought to promote diversity in the Samueli School of Engineering through a partnership with Stacey Nicholas, a UCI Foundation trustee.

An engineer herself (with a master’s and bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from UCLA), Nicholas shares Ragan’s passion for diversity issues. In 2014, she established the Stacey Nicholas Endowed Chair for Diversity in Engineering Education – which Ragan holds – to encourage the hiring and retention of women and minorities in engineering at UCI. The chair has allowed Ragan and Nicholas to create support and mentorships that are so critical to success in college and career. For the past four years, Ragan has devised programs linking underrepresented undergraduates with graduate students, faculty and industry professionals. She also counsels graduate students and faculty on the importance of student diversity and confronting implicit biases – which can inhibit the success of minority groups.

“It has never been more important to empower women and students from disadvantaged backgrounds to become the engineers of the future,” Nicholas says. “Equally important is a commitment to a diverse faculty that brings unique perspectives and can serve as role models for students.”

She has built a pipeline for talented, underrepresented students to learn basic engineering concepts by funding UCI programs. In 2014, Nicholas gave $9.5 million to the engineering school; $5 million of that supports the Academic Innovation and Research in Engineering endeavor, which conducts K-12 and community college outreach and promotes interest in STEM subjects through project-based learning.

Retaining women students But getting students and keeping them are two different things, and the retention of women in her classes has been a challenge for Ragan. She believes the remedy lies in educating others about the implicit biases that females in engineering often face and pioneering programs to

counteract those biases while increasing internship and job offers.

“It’s shocking that people are so unaware that these problems persist, although usually their lack of awareness isn’t on purpose,” says Ragan, who’s affiliated with the Office of Access and Inclusion within the Samueli School of Engineering and the Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences. “More education will force them to realize how deeply these biases are internalized within our society.”

Another key to retention is mentorship. “Women don’t see other women in engineering roles; they mostly see men, so it discourages them. Having underrepresented professionals work with underrepresented students allows them to see themselves in this field despite encountering implicit biases,” Ragan says.

She has mentored many students herself over the years, and her efforts have paid off. Mentee Melissa Thone, a graduate student researcher for Ragan, has received grants from the National Science Foundation and last year was awarded a $12,000 UCI Public Impact Distinguished Fellowship for her promising work on cancer treatments.

“Dr. Ragan helped me create successful funding applications that have pushed my career forward,” Thone says. “She helped me feel accepted in higher education – something that’s not always easy as a woman in engineering – and also helped me shape my future career.

Having a female mentor in engineering who’s always accessible has been really encouraging.”

Chloe Groome, another graduate student Ragan took under her wing, now mentors two female undergraduates herself. She says she strives to emulate Ragan both academically and personally.

“She’s so calm; she’s good at making me feel comfortable contributing ideas, and I’ve tried to instill that in my mentees. When you’re the only woman in the room, there’s this pressure to be right, because if you’re wrong, women are wrong. The more of us there are in the room, the more you feel safe to participate,” Groome says. “When you don’t have an example, you can feel all alone and lost. Once you have a female role model, it’s like a chain reaction.”

“It has never been more important to empower women and students from disadvantaged backgrounds to become the engineers of the future,” says UCI Foundation trustee Stacey Nicholas, pictured far left with collaborator Regina Ragan, diversity chair and professor in UCI’s Samueli School of Engineering. “Equally important is a commitment to a diverse faculty that brings unique perspectives and can serve as role models for students.”

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TAKING FLIGHT 46

Joe King earned his bachelor’s degree in 2014, graduating with a double major in mechanical and aerospace engineering after transferring to UC Irvine from a community college in Fresno. King jumped

right into the experiential learning opportunities offered at the Samueli School and joined the Human Powered Airplane design team as a project manager, a role that would come in handy for his career. He went to work two weeks after graduating as a design engineer for Scaled Composites, an aerospace and specialty composites development company offering design, build and test capabilities.

Located in Mojave, California, Scaled built Stratolaunch, the world’s largest plane. With a wingspan wider than the length of an American football field, the plane features six turbofan engines and a dual-fuselage design, and was made using parts from two Boeing jets. The colossal plane, designed to carry a rocket to 35,000 feet for launch into space, completed its first flight in April 2019 above the Mojave Desert.

LORI BRANDT

What was your role on the Stratolaunch?

For the first year, I designed composite ribs, skins and joints for the airplane, and − in true Scaled fashion − went from design to the completed assembly of each component. In August of 2015, I took on the role of manufacturing manager of the program, where I oversaw 265 people. It was quite a task and

outside of my engineering element, but it gave me the opportunity to learn a lot about managing a large group of people and how to think on a big-picture level.

The Stratolaunch program was a huge undertaking, the largest effort Scaled has ever attempted, in both size and staffing. The program had numerous challenges, since not all things scale linearly, and it was awe-inspiring to watch every person and group work to overcome each obstacle.

During the test flight that lasted more than two hours, the plane reached an altitude of 17,000 feet and a

top speed of 189 mph.

What was it like seeing the Stratolaunch take flight?

I think we all expected there to be some emotion, but that first flight seemed to have an unexpectedly profound impact on nearly everyone who worked on the project. All of the struggles, challenges and regrets associated with the program flew away as soon as that enormous beauty left the ground − all that remained was an awesome appreciation for every person who had put forth their best effort.

The whole time it was in the air, we couldn’t take our eyes off of it. It was also the only first flight where we didn’t need binoculars to see it.

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

How was the landing?

The landing was something we were all very anxious about. It’s a large plane. The runway is wide, but not that wide relative to the airplane. There was a 5-knot crosswind. As it came in on final, it seemed like it was barely moving. Slowly, it came closer and closer: 20 feet, 10 feet, 5 feet ... 5 feet... it seemed like it just hung there, then the right gear touched down. Smoke billowed from the wheels as the runway ripped off their rubber and they began to spin, but the left side of the plane stayed in the air. The pilots throttled up. From our vantage point, we couldn’t tell if the plane was going straight or headed off the runway - the left side still hanging precariously in the air as the pilots squared the plane from its crosswind approach to aim straight down the runway. Finally, down came the left side as the gear found the ground.

The huge sigh of relief and accomplishment filled the air as

the plane slowed to a stop at the end of the runway.

Hugs, tears and shouts of joy were abundant. We had done it! This seemingly impossible feat, that even we had sometimes doubted, was no longer a dream − it was reality! It was reality, but at that moment, it felt like a dream. The moment we had waited for had just come and gone, and we all got to see it.

Put it in the record books!

What was the most rewarding aspect of working on this project?

My biggest rewards were all of the lessons I learned through my time as an engineer and manager on this program. It was the first thing I’ve done of this magnitude. I wish I could say I did my job perfectly − I can’t, but I can say that I am a better manager and engineer now, specifically due to my experiences on the program.

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

How did your UCI engineering education prepare you for this work?

Applying a heavily theoretical university education to a job full of practical applications is a challenge at times and a benefit at others. It wasn’t just the UCI coursework alone that prepared me for this – it was the additional education and experiences I gained through my involvement in extracurricular projects at UCI that were the inroads necessary to prepare me for what was ahead at Scaled.

It’s easy to say now, but school taught me the benefit of delayed gratification.

Through my time at UCI, I’ve learned that engineering isn’t easy

and sometimes I’m not going to have fun, but if I am persistent and maintain integrity, I can accomplish my goals – changing the perspective of what is possible and improving the lives of those who follow.

Looking back at the times that were hard and not fun, I see that they were worth every minute. Theoretically speaking, hard, plus not fun, equals an awesome future.

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INTO THE HALL More than 300 alumni, family, faculty and friends from three UCI schools – Samueli School of Engineering, Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences and School of Physical Sciences – gathered in February for the 2019 Hall of Fame celebration event.

This is the fifth year of the event, and Samueli School Dean Gregory Washington inducted four engineering alumni. The 2019 recipients, pictured from left, are Jon Gribble ’83, B.S. mechanical engineering; Laura Wright Teclemariam ’04, B.S. electrical engineering; Denis Bilodeau ’91, B.S. civil engineering; and Ravi Valleti ’02, B.S. mechanical and aerospace engineering.

Teclemariam addressed the audience on behalf of the engineering awardees. A software engineer at Electronic Arts, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, Teclemariam has over 15 years of high-tech experience working in product management, marketing and software engineering.

“I remember I was not the smartest in the class, but I had the determination to work hard,” she said. “I was just intent on surviving the ‘three Lees’ (electrical engineering professors Chin Lee, Henry Lee and G.P. Li). In 2004, I was fortunate to work with Professor Glenn Healey on facial recognition technology; now we put facial recognition in our video games.”

The annual affair was held at the historic Tustin Hangars, which were designed and built during wartime in 1942. The hangars are two of the largest wooden structures ever built and are listed by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks of the 20th century.

“Bringing our alumni together in this impressive landmark location this year for the Hall of Fame is a momentous occasion,” said Washington.

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2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

A $9 MILLION COMMITMENT HORIBA Group, a leading global provider of analytical and measurement systems, committed $9 million to the Advanced Power and Energy Program at UCI to establish the Horiba Institute for Mobility and Connectivity.

The new institute will focus research and education efforts on combining formerly disparate energy and transportation sectors into a more integrated and complementary system. Its faculty, staff and students will work to simultaneously address the environmental impacts of climate change and air quality, energy independence and security, and the affordability of fuel and electricity for consumers.

“We are thrilled that HORIBA has chosen to partner with UCI in establishing this transformative institute,” said Chancellor Howard Gillman. “HIMAC will be uniquely positioned to lead the reinvention of how we produce, distribute and use energy to improve peoples’ lives and protect the environment.”

STEM INTERACTION The Graduate Student Association in the Departments of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering held a series of six STEM workshops for K-12 youth in the after-school program at the Rancho Santa Margarita Public Library.

The Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation supported the students’ efforts by providing a cash donation and materials science kits that provided teacher-based lesson plans and supplies for interactive projects.

Atsushi Horiba, chairman and CEO of HORIBA Group, said, “We are delighted that our longstanding relationship with APEP and UCI has led to the creation of HIMAC, which will produce innovations for the betterment of the world community.”

HIMAC scientists and engineers will pursue solutions to three grand challenges facing the future of energy and the environment. The first is to develop vehicles, fuel supply chains and mobility systems that emit no greenhouse gases or pollutants that cause smog, acid rain

and other health hazards. Second is to connect zero-emission modes of transport with an electric grid that incorporates renewable wind and solar resources at a much higher level than exists today. Third is to invent the next generation of conveyances that can sense their surroundings, “talk” with one another and communicate with the infrastructure.

“APEP is at the forefront of the research into creating better, more efficient and environmentally sustainable transportation and energy production options,” said director Scott Samuelsen, Sameuli School professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

“Our efforts will be greatly enhanced by collaboration with HORIBA, a major leader in the development of next-generation mobility technologies, as well as instruments and equipment to support energy and environmental research.”

HIMAC, to be housed in a state-of-the-art facility in UCI’s Engineering Gateway building, will be a focal point of interdisciplinary research at the university, bringing together experts in engineering, physical sciences, information and computer sciences, social sciences and business. Specific areas of study will include electrochemistry, renewable fuels and energy storage.

“This institute is a prime example of industry and academia partnering to advance new technology for the benefit of consumers worldwide,” said Samueli School Dean Gregory Washington.

The student group’s aim was to encourage and increase interest in STEM, provide an inclusive and engaging learning experience that specifically fosters interest in ceramics and glass, and offer a diverse group of students who could be seen as mentors and examples of success.

“The involvement of graduate students provides a unique opportunity for youth to learn from others whom they can look up to,” said Katherine Acord, a graduate student in materials science and engineering, who spearheaded the project.

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MATERIALS MEET-UP Two dozen high school students from all corners of Orange County spent three days during the summer learning about materials – from technical ceramics to structural composites, from advanced metals to thin film semiconductors – when they attended UCI’s Materials Camp. Sponsored by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, CALIT2, the Irvine Materials Research Institute and the Orange County chapter of ASM, the camp offered the students hands-on lab experience and field trips to local materials companies. The Saturday morning finale, to which parents and siblings also were invited, brought the students face-to-face with more than 20 professionals from local materials industries including Boeing, Northrop Grumman and JPL, who shared their companies’ products.

TIRELESS ORGANIZER Floranne Tavailau Ellington has lived her life in almost constant motion. Her early years were spent on a boat in Half Moon Bay with her family before they relocated to Lakeport, a small town about 125 miles northwest of Sacramento.

Ellington attended middle school and high school in San Jose before coming to UCI. But now it appears she’ll be staying in one place for a while.

Having earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, she applied to and has been accepted into a Ph.D. program in computer engineering here at UCI, where she’ll work on developing medical sensors to monitor fetal health under the guidance of Hung Cao, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science.

As a UCI undergrad, Ellington – a first-generation college student whose parents are from England and Samoa – has been a tireless organizer of programs to encourage young people, particularly women, to pursue majors in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. She was the main coordinator for her sorority’s Athena Olympiad 2019, at which she helped guide 36 middle and high school girls through activities such as lab tours, a Raspberry Pi workshop, and informal college and career counseling.

Following her doctoral studies, Ellington hopes to continue managing and developing machine-learning research projects.

“After working in industry for a few years, I want to either come back to academia or work in outreach,” she says. “I want to support the next generation in STEM, especially underrepresented communities.”

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2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

SPIRIT OF INNOVATION The 2019 Ingenuity event featured a keynote address from Jennifer Leuer, president of Partner Solutions at Experian Consumer Services. The idea of innovation often conjures up images of a light bulb going off in someone’s head, but not for Leuer. She explained that ingenuity is more about iterations than epiphanies.

This was the first of several lessons she shared at the seventh annual celebration of influential alumni and innovative students from UCI’s Samueli School of Engineering and Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS), held at the Beckman Center. As Leuer discussed efforts to create a “culture for ingenuity” at Experian, she outlined the need for incrementalism, teamwork, diversity, customer outreach and curiosity.

After Leurer’s presentation, the two deans introduced winners of this year’s Ingenuity Awards, given to dedicated and influential individuals who have had a tremendous impact on the schools of ICS and engineering. Samueli School Dean Gregory Washington presented the 2019 Engineering Ingenuity Award to Jai Hakhu. A 2015 Hall of Fame inductee, Hakhu is the executive corporate officer, chairman and CEO of HORIBA Instruments Inc. USA and France, and the executive corporate officer of HORIBA Ltd. in Japan. HORIBA is a leading global provider of analytical and measurement systems.

ICS Dean Marios Papaefthymiou presented the 2019 ICS Ingenuity Award to Vince Steckler, an ICS Hall of Fame inductee and CEO of Avast.

Student teams from each school delivered quickpitch presentations of their projects, and afterward, they conducted demos during a reception. Attendees were treated to a hands-on experience of ingenuity, with iterative teamwork and diversity on display and plenty of time for both attendees and team members to ask questions.

LEADERSHIP COUNCIL The Samueli School of Engineering Dean’s Leadership Council is a distinguished group of thought leaders whose industry expertise, community engagement and entrepreneurial endeavors support, inspire and promote the school’s vision.

Nicolaos Alexopoulos

Jai Hakhu

Robert Phillippy

Tom Ambrose

Bernard Harguindeguy

Henry Samueli

Broadcom Foundation Broadcom

Donald Beall

Retired, Rockwell

Ken Beall

The Beall Family Foundation

Gregory Brand

Retired, DRS Defense Solutions

Jake Bredsguard Biosynthetic

Roger Brum

Meggitt Defense Systems, Inc.

Al Bunshaft

Dassault Systèmes

Bill Carpou OCTANe

Ray Chan K5 Ventures

Dan Cregg Insteon

Mark Czaja

Parker Hannifin Corp.

Troy Edwards

Michael Baker International

Feyzi Fatehi

Corent Technology, Inc.

Bruce Feuchter

Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth

Pete Fiacco

Site 1001, Inc.

Nabeel Gareeb

The Gareeb Family Foundation

Deepak Garg

Smart Energy Water

Judy Greenspon NPI Services, Inc.

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

Horiba International Corp.

Atlantis Computing, Inc.

JD Harriman

Foundation Law Group, LLP

Michel Kamel MelRok, LLC

Joe Kiani Masimo

Scott Kitcher Sustain OC

Robert Kleist

Retired, Printronix

Steve Kovacic

Skyworks Solutions

John Labib

John Labib + Associates

William Link Versant Ventures

Ivan Madera MORF3D

Ramin Massoumi Iteris

James Mulato

Astronics Test Systems

Michael Mussallem

Edwards Lifesciences Corp.

Rabi Narula

Knobbe Martens

Stacey Nicholas Opus Foundation

Denys Oberman Oberman Associates

Anoosheh Oskouian

Newport Corp.

Broadcom

Fred Schreiner

Thales Avionics, Inc.

Amit Shah

Artiman Ventures

Paul Singarella

Latham & Watkins, LLP

Gerald Solomon

The Samueli Foundation

James Spoto

Integra Devices

Richard Sudek

UCI Beall Applied Innovation

Landon Taylor Base 11

Vincent Thomas Rockwell Collins

Maria Tirabassi

Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems

John Tracy

Retired, The Boeing Company

Rob Valle

Mazda North American Operations

Joan Wada

The Boeing Company

Derrick Waters UPS

James Watson CMTC

Larry Williams ANSYS

Ship and Shore Environmental

Al Pedroza

The Boeing Company

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A PARTNERSHIP WITH IRVINE VALLEY COLLEGE OFFERS AN ALTERNATIVE PATH TO A UCI DEGREE

With UC Irvine now receiving more applications from California high school students than any other University of California campus, thousands of qualified students are waitlisted or denied admission to the Samueli School each year. In 2018, the school offered some of them an alternative path to admission: the new UCI-IVC Engineering Academy.

ENGINEERING

Local students waitlisted or denied admission were invited instead to enroll at nearby Irvine Valley College, complete core courses with a minimum GPA, and transfer to UCI after two years.

NEW

To ensure the success of the program, UCI and IVC provide support services including a dedicated counselor, priority enrollment in IVC courses and frequent invitations from UCI – to conduct research, attend career fairs, meet student groups, or even take a UCI course for the same cost as a community college class.

“Overall, the Engineering Academy is kind of like a family – we’re all there trying to help each other to be successful,” says Lynnsey Davison, one of 32 students in the academy’s inaugural cohort. “That’s what makes it really special.”

Transfer Success Before starting at IVC, Fernando Kawall ’19 (pictured, right) had no intention of becoming an engineer. He came to California from Brazil as a teenager on the brink of a professional skateboarding career. When a series of broken bones knocked him out of the skatepark and into physics classes at IVC, Kawall fell for engineering, and wanted to find a way to combine astrophysics and electrical engineering. Physics instructor Alec Sim, who worked for NASA, introduced Kawall to the idea that he could combine both fields.

Kawall emailed UCI electrical engineering and computer science Professor Stuart Kleinfelder, who was doing exactly that kind of research with the Antarctic Ross Ice-Shelf Antenna Neutrino Array (ARIANNA) project. Kleinfelder replied immediately and offered Kawall a research position in his lab. Kawall was shocked at the offer. He hadn’t even been accepted to UCI yet.

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When Kawall later transferred to the Samueli School, he spent a full year working in Kleinfelder’s lab. This fall, to Kawall’s delight, an amplifier that he designed will be installed by UCI students in the Antarctic ice shelf and become a working part of ARIANNA.

2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

“My experience proves you don’t have to be at UCI for four or five years to be successful,” says Kawall, who served as a student ambassador for the UCI-IVC Engineering Academy and was voted Electrical Engineering Student of the Year by his peers this spring. “If you go to IVC and transfer to UCI, you can be very successful.”

Group Dynamic Kawall’s experience speaks to the strength of IVC’s engineering program. Even before the academy was created, dozens of students like him transferred from IVC to the Samueli School each year.

The dynamic between IVC and UCI has been enthusiastically supported by leadership at both campuses. Matthew Wolken ’97, studied mechanical engineering at UCI and is now the department chair of IVC’s Integrated Design, Engineering, and Automation School. Since 2014, he and his colleagues have worked closely with the Samueli School to increase the number of IVC engineering classes that fulfill UCI engineering coursework, enabling students to transfer from IVC with junior class standing. Just before the Engineering Academy launched, IVC opened its new IDEA building, a $29-million facility with an array of technologically advanced equipment in classrooms and labs.

“It has been a privilege to work so closely with the UCI engineering faculty members and administration.

Everyone has been extremely supportive of our efforts to enrich the community college transfer experience, and we’re looking forward to continued enhancements of the group dynamic between the two schools,” says Wolken. “We are in a position to set an example for the rest of the California public higher education system, doing our part to provide a costeffective educational pathway for our engineering students.”

Wolken says one of the main benefits for students enrolled in the UCI-IVC Engineering Academy is the sense of community they develop. The students move through their required courses as a tightknit cohort, enabling them to not only support

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

one another in study groups, but form lasting friendships as well. And because several UCI faculty teach courses at IVC, when Engineering Academy students transfer to UCI, they will experience a certain continuity in their instruction, as well.

“Some students come to UCI as freshmen and feel kind of lost or intimidated by large classes,” says Kawall. “So I would like students who did not get into UCI to understand that it is beneficial to go to IVC, especially in this program.”

Bridge to UCI Earlier this year, Engineering Academy students attended the Winter Design Review at UCI, getting a sneak peek at the kind of projects they’ll be completing, and meeting their future classmates and professors.

“The whole idea is getting the students to imagine themselves here at UCI,” says Robin Jeffers, director of undergraduate student affairs for the Samueli School. She frequently visits IVC and meets with students to ensure they are on track to succeed in the academy. “We want them to fully engage with our current UCI students and connect them with the 40-plus student organizations in the school.”

For the second cohort, which starts this fall, UCI and IVC plan to more than double the size, to at least 80 students. But Jeffers sees even greater opportunities. She believes that pathways like this can help the Samueli School reach its goal of increasing its total number of community college transfer students to 350 per year. To that end, the Samueli School is working with other community college campuses to introduce a similar pathway to UCI admission.

Davison, who plans to transfer to UCI with the first cohort in 2020, will study electrical engineering with a minor in biomedical engineering. Already, she landed an internship at Boston Scientific Neuromodulation working on verifying MRI compatibility for spinal cord and deep brain stimulation devices for people struggling with chronic pain or diseases such as Parkinson’s.

“I’m excited to transfer to UCI because of the community I’ve built and all the professors I know,” says Davison. “The staff have created a holistic environment for us, so I know that UCI is a place for me, and that’s where I belong.”

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RACE TO RENOVATE UCI Anteater Racing has a freshly refurbished workspace, thanks to the generous support of parents and industry friends.

A student-led senior design project at the Samueli School of Engineering, Anteater Racing attracts a strong core of students from mechanical, aerospace and electrical engineering. The teams design, build and test race cars for the annual Collegiate Design Series sponsored by SAE International. These vehicles are also the highlight of UCI’s Energy Invitational.

At a ribbon-cutting for the new Vehicle Performance Engineering Lab in March, Samueli School Dean Gregory Washington thanked all those involved in the project, including facilities staff, Sonic Tools, Robert Clarke (retired president of Honda Performance Development), students and their families.

The lab is now equipped with professional-grade tools for each of the three race car teams; new cabinetry, shelves, work benches and epoxy flooring; upgraded electrical, lighting and compressed-air systems; new signage and a fresh coat of paint.

Clarke, who provided consultation and design suggestions on the lab, was pleased with the renovation. “This new lab is a total transformation,” he said. “It looks how a professional racing shop should look.”

Chris McMurry is one of the parent donors who helped make it happen. McMurray said his son Matt, a third-year aerospace engineering major, made his way down to the race lab his first day as a freshman. “I don’t think he ever left. He spent 40 to 60 hours a week there,” said Chris, a former racing driver himself. “I believe it is so important to support that kind of passion. When people love what they’re doing, they do their best work.”

McMurry was pleased to see how fast the engineering school was able to use the parents’ generous gift, upgrading the lab in just six months. “It says something about their intense desire to see the kids succeed,” he said.

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2018-19 DEAN’S REPORT

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

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NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

Santa Ana, CA Permit No. 1106

5200 Engineering Hall Irvine, CA 92697-2700

ACCESS, INCLUSION, EXCELLENCE The Samueli School’s Office of Access and Inclusion supports the recruitment, retention and graduation of undergraduate and graduate students from historically excluded populations who are currently underrepresented in engineering, and information and computer sciences. The staff work with a community of partners to provide vision, expertise and programs geared toward ensuring students access and academic success. Programs include: Scholars Network – residential summer transition program for incoming freshmen ASPIRE/INSPIRE – STEM outreach programs for rising high school juniors or seniors and community college students with intent to transfer to a four-year university Tutoring and Peer Mentoring – free tutoring, academic workshops and study center Student Organization Support – Campus organizations dedicated to underrepresented students are key to student retention Undergraduate Industry Mentorship – students are connected to experienced professional mentors from the community, alumni ranks and industry For more information or to get involved, see tech.uci.edu/access.