PARADIGM SHIFT: UC Irvine Samueli School of Engineering 2019-20 Dean's Report

PARADIGM

SHIFT University of California, Irvine

2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

PARADIGM SHIFT Looking back on the past year, I am pleased to report the Samueli School did not shy away from the many challenges it faced. Our commitment to the school’s core values – agility, flexibility and resilience – enabled us to adapt to a pandemic paradigm shift.

When the state issued stay-at-home orders in March, UCI complied by requiring most of the campus to shut down. Students’ final exam preparations were interrupted and most research labs went dark. While transitioning so suddenly to remote operations was stressful, many found opportunities for innovation.

Our Anteater engineering professors rose to the occasion, being creative in development of new teaching techniques that enhanced the online learning environment, while still providing experiential opportunities for our students. Researchers continued to conduct impactful work, garner significant funding and publish important results that captured national media attention.

In the fall, the university put into place, with the advice of experts, a carefully thought out plan for bringing back a limited number of students to campus housing with regular asymptomatic testing. In the Samueli School, most of our courses were online, with a small number of lecture- and project-based courses offered in a hybrid or in-person format. We are taking every precaution with these courses; the health and well-being of our students, their families and the UCI community is our primary goal.

I am proud to say we’ve achieved a well-coordinated balance between safety measures and maintaining academic integrity, allowing us to continue providing students with the rigorous educational experience for which UCI engineering is known.

Despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic, we still succeeded in welcoming 10 new faculty this fall, including three who have been appointed directors of research centers. Thomas Milner is guiding the Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic, Naomi Chesler is directing the Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced

This year, the Samueli School also elevated its commitment to our core value of inclusivity. After the tragic events in 2020, which spurred the international movement to protest systemic racism and anti-Blackness, a passionate plea for real change resonated with the school’s faculty, staff and students. We established schoolwide and department-level task forces and working groups to listen to the issues, reflect on common practices and processes, and develop a course of action to introduce change within our school and greater community. An Equity in Engineering website was created, providing educational resources and avenues for reporting concerns.

During this turbulent time, I am pleased the school has maintained its vibrant momentum. We are thrilled to announce that the National Academy of Medicine elected Distinguished Professor Kyriacos Athanasiou as a member for his contributions in inventing, developing and translating technologies that impact orthopedics, maxillofacial surgery, tissue engineering, diabetes and emergency care. We are also excited to be opening the new Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building, which will house more than two dozen engineering faculty whose teams are focused on our research thrusts of energy and sustainability, and engineered health. And finally, thanks to a generous gift from the school’s ardent supporter Stacey Nicholas, the Office of Access and Inclusion has been endowed and renamed.

While we have had success navigating in this paradigm shift, we are all looking forward to the day when we can interact in person once again. Zot! Zot! Zot!

CONTENTS

Cardiovascular Technology, and Voja Stamenkovic is leading the new Horiba Institute for Mobility and Connectivity.

We also increased research funding for the 2019-2020 academic year by 28%, from $40 million in the previous year to $51 million. Samueli School faculty found ways to keep their efforts moving forward by following appropriate guidelines, including careful scheduling of lab personnel and making optimum use of staff working from home whenever possible.

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At-A-Glance

Paradigm Shift

Achievements

Discoveries

Partners

2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT The award-winning Dean’s Report is published annually by the Samueli School’s Communications Department.

Director of Communications: Shelly Nazarenus Communications Manager: Lori Brandt

Michael M. Green, Ph.D. Stacey Nicholas Dean of Engineering (Interim)

Principal Writer & Editor: Anna Lynn Spitzer Photography: Steve Zylius, Debbie Morales Design: m2design group Publisher: Mike Delaney, Yebo Group

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

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AT-A-GLANCE STUDENT ENROLLMENT FALL 2019

3,695 926 UNDERGRADUATE

GRADUATE

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

GRADUATE STUDENTS

556

142

258

65

FALL 2019

BIOMEDICAL

FALL 2019

BIOMEDICAL

DEGREES GRANTED 2019-20

952 239 87

CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR

CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR

496

136

B.S.

M.S.

P H.D.

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT ENGINEERING PROGRAM RANKINGS

21

ST

PUBLIC UNIVERSITY GRADUATE PROGRAM

2

20

TH

PUBLIC UNIVERSITY UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM

CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL

CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL

1,000

308

ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

109

77

MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

1,243 MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE

MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

175

MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE 2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

INCOMING FRESHMEN

FACULTY GROWTH

UNDERGRADUATE DIVERSITY

FALL 2019

4.12 34% 973 39%

FALL 2016

131

FALL 2017

132



AVERAGE GPA

FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS

FEMALES

INCREASE OVER 5 YEARS

FALL 2018

1,886 22% 913 29% 

AVERAGE SAT

FROM LOW-INCOME FAMILIES

UNDERREPRESENTED

INCREASE OVER 5 YEARS

FALL 2019 FALL 2020

139 142 151

FACULTY ACHIEVEMENTS

14 1 1 9 8 26 7 10 18 4 1

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING MEMEBERS

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF MEDICINE MEMBER

NIH NEW INNOVATORS

ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON FELLOW

ENDOWED CHAIRS AND PROFESSORSHIPS

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF INVENTORS

DISTINGUISHED PROFESSORS

PRESIDENTIAL YOUNG INVESTIGATOR AWARDEES

C HANCELLOR’S PROFESSORS

NSF CAREER AWARDEES

CHANCELLOR’S FELLOW

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RESEARCH EXPENDITURES 2019-20 BY SOURCE

$85.5M $53.4M

$15.7M

FEDERAL

INDUSTRY

$12.6M

$4.7M

STATE

OTHER

RESEARCH EXPENDITURES 2019-20 BY DEPARTMENT

$37.3M BIOMEDICAL

$5.3M CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR

$12.8M CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL

$8.9M ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

$10.2M MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

$4.8M

TOP RESEARCH AWARDS FOR 2019-20

$18,000,000 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

UCI MRSEC: Materials Discovery Through Atomic Level Structural Design and Charge Control Xiaoqing Pan, professor, materials science and engineering

$4,652,747 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Protecting Personal Data Flow on the Internet Athina Markopoulou, professor, electrical engineering and computer science

$3,600,000 UC OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Transforming Prescribed Fire Practices for California Tirtha Banerjee, assistant professor, civil and environmental engineering

$2,953,457 NIH, NATIONAL HEART, LUNG AND BLOOD INSTITUTE Phase Resolved ARF Optical Coherence Elastography for Intravascular Imaging Zhongping Chen, professor, biomedical engineering

$2,352,500 NIH, NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE

Spatial Epigenomics: A New Framework for Overcoming Mechanical Heterogeneity in Solid Tumors Timothy Downing, assistant professor, biomedical engineering

MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE

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2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

DONOR SUPPORT

OVERALL GIVING

CASH DONATIONS RECEIVED 2019-20

2019-20

FOR 2019-20

$12.7M 54

438 550

NUMBER OF DONORS

NUMBER OF GIFTS

GIFT SOURCE

INVENTION DISCLOSURES

2019-20

23

$12.7M

PATENTS

9

GIFT PURPOSE 2019-20

LICENSING ACTIVITY

$12.7M

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

$5,777,093 INDIVIDUALS $3,404,506 FOUNDATIONS $2,541,465 CORPORATIONS $842,896 OTHER ORGANIZATIONS $99,258 ALUMNI

$9,381,559 DEPARTMENT AND PROGRAM SUPPORT $2,066,130 STUDENT SUPPORT $1,107,563 RESEARCH AND INSTRUCTION $109,966 EMERGING OPPORTUNITIES 5

A SIGN OF THE TIMES

While most instruction remains virtual, essential workers and researchers on campus are reminded of safety precautions with numerous signs like this one outside Engineering Hall.

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2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

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PARADIGM ANNA LYNN SPITZER AND LORI BRANDT

SHIFT

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2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

ON MARCH 11, 2020, THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ANNOUNCED THAT THE COVID-19 VIRUS, AFTER BARRELING THROUGH 114 COUNTRIES IN THREE MONTHS AND INFECTING OVER 118,000 PEOPLE, WAS OFFICIALLY A PANDEMIC. AND THE WILDFIRE-LIKE SPREAD WASN’T ANYWHERE NEAR FINISHED. Without a vaccine available, the virus reached nearly every country in the world. By December 2020, it had infected more than 75 million people and led to more than 1.6 million deaths worldwide. The number of new cases was growing faster than ever, with more than 500,000 reported each day on average.

“This is the worst pandemic that we’ve had literally in 102 years,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert. “The good news is that science has and will come to the rescue.”

During an NBC Today Show interview in December, Fauci said 2021 could be a better year, one in which the pandemic ends and life, possibly, returns to normal.

“As we get well into the year, with a combination of vaccines and proper adherence to public health measures, we can end this thing and crush it.”

There is no doubt the pandemic dramatically transformed the majority of normal activities. But resilience is one of the Samueli School’s core values. At all levels of our organization, we create processes that are robust yet flexible and use resources proactively in the face of disruption.

When the UCI campus went remote last March, students were prepping for final exams. The Samueli School of Engineering pivoted its operations, and after taking a deep breath, we quickly adapted to the paradigm shift. We developed innovative instructional methods and ways to stay connected to our students. Researchers rolled up their sleeves, working in labs, homes and garages in an effort to engineer coronavirus solutions. Even our alumni adjusted their company operations to maintain viability.

While we look forward to returning to normal, we are proud of how our Anteater engineers adapted to this difficult challenge.

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2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

IN PLACE OF FACE-TO-FACE WHEN COVID-19 UPENDED TRADITIONAL EDUCATION LAST SPRING, UC IRVINE’S SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ROSE TO THE CHALLENGE. FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATORS BEGAN ADAPTING CLASSES, LABS AND SERVICES FOR ONLINE CONSUMPTION, AND BY THE TIME FALL QUARTER BEGAN IN SEPTEMBER, REMOTE LEARNING HAD BECOME THE NEW NORMAL. Today, the school, which prides itself on hands-on, experiential education, is

operating predominantly in the virtual space.

Online lectures, labs and discussion groups have been complemented by do-it-yourself home lab kits, creative concepts and virtual counseling and support services. “COVID-19 has put enormous stress on the lives of people around the world, forcing changes in our work, lifestyles, studies and everything imaginable,” wrote Brett Sanders, interim associate dean for undergraduate student affairs, on a blog he launched to address the transition.

“We aim to inform instructors and staff across the school with potentially useful ideas and information, and share best practices.”

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Samueli School faculty and staff quickly rose to the challenge of stay-at-home orders.

Above: Joel Lanning designed a do-it-yourself light board to enhance online learning. At right: The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering assembled and mailed out more than 400 kits that helped students taking laboratory classes conduct experiments and build devices at home.

REMOTE CLASSROOM ENGAGEMENT One blog tip is how to build a do-it-yourself, low-cost light board or “learning glass” that facilitates classroom demonstration and diagramming. Designed

by Joel Lanning, civil and environmental engineering assistant professor of teaching, the light board is modeled on a commercial product. Built from 2×8 wood boards, LED strip lights, and an external web camera, the homemade learning glass helps Lanning teach a course in structural steel design.

His in-person teaching involved “a lot of face-to-face engagement,” Lanning says, as well as the exchange of nonverbal communication and cues. The learning glass lets him bring these techniques online. “I think students are getting a better sense of understanding the material because I can make such direct comparisons in a way that feels more natural,” he says.

Lanning’s student Fiona Louie is a senior majoring in civil engineering. “I believe that diagrams and schematics are an important learning tool in engineering; since the profession deals with visible materials in the field, pointing to certain parts of a drawing is a vital part of learning,” she says.

“Using the lightboard ... feels like a more personal connection between the professor and the students.”

Patrick Kol, also a senior in Lanning’s class, agrees. “I am able to see both the material being written and explained, and also the professor’s movements and facial expressions, which really complement the learning experience,” he says. “This is by far the most creative and innovative way to actively engage students in class.”

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2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

HANDS-ON VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE Laboratory courses presented a more difficult transition challenge, but faculty and staff met it head on.

Last spring, the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering mailed out more than 400 lab kits assembled by lab technician Derek Irwin for students taking mechanical engineering lab classes. Students learned to measure stress and strain in materials and how to model and control circuits through these do-it-yourself resources.

Professor David Reinkensmeyer, who taught a mechanical systems class, modified all the labs and the final exam for virtual learning. “It was challenging and time-consuming to create new laboratory experiments and a new final robotic project that could be done remotely,” he says.

Regardless, Reinkensmeyer feels the course was successful. “While almost all students said they would have preferred to take the class in person, they also said they found the online course motivating and engaging, and that they learned a lot.”

Fall quarter students taking a mechanical design class had to design and engineer a golf ball launcher. Since the lab was off limits, though, Irwin and his team met regularly with students through Zoom, then constructed those projects based on their specifications and directions. “We acted as the students’ builders, discussed their designs and helped them meet their project goals,” Irwin says.

In civil and environmental engineering, students conducted experiments to analyze materials by watching instructional videos created by lab manager Sergio Carnalla. Farzin Zareian, who taught a materials mechanics course, was surprised at the lab’s success. “The neat videos, detailed explanations, multiple cameras and ability to watch the labs multiple times was something students didn’t have in previous years,” he says.

While the vast majority of the school’s 4,621 students are learning remotely, nearly 700 were enrolled in one of the 10 fall quarter classes that offered an in-person option in addition to virtual sections. Those classes took extra safety precautions, observing social distancing, ventilation and capacity protocols. In a chemical engineering lab section with 59 registered students, for example, only 10 were permitted to attend in person per session. An electrical engineering control systems lab that had 100 students registered offered multiple sections with a maximum attendance of 16.

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In the freshman experiential learning course ENGR 1A, first-year students worked in teams remotely to design, build and test a remotecontrolled rover.

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CHAT-BASED ADVISING Student support and counseling services – including academic advising and planning, student orientations, workshops and other support services – also pivoted to a remote model. New offerings included Zoom academic appointments with advisers, a chat platform for instant messaging and Zoom Live Chats – or virtual walk-ins – for those who prefer to talk, not type, when asking questions, says Robin Perry Jeffers, director of undergraduate student affairs.

Jeffers started online coffee hours for first-year and transfer students and a “Tell Me How It’s Going” Zoom hour, which gives students a forum to discuss important topics or just find a friendly ear.

Also making a successful online transition: career fairs and recruitment events. After attending short presentations, participants are sent to private Zoom rooms, where they can get more information. “These are generally quiet, so it makes it easier; one person speaks at a time and the others listen. Everyone can hear the answer – something that mostly doesn’t happen at live events,” says Jeffers.

Other additions to the department’s menu of student services include an increased social media presence, an active YouTube channel and weekly newsletters.

HAD TO REIMAGINE WHAT HANDS-ON “WE LEARNING WOULD LOOK LIKE THROUGH A VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT.” 14

2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

RECRUITMENT AND OUTREACH UCI’s Office of Access and Inclusion converted all outreach programs into virtual events. The Graduate Opportunities at UCI (GO-UCI) and the annual Open House for Graduate Programs, both held in November, together attracted more than 200 attendees, according to Sharnnia Artis, assistant dean of access and inclusion.

Perhaps more challenging were the summer design programs, attended by more than 100 underrepresented students. These included ASPIRE for high school students, the BASE 11 Autonomous Systems Engineering Academy, the OAI Scholar’s Network for freshmen and transfer students, and others.

“We had to reimagine what hands-on learning would look like through a virtual environment,” says Artis. “We had to come up with creative ideas to troubleshoot problems that arise when designing, building and testing electronic devices. We also had to figure out how to keep students engaged and excited about their projects.”

While making the transition wasn’t easy, Artis, who included Zoom showcases for family and friends, is pleased overall. “Students continued to learn through hands-on projects. We were able to create a community through Zoom and virtual games to get to know each other outside of our computing and engineering projects. In the end, we were able to successfully implement all of our programs with the help of UCI faculty, staff and students across many departments,” she says.

IN IT TOGETHER Almost no one involved in the machinations wrought by this year’s pandemic would choose a completely online experience, but most feel the shift to virtual learning and resources went as well as could be expected.

Kol, the civil engineering student, appreciated the ability to record and replay lectures. “It has really enhanced my learning experience because previously, if I missed one piece of a lecture, I wouldn’t be able to capture what was said. Now, I have the ability to watch lectures in real time and rewatch the recording in case I missed anything.”

Underrepresented students participating in a variety of summer design programs constructed their projects at home and displayed them for family and friends during online showcases.

“I feel like this quarter has been alright – not bad, but not amazing either,” sums up computer science and engineering student Nader Atout. “I’m very glad to see most of my professors show such a high level of trust in their students and do their best to accommodate us during these strange times. Overall, I’m very grateful and appreciative of the steps that faculty and staff have taken to ensure safety and increase morale for UCI students and employees.”

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ENGINEERING NOVEL SOLUTIONS THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC HAS UNLEASHED A SURGE OF INNOVATION IN THE SAMUELI SCHOOL. FACULTY, STAFF AND GRADUATE STUDENTS HAVE LEANED IN TO DO WHAT ENGINEERS DO: SOLVE PROBLEMS. Last March, when UCI Vice Chancellor of Research Pramod Khargonekar announced the curtailment of research activities, Samueli School leadership immediately established a process to allow exceptions for critical situations, among these was research on COVID-19 or related pathogens.

Efi Foufoula-Georgiou, associate dean of research and innovation and Distinguished Professor of civil and environmental engineering, reviewed these exception requests, and 40 researchers were allowed to continue working on campus during the shutdown. “We took all measures with each principal investigator to build confidence for an operating environment that would be safe for all involved,” she says.

Several months later, Khargonekar announced a Phase 2 opening to include research activities that posed lower risk for virus transmission. Staggered scheduling, maximum capacity in labs and a system for reporting and resolving concerns resulted in a safe environment that allowed more than 600 engineering researchers to continue their work.

Foufoula-Georgiou credits the faculty with helping to create an environment of trust and shared responsibility. “Our quick action allowed faculty to innovate and contribute to COVID-19 research, which paid off in many creative ideas, discoveries and devices to help mitigate this health crisis.”

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2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

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FACE SHIELDS AND ALTERNATIVE VENTILATORS When the outbreak began, the medical community expressed concern about the scarcity of personal protective equipment and possible ventilator shortages; Samueli School faculty and staff jumped in.

Ben Dolan, technical director at UCI’s Institute for Design and Manufacturing Innovation, runs rapid prototyping facilities RapidTech and FABWorks, both well equipped with 3D printers, laser cutters and other advanced manufacturing technologies. In collaboration with Jesse Jackson, UCI associate professor of studio art, Dolan designed an acrylic face shield frame that could be easily and quickly produced with a laser cutter. They consulted with colleagues in infection control and nursing to create the UCI shield, which can be constructed with laser cutters, 3D printers or injection molding.

UCI Beall Applied Innovation scaled up the enterprise and produced more than 20,000 shields for the UCI medical community.

Answering the call for simple and affordable breathing machines, researchers turned their attention to designing alternative ventilators.

Many participated in the Bridge Ventilator Consortium, a team of physicians, engineers and biomedical device experts led by Dr. Brian Wong, a UCI facial plastic surgeon who has a joint appointment in biomedical engineering. Partners included rocket manufacturer Virgin Orbit, and Thomas Milner, then at the University of Texas and now at UCI. The collaborators addressed equipment shortages with open source designs.

Different teams took different approaches. Some took their design from the handheld “ambu” bags paramedics use to deliver oxygen over short time periods. A prototype conceived by Milner, who currently heads the Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic (BLI), was powered by a windshield wiper-type motor, which swings a wheel to compress the bag. Elliot Hui, biomedical engineering associate professor, and his graduate students duplicated the prototype in his UCI lab.

Elliot Botvinick and Bernard Choi, biomedical engineering professors and professors of surgery at BLI, collaborated with colleagues on a ventilator that repurposed CPAP (Continuous Positive Air Pressure) devices, which treat sleep apnea by providing pressure to keep airways open.

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2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

Pulmonologist Dr. Matt Brenner, professor of medicine, proposed the idea; Botvinick and Choi led design efforts.

“We were successful in converting a CPAP to a device that can achieve intermittent positive pressures sufficient for ventilation,” says Choi. “As an emergency ventilator that could be put together fairly quickly, we think it’s good.”

Marc Madou, Chancellor’s Professor of mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, and chemical & biomolecular engineering, took a pneumatic approach.

His ventilator design uses a pressurized chamber to send compressed air through valves into and out of a patient’s lungs. Controlled by low-cost electronics, including a pressure sensor and a Raspberry Pi controller, the device is simple in design and can be built inexpensively.

Another low-cost design was proposed by Haithem Taha, mechanical engineering associate professor. With guidance from two medical doctors, he designed a simple unit called a Respiratory Regulation Unit (RRU) that replaces multiple valves. The unit is connected to a high-pressure air supply that passes compressed air to the patient through tubing.

The process is controlled mechanically, without the use of electronics, and is monitored by an attached pressure gauge. “Unlike the ambu bag squeezer, this RRU allows wider control of ventilator operations, including lung pressure and volume, respiration rates and inhale/exhale ratios,” Taha says.

AT-HOME SALIVA ELECTROCHEMICAL TEST A team led by Michelle Khine, professor of biomedical engineering, began developing a noninvasive at-home antigen test to detect the spike of SARS-CoV-2 proteins in saliva. The point-of-care platform uses the children’s toy Shrinky Dinks to create low-cost electrodes, which can detect an electrochemical reaction.

“A rapid, population-scale diagnostic and screening device is our goal, and we think our electrochemical aptamer-based assay could be an ideal candidate,” Khine says.

Working with Khine, materials science and engineering doctoral student Julia Zakashansky developed and tested the approach in the laboratory. The two have designed a biosensor with a DNA aptamer strand that recognizes and binds to the virus’s outer spike protein. When saliva containing the protein is placed on the sensor, binding occurs and triggers an electrochemical signal response, indicating presence of the virus.

(above) Doctoral candidate Julia Zakashansky is spearheading the effort to develop an at-home coronavirus saliva test in the lab of Professor Michelle Khine. (left) Engineers and doctors from UCI and the University of Texas created the Automated Bag Breathing Unit, a bridge ventilator design that uses a windshield wiper-type motor to swing a wheel to compress a manual resuscitator bag. Photo courtesy of Tom Milner.

“We’ve shown we are capable of detecting really low levels of the viral protein, which is promising for future accuracy of catching early infections as well as infections in asymptomatic people,” Zakashansky says.

The Shrinky-Dink device would come with a USB flash drivesized reader that plugs directly into a phone or tablet, with results appearing in approximately 30 minutes.

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YEAST-ENABLED ANTIBODY GENERATION

VIRUS TRANSMISSION IN SEWAGE

Using the same strain of yeast that ferments wine and makes dough rise, UCI and Harvard Medical School researchers have developed an in vitro technology that can rapidly hypermutate antibodies. Called AHEAD (autonomous hypermutation yeast surface display), the technology generates antibodies faster than animal immune systems and better than other synthetic methods.

Sunny Jiang, professor and chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, initiated two projects involving coronavirus and sewage.

“Our most salient demonstration was using AHEAD to obtain potent neutralizing nanobodies against SARS-CoV-2 in just one-and-a-half to three weeks of uninterrupted time,” says co-principal investigator Chang Liu, associate professor of biomedical engineering.

AHEAD leverages the continuous evolution system called OrthoRep, pioneered by Liu’s lab. Since it requires simply growing and sorting cells, almost any biology lab can apply the technology (patent pending). The researchers believe AHEAD will be an essential weapon in the continued struggle against SARS-CoV-2 and future viral outbreaks.

“If SARS-CoV-2 evolves in a way that escapes current antibody therapeutic candidates, we should be able to evolve new candidates in less than two weeks to block the escape variants,” says Alon Wellner, co-first author of the work and postdoctoral fellow in Liu’s group.

Working with eight Southern California wastewater treatment plants, her team investigated whether coronavirus can be detected in sewage, and if it can serve as both an early warning for COVID-19 outbreaks and reflect epidemic severity in the community.

“Potentially, we could predict resurgence of the disease and locate hotspots so we could focus preventive measures in a particular region,” she says.

Jiang’s team also looked at the risks of exposure to the virus through contaminated aerosols in the bathroom. Early in the epidemic, researchers in Wuhan, China, detected live SARSCoV-2 in patients’ feces, raising concerns of possible transmission through aerosols generated from toilets or drains connected with sewer pipe in multi-unit buildings, such as apartments or hospitals.

Jiang conducted a quantitative microbial risk assessment to estimate the health risks associated with two aerosol exposure scenarios: toilet flushing and faulty drainage/sewage plumbing.

Her results indicate the median risks of developing COVID-19 are generally low for both scenarios. The worst-case scenario from using a documented SARS-CoV-2 concentration in aerosols of hospital toilet rooms showed a one-in-1,000 risk.

Postdoctoral fellow Alon Wellner works with biomedical engineer Chang Liu on a rapid antibody generation technology.

They want to assist researchers and public health officials in tracking and protecting against the spread of the virus over time as it mutates.

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2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

UCI researchers are collaborating on a coronavirus antigen microarray that could help identify COVID-19 antibodies in the blood of patients who have recovered from the disease; pictured left is a protein microarray used in their study.

ANTIBODY DETECTION METHODS One key to returning to a more normal life could lie in determining who is immune to the virus. Several Samueli School faculty are working to develop antibody tests to help identify those with immunity.

Peter Burke, professor of electrical engineering and biomedical engineering, is proposing an inexpensive point-of-care method to detect COVID-19 immunity. (Burke and University of Illinois colleagues have filed for a patent.) Antibodies in blood serum presumably can determine immune patients but blood tests need expensive proteins to detect antibodies produced by the immune system. Burke is investigating the feasibility of using short DNA sequences as the capture agent instead. The inexpensive test would enable clinicians to determine how long immunity lasts and how robust the immunity is at a global population level.

“If we are successful, then a point-of-care, in-home test of patients could follow,” Burke says, adding that it could be paper-based and cost only a few cents to produce. “This would be like a pregnancy test for COVID-19 immune patients.”

Chancellor’s Professor Marc Madou is working with UCI School of Medicine’s Phil Felgner on a coronavirus antigen microarray, which could help identify COVID-19 antibodies in the blood of patients who have recovered from the disease. It also could support vaccine development, diagnosis, contact tracing, monitoring herd immunity and understanding trends in how the virus affects different populations.

“It appears that recovered patients have different antibodies that target COVID-19,” says Felgner. “This tool to comprehensively measure these antibodies will allow physicians to choose the most effective donors for convalescent plasma therapy.”

A compact disc microfluidic platform developed by Madou converts Felgner’s benchtop assay, which takes 24 hours, into a

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

test that can be completed in 10 minutes with a few drops of the donor’s blood.

The two are collaborating with engineers and researchers at Oracle Corp., Oxford University’s Jenner Institute, Stanford University and USC to further develop this assay into a point-ofcare COVID-19 serological profile diagnostic test system, which detects an array of 67 antibodies related to COVID-19 and other common respiratory illnesses. A startup company, Autonomous Medical Devices, Inc., (AMDI) has formed to produce the system.

“The easy-to-use system would be able to collect immunity profile data from people worldwide,” says Madou. “The instrument uploads the data to the cloud, where data mining can inform medical and public health officials and help prevent future pandemics.”

Another project with Felgner involves biomedical engineers Weian Zhao and Enrico Gratton as well as Niklas Hedde, pharmaceutical sciences project scientist. The team created a robust, low-cost imaging platform utilizing lab-on-a-chip technology for rapid coronavirus diagnostic and antibody testing.

Using blood from a finger prick, the test probes hundreds of antibody responses to 14 respiratory viruses, including SARSCoV-2, in two to four hours. Identifying responses to viral infections with symptoms similar to those of COVID-19 will keep hospitals clear of patients with standard colds and flus.

The results are printed on a low-cost imaging platform. The TinyArray imager combines a 3D-printed prototype with an offthe-shelf LED and a small 5-megapixel camera to find markers for many antibodies simultaneously. This provides the accuracy of expensive imaging systems in a platform portable enough to deploy anywhere – at a cost of only $200. The researchers are partnering with UCI startups Velox Biosystems Inc. and Nanommune Inc. to scale up production.

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PREDICTING DISEASE SEVERITY Samueli School researchers are investigating the use of artificial intelligence on COVID-19 patients’ chest X-rays to foresee disease severity, allowing medical personnel to predict which patients will require imminent ventilation and intensive care.

Biomedical engineering Professor Dr. Arash Kheradvar is working with Hamid Jafarkhani, Chancellor’s Professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and Dr. Alpesh Amin, UCI professor of medicine.

To train the simulation models, researchers use COVID-19 patients’ chest X-rays taken on the first day of admission and daily for up to two weeks, in addition to pertinent clinical information and patients’ final outcomes. Accordingly, they are designing a deep-learning network that can predict whether a patient will develop a more severe case of the disease and require a higher level of care.

“We would like to use our expertise in designing AI-based medical imaging tools to help with mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Kheradvar.

MORE ACCURATE EPIDEMIC MODELING Alternative thinking about how contagions propagate, particularly in the early phases of a pandemic, has led Samueli School engineers to develop a blueprint for more accurate epidemic modeling.

“Standard epidemiological models rely on the presumption of strong mixing between infected and non-infected individuals, with widespread contact between members of those groups,” says co-author Tryphon Georgiou, UCI Distinguished Professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. “We stress, rather, that transmission occurs in geographically concentrated cells.

Therefore, in our view, the use of fractional exponents helps us more accurately predict rates of infection and disease spread.”

The researchers tested their theory through a series of numerical simulations. They also fitted their fractional models to data from the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, Germany, France and Spain.

“The fractional exponent impacts in substantially different ways how the epidemic progresses during early and later phases, and as a result, identifying the correct exponent extends the duration over which reliable predictions can be made as compared to previous models,” Georgiou says.

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2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

IMPACT ON HEART FUNCTION

MOVING AHEAD

Biomedical engineers Anna Grosberg, Wendy Liu and Elliot Botvinick are examining the interplay between the immune system and cardiac function in severe coronavirus cases.

These major projects related to COVID-19 comprised just a fraction of the total research at the school of engineering during the past year.

Although the virus primarily targets the lungs, clinicians have observed that it affects the heart’s ability to generate sufficient force to pump oxygenated blood throughout the body. They plan to develop a novel immuno-heart-in-vitro platform to show the relationship between cardiac biomechanics and the combined affliction of hypoxia and an overactive immune system. If successful, this will lead to a greater understanding of the reciprocal interactions between heart and immune cells, in conjunction with environmental factors, in healthy hearts and in patients with COVID-19-related cardiac complications.

As the country begins the new year with the hope that vaccines will help return normality to our lives, Samueli School researchers remain vigilant. There’s more to discover and learn about the current outbreak and its aftermath but also to prepare for future pandemics and mutations.

“As any university researcher knows, innovation is a crucial component of success,” says Foufoula-Georgiou. “At the Samueli School, we work hard to move new ideas from academia into the public domain, where they can help humanity.”

“This understanding will spark conversation on potential immune targets and novel therapies to preserve the heart’s mechanical function throughout and post-COVID-19 infection,” says Grosberg, principal investigator.

UNDERSTANDING WILL “THIS SPARK CONVERSATION ON POTENTIAL IMMUNE TARGETS AND NOVEL THERAPIES TO PRESERVE THE HEART’S MECHANICAL FUNCTION THROUGHOUT AND POST-COVID-19 INFECTION.

”

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JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED

WHEN SAMUELI SCHOOL ALUMNUS NICK DESAI LAUNCHED HIS STARTUP, HEAL, IN 2014, HE COULDN’T HAVE FORESEEN THE WORLDWIDE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. The company, founded on the premise that

there had to be a better way to deliver quality health care to all people, has developed a transformative technology platform – which includes telemedicine and in-home doctor visits – to offer primary, preventive and urgent care to patients at the click of a button. Desai and his wife, Dr. Renee Dua, a practicing physician and Heal co-founder and chief medical officer, started the company to reduce the costs associated with emergency room visits and to provide more thorough and proactive care by focusing on patients’ environments, lifestyles and diets.

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2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

In the nearly seven years since its launch, Heal, which contracts with approximately 100 doctors and nurse practitioners, has delivered 250,000 house calls and $68 million in health care savings, and has reduced unnecessary trips to the emergency room by 71%, according to Desai, B.S. electrical engineering and computer science ’91. The company’s CEO, he was named a game changer in health care in 2018 by Forbes’ contributor Robert Reiss of the CEO Forum, one of 10 CEOs that year who were recognized for transforming health care in America.

Heal, which is available to anyone and accepts insurance, currently has 300 employees and serves more than 110,000 users with in-home and telehealth options. It recently snagged the number 13 spot on CNBC’s 2020 Disruptor 50, a list of the 50 most disruptive private companies worldwide.

So when COVID-19 struck, the company was in a unique position.

Because it already offered both telemedicine and in-home options, and had always used personal protective equipment for its medical professionals during house calls, it had to make very few changes to assist patients during the pandemic.

In the early days of the coronavirus, the company’s telemedicine business increased more than 400%, Desai says, both as a nod to guidance from local health authorities and because patients were requesting it.

“We really wanted to minimize house calls for our patients’ safety as well as ours, so our approach was to do telemedicine first, and if there was some issue that wasn’t fully resolved, then we would book an in-person evaluation,” says Dr. Justin Zaghi, Heal’s Los Angeles-based medical director. In the first several months, Heal evaluated more than 1,200 people who had concerns about the novel coronavirus, referring suspected cases to local health authorities and testing facilities.

“Most of the patients who were concerned about having COVID-19 didn’t have it,” Zaghi says, adding, “When patients did test positive for COVID, we were able to manage the vast majority of them safely in their homes, eliminating the strain on hospitals.”

The company continued to offer medical services for non-virusrelated needs as well, from well-baby exams to vaccinations to chronic disease management. “As a primary care provider that delivers care in the home and by telehealth, we have helped thousands of patients know if they had COVID-19, given those affected the treatment they needed without burdening hospitals, and continued to help everyone else with their regular health care needs,” says Desai, who was inducted into the Samueli School of Engineering’s Hall of Fame in 2015 and received a UC Irvine Lauds and Laurels Distinguished Alumni award in 2018.

Desai and Dua, who live in Southern California with their three children, have seen their company grow 150% since the pandemic began.

Heal expects to continue its growth trajectory even as the coronavirus subsides. “I think this model is really a game changer,” Zaghi says. “It brings health care to patients in a way that’s

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

unparalleled in terms of quality, convenience and access. We’re using board-certified, licensed doctors to provide patients with world-class care and treatment in their homes, and we do that while improving health outcomes and reducing costs.”

Christine Rafferty has been a satisfied patient since 2017, when her three children were ages 4 and under. Her 2-year-old twins had frequent ear infections and “it was a huge ordeal to pack up all three kids for a trip to the doctor,” she says. “With Heal, everything was so much simpler. We have always felt very confident in the care we received and felt the experience reduced our exposure to additional germs that we would undoubtedly have in a traditional doctor’s office setting.”

Desai, who co-founded Heal to improve the delivery of quality health care through transformative technology, has seen the company thrive during the coronavirus pandemic.

Los Angeles resident Blair Lebovitz concurs. Her whole family, including three children from ages 5 to 11, uses Heal for the majority of its medical care. “We have always been so impressed with the quality of the doctors and nurses they send to our home.

Everyone is very professional and we’ve always been given an accurate diagnosis,” she says. “My children visit the pediatrician very rarely because it is much healthier and safer to keep them at home with me instead of bringing them to the doctor’s office and exposing them to the germs there.”

As the virus continued its rampage – in the first week of December, 100,000 Americans were hospitalized and 276,000 had died – Desai’s advice remained constant. “Keep social distancing, wash your hands regularly and wear a mask.”

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MANAGING OUTSIDE THE BOX THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC HAS DECIMATED BUSINESSES ALL OVER THE WORLD. MILLIONS OF AMERICANS HAVE LOST THEIR JOBS SINCE MID-MARCH WHEN STAY-AT-HOME ORDERS VIRTUALLY SHUTTERED THE ECONOMY. THE NATIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE SOARED TO 14.8% IN APRIL, THE HIGHEST SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION. But at Irvine, California-based Syntiant Corp., the picture is much brighter. The company, which builds artificial intelligence/machine-learning processors that enable voice control of electronic devices, is thriving, thanks in part to careful management by its co-founder and CEO, Samueli School alumnus Kurt Busch. Busch, who earned UC Irvine bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and biological sciences in 1993, also got an MBA from Santa Clara University before making his mark in the technology world.

After holding management jobs in the field for more than 20 years, including at several startups, he co-founded Syntiant in 2017. The company’s low-power processors are built directly into battery powered devices, including earbuds, headsets, laptops, mobile phones and remote controls. Because Syntiant processors don’t depend on a cloud connection, Busch says, they provide improved response, reliability and privacy while reducing battery usage.

When statewide stay-at-home orders were issued last spring, the timing was far from ideal. Syntiant, which recently was named a CES® 2020 Innovation Award honoree and received

a 2019 AI Breakthrough Award for best deep learning company, was at a crucial juncture in the development of its second-generation product.

The silicon for the processors arrived in Irvine from Syntiant’s Singapore-based fabricator about two weeks into the lockdown, meaning the chips had to be programmed, tested and debugged remotely, a challenge for any company. Busch says his first thought was, “How do we continue the business? And how do we do the things that need to happen in person?”

But the process proceeded almost flawlessly, even though only one employee was at work in the company’s lab, while the rest of the firm’s 50 Irvine employees were working at home.

(The company also has 15 sales and support representatives in Europe, Asia and India.)

In fact, after the sole lab employee powered up the new device, it took only an hour and 13 minutes for the first neural networks to be up and running. “That is a new record for anyone in

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2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

our company,” Busch says proudly. “It’s really a first, at least for our team, to have a totally remote chip bring-up.”

Syntiant had built Raspberry Pi connectivity into the silicon’s testing infrastructure. This allowed multiple silicon processors to be connected to networks, so hardware and software engineers who were working at home could log on, develop software, run testing and debug in parallel, all remotely.

Syntiant was on track to ship more than 10 million processors in 2020. “This put us in a very good position in comparison to other AI startups today,” says Busch, who instituted a series of management decisions designed to unite his teams and improve communication during the stay-at-home period.

He launched several Zoom events, including optional daily coffee klatches and weekly cocktail hours, as well as daily management “standups,” in which team leaders communicated with each other.

Smaller working groups met regularly online as well.

Syntiant not only avoided any layoffs, but even hired 15 new engineers during the shutdown. “We’re tremendously lucky to be in the type of industry where we could transition to work from home relatively quickly,” says Busch, an inaugural Samueli School Hall of Fame inductee who also was recognized with a UCI Lauds and Laurels award.

Last June, the company instituted Phase 1 of its return-to-work plan, following state and local health guidelines and bringing back 11 employees to its 18,000-square-foot facility. Busch is adopting a wait-and-see attitude toward implementing Phase 2.

One thing he knows for certain though; eventually all of Syntiant’s employees will be back in the office, interacting in person, even if at a distance. “I know some companies are planning to stay at home permanently,” he says. “We are not. We may stay at home for an extended period of time, but nothing beats sitting next to the person you’re working with on a problem.”

Busch instituted a series of programs designed to unite his teams and improve communication during the COVID-19 stay-at-home period. He also communicated with potential customers via Zoom, adding numerous new clients despite not being able to meet them in person.

“We tried to make up for the impromptu discussions that would happen in the hallways,” the CEO says.

Dave Garrett, Syntiant’s vice president for hardware, lauds Busch’s decisions. “From the very beginning of the company, Kurt was adamant that we ‘roto-tiller’ the hardware, software and machinelearning teams,” Garrett says. “It was important for these teams to work together and learn from each other.”

Garrett continues: “It really has been teamwork that keeps us together and running at a fast pace during the pandemic.

Interestingly enough, I feel I’m better connected with my team members because of this structure during the stay-at-home period, and we’ve learned some important lessons to carry on as society reopens.”

One of Busch’s early concerns was how to continue growing his customer base. “I was concerned that engaging with new customers really wasn’t going to happen because most new customer engagement is a face-to-face activity,” he says. Much to his relief, by utilizing Zoom meetings for that face-to-face contact, the company added numerous new customers during the pandemic.

“We have been able to engage remotely with new customers, move the ball forward and continue to build our business,” Busch says.

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ACHIEVEMENTS

Kyriacos Athanasiou

was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest distinctions awarded to professionals in medical sciences, health care and public health.

Athanasiou was inducted “for inventing, developing and translating technologies, such as articular cartilage implants and methods for intraosseous infusion, that impact several biomedical fields, including orthopedics, maxillofacial surgery, tissue engineering, diabetes and emergency care,” according to the NAM citation. “I am honored to be a member of the National Academy of Medicine,” said Athanasiou, Distinguished Professor of biomedical engineering and Henry Samueli Chair in Engineering. “The recognition highlights the importance of developing a fundamental understanding of the key engineering principles that govern the human body, inventing new ways to treat acquired and congenital defects, and translating those innovations to help improve the human condition.”

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Chang Liu earned three

notable honors in 2019-20, recognizing his pioneering efforts to engineer synthetic genetic systems. The biomedical engineering associate professor received an NIH Director’s Transformation Research Award ($8.4 million over five years), a Moore Inventor Fellowship from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation ($825,000 over three years) and the Young Innovator Award from the American Chemistry Society’s Synthetic Biology journal. Liu aims to transform antibody generation techniques with his invention of engineered yeast cells that act like an immune system. This can be used for the rapid evolution of custom antibodies for drug discovery and biomedical research. “Antibodies are the magic bullets of biology,” said Liu, “and they are a growing class of therapeutics to combat cancer and pathogens up to and including the virus responsible for COVID-19.”

In spite of the challenges presented during the 2019-20 academic year, Samueli School faculty continued to distinguish themselves through their abundant accomplishments. With national recognitions, international honors, research collaborations and funding awards, our faculty represent the best and brightest in the field of engineering.

The American Meteorological Society awarded Soroosh Sorooshian the 2021 Hydrologic Sciences Medal for his “ingenious, groundbreaking work on surface hydrology and the remote sensing of precipitation that has profoundly impacted the field of hydrometeorology.”

A Distinguished Professor of civil and environmental engineering and Earth system science, Sorooshian is an internationally recognized expert in water resources engineering.

He directs UCI’s Center for Hydrometeorology & Remote Sensing, where his team specializes in tracking and measuring global precipitation. His research focuses on water resources systems, climate studies and application of remote sensing to Earth science problems.

“I am truly honored and humbled by this recognition,” said Sorooshian. “Needless to say, the award not only recognizes me personally, but also my doctoral students and postdocs over the past three decades.”

The National Institutes of Health granted a 2019 Director’s New Innovator Award to Han Li, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.

The award, $2.2 million over five years, supports unusually innovative biomedical research from early career investigators. Li is developing a universal method in metabolic engineering to enhance the biological production of nature-derived medicines, which include key antibiotics, anti-cancer and pain-management drugs.

“Once such a method is developed, these medicinal compounds, which cannot currently be obtained in a scalable and reliable way, can potentially become more widely available,” said Li.

Filippo Capolino, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, was named a 2020 IEEE Fellow for his contributions to the development of electromagnetic phenomena in metamaterials and periodic structures. The fellow designation is awarded by the IEEE board of directors to only one-tenth of one percent of the organization’s voting membership to individuals who are considered to have extraordinary records of accomplishment. Capolino’s research interests include metamaterials and their applications, traveling wave tubes, antennas, wireless systems, sensors in both microwave and optical ranges, plasmonics, nano-optics, spectroscopy, microscopy and applied electromagnetics in general.

2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

The National Science Foundation granted Peter Tseng, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science, a $500,000 CAREER award to develop a multifunctional interlayer radio frequency resonator as a platform for passive and wireless biosensing. This work will enable noninvasive biosensors that can support inherent wireless readout and robust, long-term operation with high sensitivity, without requiring a lot of power. Not only will these biosensors support easy monitoring of physiological parameters, such as heartbeat and glucose levels, but they will be attached, embedded or potentially even implanted, integrating with living systems in new ways and enabling new applications in wireless health. “We are developing next-generation wireless biosensors with tunable sensitivity and selectivity that can interface with living systems,” said Tseng.

Amir AghaKouchak,

professor of civil and environmental engineering, was recognized with two prestigious honors. The American Society of Civil Engineers granted him the 2020 Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize for “notable contributions to the science of compound and interconnected extreme weather events.” And the American Geophysical Union awarded him a 2019 James B. Macelwane Medal for “fundamental and innovative contributions to the study of hydrologic extremes and compound natural hazards.”

AghaKouchak‘s research crosses the boundaries between hydrology, climatology, statistics and remote sensing to address critical global water resource issues. He uses developing satellite data along with ground-based observations to develop and improve integrated drought, flood and landslide modeling, prediction and decisionsupport systems.

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

The Institute of Navigation honored Zak Kassas with its Colonel Thomas L. Thurlow Award for outstanding contributions to the science of navigation.

Kassas, associate professor of mechanical & aerospace engineering and electrical engineering & computer science, was recognized for his work in the theory and practice of exploiting signals of opportunity for accurate and reliable positioning, navigation and timing.

He specializes in analyzing these signals – existing radio signals from cell towers, Wi-Fi and low-Earth-orbit satellites – to map, position and navigate UAVs, ground vehicles and pedestrians in indoor environments with high accuracy, without relying on GPS signals.

The award is named for Thurlow, an engineer and pilot who contributed significantly to the development and testing of navigation equipment and training of navigators and pilots.

Yoonjin Won, assistant

professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, won the 2020 Women in Engineering Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Electronic and Photonic Packaging Division. The award recognizes one woman engineer annually for significant technical achievements in the area of electronic and photonic packaging. Won researches thermo-fluid approaches and innovative materials that address thermal management challenges in electronics, energy conversion, water/ energy systems and other emerging technologies. She also demonstrates great passion for being a role model for female engineers and enthusiastically mentors students, particularly minority and female students, by participating in numerous outreach and counseling activities. “This award is very special to me, as I can join a group of outstanding contributors in my field who have received this award in prior years,” Won said.

Tim Downing received a National Institutes of Health 2019 Director’s New Innovator Award. The recognition, $2.2 million over five years, supports his innovative biomedical research. Downing looks at how the physical forces and changes in mechanical properties of cells and tissues contribute to development, cell differentiation, physiology and disease.

Specifically, his research will shed light on how mechanical cues integrate with and give rise to diseasedriven epigenetic mutations.

“It’s an honor to be recognized with one of NIH’s most prestigious research awards,” said Downing, assistant professor in biomedical engineering.

“My lab is excited to use these funds to help us bring our expertise and innovative ideas in epigenetics and mechanobiology into the realm of cancer research to ultimately discover better treatment options for patients.”

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The International Society of Electrochemistry named Plamen Atanassov a fellow in recognition of his excellent scientific record and contributions to the field.

Atanassov is a Chancellor’s Professor of chemical & biomolecular engineering, materials science & engineering, and chemistry.

He began his career by developing electrochemical biosensor technologies for biomedical, environmental, food safety and defense applications. During the past 20 years, he has created materials for energy conversion: electrocatalysts for fuel cells and electrolyzers and bioelectrochemical systems for energy harvesting and water treatment. A prolific innovator, he is a co-inventor on more than 50 U.S. patents, resulting in two lines of currently manufactured electrocatalysts. “This is a high honor,” said Atanassov.

“I could not be where I am without the contributions of students and associates, collaborators, and academic and industrial partners.”

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Farghalli A. Mohamed,

professor emeritus of materials science and engineering, won the 2020 Oleg D. Sherby Award from the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society. The award recognizes an individual for significant contributions to the understanding of the behavior of materials at high temperatures.

Mohamed’s research focuses on the mechanical behavior of engineering materials, such as metals, composites and ceramics; the correlation between behavior and microstructure; creep (deformation under high temperature or loads) and superplasticity (the state in which solid crystalline material is deformed well beyond its usual breaking point); and the mechanisms responsible for strengthening and fracture. The Sherby Award cited Mohamed’s “pioneering contributions in the areas of creep and superplasticity.”

The San Diego Air & Space Museum inducted Robert Liebeck into the 2019 International Air & Space Hall of Fame. Liebeck, adjunct professor in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department and a National Academy of Engineering member, is a world-renowned authority in aerodynamics, hydrodynamics and aircraft design. He is most noted for developing airfoils to make wings more efficient, earning them the nickname “Liebeck Airfoils.” He’s also known as one of the founding fathers of the blended wing-body aircraft and recently retired as a senior fellow at the Boeing Company, where he was a chief scientist. “I am indeed humbled by my induction, particularly by the list of past inductees, and more vividly by the list of current inductees,” said Liebeck.

Horst Hahn, Distinguished

Visiting Professor of materials science and engineering, was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.

The distinction is awarded to academics who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation with outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. Hahn’s research involves nanostructured materials, tailored and tunable nanostructures, and energy materials. He has more than 75 patents and patent applications in various areas related to battery materials, printed electronics, nanoparticulate systems, nanomagnetism, nanoglasses and tunable properties of nanostructures.

He is executive director of the Karlsruhe Institute of Nanotechnology in Germany and a National Academy of Engineering member.

Mohammad Javad Abdolhosseini Qomi,

assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, won a $50,000 Hellman Fellowship. Qomi intends to uncover the underlying chemical reactions responsible for storing carbon dioxide as carbonate minerals during the geological carbon sequestration process. Such fundamental understanding could pave the way to reducing existing uncertainty when predicting the ultimate fate of CO2 in geological reservoirs. “Human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are at the core of global warming, exposing our society to the greatest levels of environmental and health risks,” Qomi said.

“Progress in fundamental understanding of carbon sequestration has direct implications in enhanced oil recovery from massive shale reservoirs, bolstering our national energy security while reducing the effective carbon footprint of hydrocarbon resources.”

2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

GROWING UP IN THE MIDDLE EAST, DIRAN APELIAN EXPERIENCED DRAMATIC UPHEAVALS EARLY IN LIFE, WHICH TAUGHT HIM KEY SKILLS THAT HELPED SHAPE HIS SUCCESS AS AN AWARD-WINNING INNOVATOR. Twice his world was turned upside down by political revolution. First when Apelian was 10 years old, his family had to urgently leave their home in Egypt, driving overnight through the desert to Libya and then traveling by ship to Lebanon. Five years later when he was 15, with another uprising and U.S. troops intervening in Lebanon, his family moved again, migrating to the U.S. and settling in Philadelphia. Each time, Apelian adjusted to a new community, a different language, another school and new friends, and his father, who ran an office machinery shop in Egypt, had to start from scratch.

INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR 700 21

peer-reviewed publications issued patents

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12 5

published books startup companies

Apelian developed an ability to survive, be agile, take risks and never give up. “I learned to live with uncertainty, be comfortable being uncomfortable and discovered that through will, hard work and thinking outside the box, one can make things happen,” says Apelian, the Samueli School’s 2020 Innovator of the Year and a Distinguished Professor of materials science and engineering.

Apelian earned a bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering from Drexel University in 1968 and a doctorate in materials science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972. Today,

he is widely recognized for his innovative work in metal processing and for his leadership as a researcher and educator.

A member of the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Inventors, European Academy of Sciences and the Armenian Academy of Sciences, he conducts research that has helped establish mechanisms and fundamentals in metal processing and lay the foundation for significant industrial developments. More recently, his work in developing technologies to recover and recycle materials has become critically important for a sustainable future.

With nearly two dozen patents and a handful of startups under his belt, Apelian’s research interests are driven by market needs. “The things I chase should have an application and it should take away somebody’s headache… either in industry or in society. In other words, it should meet a need,” he says.

In 2015, Apelian and two colleagues at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts invented a technique to recycle any size or shape lithium-ion battery of any cathode chemistry, and tailor the composition of the final product into new cathode material for reuse in consumer electronic products. They subsequently founded Battery Resourcers, a company currently raising Series B funds, that provides a sustainable closed-loop battery cathode supply chain solution.

“Innovation is the lifeblood of progress,” Apelian says, “and for me it has been a way of life, and a way of constantly stretching the boundaries and creating value.”

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DISCOVERIES

NOVEL FUNCTIONALITIES

NSF grants $18 million to UCI for materials science and engineering center The National Science Foundation awarded $18 million to UC Irvine in support of a new materials research science and engineering center. UCI is one of three such centers, known as MRSECs, newly funded by the NSF in 2020, joining 16 other existing centers at leading research institutions in the United States.

The Center for Complex and Active Materials, which officially began its six-year operation period on Sept. 1, will engage researchers in the discovery and development of materials with new capabilities – addressing grand challenges in advanced manufacturing, human health and national defense.

Using sophisticated tools, such as those found in UCI’s recently established transmission electron microscopy facility, scientists and engineers will probe and electronically control substances at the atomic level.

The new center will also offer a broad range of education and outreach activities in the spirit of diversity and inclusion for all levels of the faculty, students and staff, with the goal of establishing UCI as a major research hub for Southern California’s academic and industry materials ecosystem.

“This NSF grant is the result of a multiyear, $25 million effort to build state-of-the-art materials characterization facilities under the auspices of the UC Irvine Materials Research Institute,” said MRSEC

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principal investigator Xiaoqing Pan, Henry Samueli Endowed Chair in Engineering and a professor of materials science & engineering as well as physics & astronomy.

Investigations in the center will fall under two broad categories. One interdisciplinary research group will probe the atomic-level structure, chemistry, thermodynamics, kinetics, and electrical and mechanical properties of interfaces in complex concentrated substances. This new class of materials exhibits such exceptional qualities as high strength, ultra-low thermal conductivity and the ability to withstand extreme environments – with applications in aerospace, automotive engineering, national defense and space exploration.

Another group will study fundamental charge-matter interactions in supramolecular “living” materials.

This team will design and synthesize conductive, active components with electrical stimuli-powered self-assembly capabilities, exploring how these mechanisms and dynamics function in real time. The goal of this research is to develop novel electronic building blocks for biointerfaces and biological computing.

Co-investigators include Regina Ragan and Timothy Rupert, UCI materials science and engineering faculty, as well as faculty from the departments of physics and astronomy, and chemistry.

“ In addition to

the labs and equipment, UCI has focused on recruiting and hiring more than 20 leading scientists and engineers in areas of materials research and engineering from diverse backgrounds, giving us the personnel and facilities we need to excel.

”

2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

CYBER AWARENESS

UCI to lead $10 million NSF-funded center on protecting personal data privacy The Samueli School’s Athina Markopoulou is leading a project to establish a National Science Foundationfunded center devoted to personal data privacy in an increasingly networked and instrumented world. To be hosted

by UC Irvine, the ProperData Center is a collaboration with Northeastern University, the University of Iowa, the University of Southern California and Spain’s IMDEA Networks Institute.

During the five-year, $10 million initiative under the umbrella of the NSF’s Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace Frontiers program, the UCI-led team will work to develop a stronger theoretical understanding of how data collection over the internet can affect individual privacy, in addition to

its societal and economic implications.

Researchers will create new software and hardware tools and produce policy recommendations centered on the safeguarding of personal data collected by web servers, mobile applications and a broadening range of linked entities on the Internet of Things.

“It is an honor and responsibility to lead one of NSF’s signature projects to address the timely and important problem of personal data protection on the internet,” said Markopoulou, principal investigator, and UCI Chancellor’s Fellow, professor and chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. “Our team brings together an outstanding group of researchers,

inside and outside UCI, with a range of expertise.”

The UCI team will work to improve the transparency and control of personal data flow on the internet by combining methodologies from computer science and engineering – including theory, network measurement and systems security – with public policy and concepts from economics. Researchers also will develop better systems for network monitoring and mediation.

Another major research angle in UCI’s program is an effort to understand and improve diversity and inclusiveness in cyberspace interactions. The proposal taps into existing outreach initiatives through UCI’s Office of Access & Inclusion.

According to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, there are currently an estimated 4.8 billion internet users – over 62% of the world’s population.

This number will only grow, the agency says, making the need to understand and protect the potential vulnerability of all internet-connected devices essential.

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SELF-DRIVING TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

UCI engineer to lead new center focused on autonomous vehicle navigation Autonomous vehicle companies with a permit to test their technologies with a safety driver in California reported that their vehicles drove nearly 2.9 million miles during the first six months of 2020, according to the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.

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The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded nearly $2 million to a national research consortium that includes UC Irvine to establish a new Tier 1 University Transportation Center. The consortium, led by Ohio State University, will investigate and develop solutions to autonomous vehicle safety and security challenges.

The Samueli School’s Zak Kassas, associate professor of mechanical & aerospace engineering and electrical engineering & computer science, will serve as principal investigator and center director. The UTC’s researchers will focus on the security of positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) components associated with highly automated transportation systems. They aim to develop technology to combat

GPS vulnerabilities such as attacks by hackers or unintentional signal interference, which can cause collisions and increase traffic congestion.

Autonomous vehicles rely on a continuous flow of information and data from GPS and other sensors. A precise and timely flow of location data is essential for short-range driving control and long-range navigation and planning.

“GPS is at the heart of virtually all vehicular navigation systems.

Navigation system failure due to unintentional interference, intentional jamming, or malicious spoofing could have dangerous consequences,” Kassas said. “We have assembled a superlative team of navigation and transportation experts to study this problem and offer concrete solutions.”

In addition to Ohio State and UCI, the consortium includes University of Texas at Austin and University of Cincinnati. The UTC will be named CARMEN (Center for Automated Vehicles Research with Multimodal AssurEd Navigation) and research will occur at all four institutions. They will assess PNT threat scenarios and risks to highly automated transportation systems, develop mitigation strategies, and systemize standards and guidelines for cyber-resilient PNT systems. While research and testing will begin with ground-based vehicles, extensions could include aviation and waterway transportation.

Stephen Ritchie, civil and environmental engineering professor and director of the UCI Institute of Transportation Studies, is also involved in the research.

2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

TAKE IT FROM NATURE

Materials scientists discover design secrets of living creatures A Samueli School materials science and engineering professor has unlocked secrets in two animals that could lead to better engineered materials for a host of applications. David Kisailus studied both the mantis shrimp and the diabolical ironclad beetle, uncovering important clues about their composition and resilience.

The mantis shrimp, an ancient crustacean armed with two hammerlike raptorial appendages called dactyl clubs, uses these “fists” to deliver powerful blows to its opponents. The dactyl clubs accelerate from the shrimp’s body at over 50 mph, bludgeon their prey and appear undamaged afterward.

Kisailus and postdoctoral scholar Wei Huang used transmission electron and atomic force microscopy to examine the nanoscale architecture and material components of the clubs’ surface layer. In a paper published in Nature Materials, they shared their discovery that the clubs have a uniquely designed nanoparticle coating that absorbs and dissipates energy. They determined that the nanoparticles are bicontinuous spheres, made of intertwined organic (protein and polysaccharide) and inorganic (calcium phosphate) nanocrystals. The findings have significant implications for engineered materials in the automotive, aerospace and sports industries.

The researchers learned that at relatively low strain rates, the particles deform almost like a marshmallow, recovering when the stress is relieved. But under high-strain impact, the behavior is much different. “The particles stiffen and fracture at the nanocrystalline interfaces,” Kisailus said. “When you break something, you’re opening up new surfaces that dissipate significant amounts of energy.”

In other research published in Nature, Kisailus and former graduate student Jesus Rivera investigated the diabolical ironclad beetle, one of the toughest, most crushresistant structures in the biological world.

Conducting a series of high-resolution microscopic and spectroscopic evaluations, Rivera and Kisailus learned that the bug’s secret lies in the material makeup and architecture of its exoskeleton, specifically, its elytra. In aerial beetles, elytra are the forewing blades that open and close to safeguard the flight wings from bacteria, desiccation and other sources of harm. The ironclad’s elytra have evolved to become a solid, protective shield.

Analysis showed that the elytra consists of layers of chitin, a fibrous material, and a protein matrix. The team examined the chemical composition of the exoskeleton of a lighter flying beetle and compared it to that of their earthbound subject. The diabolical ironclad beetle’s outer layer has a significantly higher concentration of protein – about 10 percent more by weight – which the researchers suggest contributes to the enhanced toughness of the elytra.

They also discovered that the microstructure of the elytra blades fractures in layers under compression, and that the outside surfaces of these blades feature arrays of rod-like elements that act as frictional pads and provide resistance to slippage.

Kisailus said he sees great promise in the beetle’s exoskeleton and other biological systems for new substances to benefit humanity. His lab has been making advanced, fiber-reinforced composite materials based on these characteristics, and he envisions the development of novel ways to fuse aircraft segments together without the use of traditional rivets and fasteners.

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

Southern California’s diabolical ironclad beetle has an exoskeleton that’s one of the toughest, most crush-resistant structures known to exist; it even survives being run over by a car.

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BIOCHIP INNOVATION

Device combines AI and nanoparticle printing for cancer cell analysis

“ Most of the

techniques and technologies traditionally used to study cancer are sophisticated, bulky, expensive and require highly trained operators and long preparation times.

”

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Rahim Esfandyarpour, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and biomedical engineering, and his former biomedical engineering graduate student Kushal Joshi have created a new lab on a chip that can help study tumor heterogeneity to reduce resistance to cancer therapies.

In a paper published in Advanced Biosystems, the researchers describe how they combined artificial intelligence, microfluidics and nanoparticle inkjet printing in a device that enables the examination and differentiation of cancers and healthy tissues at the single-cell level.

“Cancer cell and tumor heterogeneity can lead to increased therapeutic resistance and inconsistent outcomes for different patients,” said lead author Joshi.

The team’s novel biochip addresses this problem by allowing precise characterization of a variety of cancer cells from a sample.

“Single-cell analysis is essential to identify and classify cancer types and study cellular heterogeneity.

It’s necessary to understand tumor initiation, progression and metastasis in order to design better cancer treatment drugs,” said co-author Esfandyarpour. “Most of the techniques and technologies traditionally used to study cancer are sophisticated, bulky, expensive and require highly trained operators and long preparation times.”

His group overcame these challenges by combining machine learning techniques with accessible inkjet printing and microfluidics technology to develop low-cost, miniaturized biochips that are simple to prototype and capable of classifying various cell types.

In the apparatus, samples travel through microfluidic channels with carefully placed electrodes that monitor differences in the electrical properties of diseased versus healthy cells in a single pass.

The researchers’ innovation was to devise a way to prototype key parts of the biochip in about 20 minutes with an inkjet printer, allowing for easy manufacturing in diverse settings. Most of the materials involved are reusable or, if disposable, inexpensive.

Another aspect of the invention is the incorporation of machine learning to manage the large amount of data the tiny system produces. This branch of AI accelerates the processing and analysis of large datasets, finding patterns and associations, predicting precise outcomes, and aiding in rapid and efficient decision-making.

By including machine learning in the biochip’s workflow, the team has improved the accuracy of analysis and reduced the dependency on skilled analysts, which can also make the technology appealing to medical professionals in the developing world, Esfandyarpour said.

2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

FLAPPING PHENOMENON

Research indicates hidden stabilization mechanism in insect flight For years, flight research has indicated that flying insects are inherently unstable as they hover. This belief has directly impacted the field of aerial robotics.

Haithem Taha, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, recently proved otherwise, finding that insects and other animals that use flapping wings can stabilize their hovering flight through vibration. Insects exploit this passive stabilizing mechanism through their natural wing oscillations, reducing the importance of a neural feedback mechanism in the creatures’ brains (and in robotic systems as well).

In a paper published in Science Robotics, Taha demonstrated the physics behind his team’s discovery, discounting previous assumptions about aerodynamic mechanisms of insect flight. This breakthrough has applications in the design of biomemetic small flying robotic machines with stable, but sensorless hovering.

In flapping-wing insects, the relatively slow body flight dynamics are influenced by the speed of the wing fluctuation, resulting in an underlying vibrational stabilization. Taha’s work indicates that vibrational stabilization increases as flapping frequency decreases.

The researchers developed new mathematical approaches to demonstrate this phenomenon and to show that using common analysis tools such as direct averaging methods with hovering flappingwing flight can lead to errors in system dynamics. “Vibrational stabilization represents a passive mechanism that was not SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

captured by earlier averaging-based modeling and analysis,” Taha said.

In collaboration with colleagues at University of North Carolina, the team experimentally demonstrated this phenomenon in flapping flight dynamics by analyzing the recovery of real hovering hawkmoths from a pitch disturbance.

Hawkmoths from a domestic colony were trained to fly in a glass-walled chamber and feed from an artificial nectar source. As the moths approached the nectar, they were perturbed in flight mid-air by a projectile fired from a miniature spring-loaded cannon.

Researchers used high-speed multicamera videography to measure the threedimensional wing and body kinematics of the moths before and after impact, demonstrating that natural vibration of the insect wings induces stabilizing action. This has important implications for biologists because these vibrational stabilization mechanisms may also be exploited by other creatures. Moreover, the results may inspire more optimal designs for bioinspired flying robotic vehicles – called micro air vehicles or MAVs – by relaxing the feedback control requirements of flight.

“ Vibrational stabilization represents a passive mechanism that was not captured by earlier averaging-based modeling and analysis.

”

“These conclusions are particularly useful for MAVs, allowing engineers to tune the MAV parameters to strengthen the passive vibrational stabilization mechanisms,” Taha said. “It may be possible to design flappingwing MAVs with simpler sensory control actuator processing systems, hence making miniaturization more feasible.”

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GREEN STEEL EFFORT

UCI Advanced Power and Energy Program to lead three-year project The U.S. Department of Energy awarded UC Irvine’s Advanced Power and Energy Program $5.7 million to lead an effort to develop novel manufacturing processes for producing steel without greenhouse gas emissions. The collaboration with Italy’s Politecnico di Milano and Laboratorio Energia Ambiente Piacenza, U.S. companies FuelCell Energy and Hatch, and Southern California Gas will employ solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC) as a way to completely decarbonize steel production.

The UCI team is led by Jack Brouwer, mechanical and aerospace engineering professor and APEP director; and Luca Mastropasqua, APEP senior scientist.

Steel production is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing 6.7% of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide, and that number is expected to rise. The project seeks to prove that renewable hydrogen, produced via high-temperature electrolysis using SOEC that are powered by wind and solar resources, can be integrated successfully into steel manufacturing processes.

Researchers will develop the technological basis, build and demonstrate a small-scale prototype unit and study the feasibility of future scale-up and commercialization.

The three-year project will integrate hydrogen produced through electrolysis – an electrochemical process that uses electricity and heat to split water into hydrogen and oxygen – into the manufacturing process.

In this case, the electrolysis will be powered entirely by wind and solar resources, producing completely renewable hydrogen.

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And since the only byproduct of the process is water, that water can be used at high temperatures to produce more hydrogen, closing the loop and allowing it to be thermally integrated back into the direct reduced iron furnace.

Along with its partners, the UCI team will demonstrate that its hydrogen production technology is more efficient and produces lower emissions than current technology.

Additionally, the project will prove that steel can be produced with zero greenhouse gas emissions at a cost comparable to current state-of-the-art technologies. Finally, the project will verify that its new process can easily be coupled with other industrial sectors, including transportation, to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“We will prove that our process results in higher steel production energy efficiency compared to state-of-the-art technology,” Brouwer said. “A blast furnace steel mill uses 11 gigajoules of fuel to produce one ton of steel. We aim to reduce that value to 8 gigajoules/ton, and those 8 gigajoules won’t come from coal anymore, but from sun and wind.”

“

We will prove that our process results in higher steel production energy efficiency compared to state-of-the-art technology.

”

2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

SHORT-TERM BOOST

UCI team demonstrates ability to supercharge cells with mitochondrial transplantation UCI researchers have shown that they can give cells a shortterm boost of energy through mitochondrial transplantation.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, suggests that mitochondrial transplantation could one day cure various cardiovascular, metabolic and neurodegenerative disorders – and even offer a new approach to treating cancer.

“Mitochondria are the engines that drive many activities performed by our cells,” said first author Paria Ali Pour, a Ph.D. candidate in biomedical engineering. “If these organelles are mutated or deemed dysfunctional, the clinical manifestations are devastating, so we decided to study the intracellular consequences of mitochondrial transplantation and determine whether it would be a viable method for mitigating these adverse situations and helping patients.”

The study is the first to seek data on the precise outcomes of mitochondrial transplantation at the cellular and subcellular levels. After isolating mitochondria and transplanting them, researchers used a technique called metabolic flux to study how much oxygen was being consumed and protons emitted as the mitochondria produced fuel for the cells. “This is a

comprehensive way to evaluate bioenergetics indices – the mechanisms by which cells process nutrients into energy and how well they do this,” said Ali Pour.

Her doctoral adviser and the paper’s lead author, Dr. Arash Kheradvar, professor of biomedical engineering, said Ali Pour was able to show in a definitive way, for the first time, that it is possible to control cell bioenergetics by changing the content of the mitochondria in a cardiomyocyte.

A key part of the team’s experiments was to transplant healthy mitochondria from skeletal muscle cells into cardiomyocytes of a different breed (nonautologous) to focus on questions specifically related to cell bioenergetics. The studies confirmed that cellular bioenergetics improves in the host cells two days after transplantation, but this supercharged state diminishes later on.

Next, the team plans to investigate whether the internalized mitochondria establish signaling with the cell’s nucleus and whether they’ll be adopted by the host on a long-term basis.

M. Cristina Kenney, a UCI professor of ophthalmology, also contributed to the project, which was funded by UCI’s Council on Research, Computing and Libraries.

“ Mitochondria

are the engines that drive many activities performed by our cells.

” SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

39

CONTROLLED BURN

UCI-led project seeks to combat wildfires Wildfires are the norm in California, but the level of death and destruction varies by year, often driven by weather patterns. Of the top 10 largest wildfires in California’s history, five occurred in 2020, taking the number one, three, four, five and six spots on the list.

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A University of California team led

by Tirtha Banerjee, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, received $3.6 million over three years to help California fight wildfires. The funding comes from the University of California Laboratory Fees Research Program.

“But in California, the use and benefits of this optimal approach are far from meeting their full potential,” he added. “Our goal is to apply modeling, data science and risk-management strategies to the problem and help lower current barriers to widespread application of prescribed fires.”

As wildfires in California grow more frequent and severe, experts point to a number of reasons for the trend, including a policy of active fire suppression that has led to a massive fuel accumulation over the last century.

Additionally, tree mortality, drought and climate change have resulted in a year-round fire season and an increase in life-threatening megafires.

The research integrates physics, chemistry, engineering, computer science and ecology to support an increase in the pace and scale of prescribed fires in the region. Emerging internet-connected technologies, which provide new capabilities for fine-grained monitoring and control of prescribed burns, can help avoid collateral damage like bad air quality in neighboring communities and loss of species diversity.

Banerjee said one of the most effective tools for reducing wildland fuels (vegetation) and wildfire severity is intentionally setting controlled fires, or prescribed burns, an approach widely used in other parts of the country.

The team has expertise in fire and smoke modeling, and information technology-enabled decision support.

Researchers will develop new models and technologies, apply them in the

field during planned burns, and transfer knowledge and skills through UC extension programs and student training.

The research will seed an innovation hub, which will serve as a center for knowledge exchange and technology transfer, while training new scientists, engineers and practitioners to address one of the region’s most pressing problems.

“Wider use of prescribed fires will help make megafires more manageable and less catastrophic by introducing the so-called ‘good fire’ to the landscape as a management tool,” said Banerjee. “This project will allow us to build and advance the science and engineering to develop this tool further and facilitate its usage.”

The team includes UC Irvine computer scientists, along with researchers from UC Riverside, UC Berkeley, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

FISHING FOR ANSWERS

Researchers study a member of the minnow family to develop health care solutions Electrical engineering and computer science Assistant Professor Hung Cao won a National Institutes of Health grant to further his research on electrophysiology assessment in zebrafish.

Zebrafish, which have physiological similarities to humans, have long been used for understanding human cardiac and neurological systems. They’ve also been used for drug screening. Their small size, low maintenance costs, quick regeneration, conserved genome and optical transparency make these vertebrates ideal for experimental models.

Current physiological screening methods for these tiny creatures involve anesthesia, which can cause variations in functionality. Additionally, there are no systems available that can monitor multiple fish simultaneously. And because data processing and analysis have always been conducted manually, largescale studies have proven impossible.

Cao’s project focuses on creating novel devices and systems that can provide reliable electrocardiogram (ECG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) data from both adult fish and larvae; building cloud-based systems that can process, interpret and study large-scale data; and designing cardiac and neurological

studies, as well as drug screening methods that use zebrafish models and the study’s novel tools. “Because we will include both ECG and EEG assessment in zebrafish, we can study both cardiac and neurological disease,” he said.

The project is funded by a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II award from the NIH’s Office of Research Infrastructure Programs, advancing Cao’s work with startup Sensoriis, Inc., which develops sensing solutions to address health care problems.

The two-year $1.5 million grant includes a $477,394 subaward that will directly fund Cao’s research.

Since the 1960s, the zebrafish, a freshwater fish native to southeast Asia, has become increasingly important to scientific research. It has many characteristics that make it a valuable model for studying human genetics and disease.

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

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PARTNERS

EXTRAORDINA PARTNERSHIP ELIZABETH BEACH

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STEVE ZYLIUS

2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

ALWAYS WANTED TO BE ABLE TO GIVE BACK TO OUR “WE COMMUNITY. WE BOTH IMMIGRATED WITH OUR PARENTS AND RECEIVED A REALLY GREAT EDUCATION, AND WE KNEW WE WANTED TO

PAY IT FORWARD.”

ALUMNI COUPLE CAROL AND EUGENE CHOI RECOGNIZED FOR UCI COMMITMENTS

ARIUS SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

The UC Irvine Alumni Association is bestowing its highest honor, the Lauds & Laurels Extraordinarius award, to alumni couple Carol Choi ’85 and Eugene Choi ’86, MBA ’01, for their exemplary service and contributions to the university and community.

“We are proud to celebrate the Chois’ remarkable impact through this distinguished and well-deserved award,” said Brian T. Hervey, vice chancellor for university advancement and alumni relations. “The Chois have generously given their time, talent and resources to invest in the next generation, and they continue to create countless opportunities.”

In addition to helping form the Leadership Board for Student Success within UCI’s Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching & Learning, the Chois provide much-needed funding to student researchers in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program and are avid supporters of budding entrepreneurs through UCI’s ANTrepreneur Center.

The couple also leverage their international network to build meaningful connections between the university and the community – from serving as alumni ambassadors in China and Korea to helping establish the UCI Korea Law Center to growing and advising the UCI Korean American Alumni Chapter.

“We always wanted to be able to give back to our community,” said Carol Choi. “We both immigrated with our parents and received a really great education, and we knew we wanted to pay it forward.”

The Chois volunteer on several university advisory boards, including as trustees of the UCI Foundation and as members of the UCI School of Law Board of Visitors. In addition, Eugene Choi serves on the UCI Chief Executive Roundtable, and Carol Choi was a UCI Alumni Association board director. She is the founder and her husband the president and CEO of United Exchange Corp., which has specialized in sales, marketing and distribution of consumer packaged goods to Fortune 500 retailers since 1993.

The couple met as undergraduates at UCI. Carol Choi obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1985, while Eugene Choi earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1986. They later got married and went on to become successful entrepreneurs.

The Chois were to receive the award at the 2020 Lauds & Laurels event, which was to be held in May, but due to the coronavirus pandemic it has been postponed.

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LORI BRANDT

STEVE ZYLIUS

A $5 MILLION GIFT FROM UCI FOUNDATION TRUSTEE STACEY NICHOLAS ENDOWED THE UCI OFFICE OF ACCESS & INCLUSION, A PROGRAM SERVING BOTH THE SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND THE DONALD BREN SCHOOL OF INFORMATION AND COMPUTER SCIENCES. Renamed the Stacey Nicholas Office of Access & Inclusion, it supports the recruitment, retention and graduation of students from historically excluded populations who are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math.

Nicholas is an electrical engineer who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at UCLA. She founded the Irvine-based Opus Foundation, which promotes STEM education outreach and the arts. Active on various dean’s advisory and executive boards for UCI’s engineering and ICS schools, she is a strong advocate of programs encouraging students from diverse backgrounds to pursue STEM education.

UCI TRUSTEE DONATES $5 MILLION TO SUPPORT DIVERSITY IN ENGINEERING 44

“It’s so important to support underrepresented students so they’ll have the same chance of success as their more fortunate peers,” Nicholas said.

“Engineering can be a transformative path for these students, as well as for their families and communities. They will bring new perspectives to the world’s most critical problems and truly represent

our diverse nation. They will serve as role models for others and empower future generations. Now more than ever, our country and the world need these brilliant and talented engineers to better the lives of all of us going forward.”

Since its 2014 inception, the Office of Access & Inclusion has instituted a number of outreach efforts aimed at high school, community college, and incoming and existing UCI students to build, maintain and improve the pipeline of high-quality students from underrepresented populations.

Gender diversity in UCI’s engineering and ICS schools has increased over the past five years, with a 39% rise in female enrollment in engineering and a 50% jump in ICS. In the same time period, overall enrollment of underrepresented undergraduates has grown by 29% in engineering and 50% in ICS. The schools also have instituted faculty recruitment programs, developed a strategic plan, partnered with outside organizations and created an infrastructure in support of diversity and inclusiveness.

Sharnnia Artis, OAI assistant dean, said the endowment will be a great asset. “In the next five years, we envision the OAI leading the nation in diversity and inclusion initiatives,” she said. “With this new gift from Stacey, we will be able to significantly amplify the impact of our efforts and expeditiously transform this vision into reality.”

ACCESS 2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

AND INCLUSION SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

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COUPLE MAKES A GIFT IN SUPPORT OF HANDS-ON LEARNING CHRISTINE BYRD

STEVE ZYLIUS

ENGINEERING THEIR LEGACY 46

2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

IF YOU’VE EVER FLOWN ON AN MD-80 OR SEEN A COCKPIT WITH FLIGHT INSTRUMENTS DISPLAYED ON SCREENS, YOU’VE PROBABLY EXPERIENCED THE INGENUITY OF BOB ALTMAN ’79.

“There’s more to being an engineer than knowing how to calculate a hoop stress,” he laughs. “That’s what experiential learning is all about: starting with what the book has taught you and becoming comfortable incorporating it with other disciplines or putting it to practice in a laboratory.”

When Altman graduated from UCI, he launched a three-decade career at McDonnell Douglas and later Boeing, melding his training in mechanical engineering with his love of computer programming. Oftentimes his office was a room housing a sawed-off cockpit, or a hangar with a jetliner suspended by giant bungee cords. His task: to develop avionics simulators for the rest of the engineers to use.

The Samueli School has incorporated hands-on engineering experiences for students, including one that puts freshmen on multidisciplinary teams to design, build and test real-world products such as drones. By the time they graduate, a number of engineering students participate in competitions developing race cars, rockets and interplanetary rovers, and many others have completed research projects with faculty advisers.

“It was a lot of fun, but not something that I was directly trained to do. It was something I was out inventing,” he says.

Seeing an opportunity to make an impact, Altman and Sandler, now in their 60s, decided to dig a little deeper with a $50,000 gift in the form of an endowment — where the principal is invested and never spent, but the interest earnings fund experiential learning programs in the school year after year.

While Altman thrived in this environment, he struggled to recruit others who were comfortable innovating and problem-solving outside of clearly defined parameters. “It’s more of a mindset than it is a skillset that we were looking for,” he says.

Throughout their lives, Altman and his wife, Michelle Sandler, made annual gifts to a variety of causes, including his alma mater. As they gradually increased their giving to the Samueli School of Engineering to $5,000 each year, Altman began to realize that his gifts could specifically support experiential learning programs that would develop the kind of mindset he had been seeking in engineers.

“When I was shown the prospect that my donation could actually influence the educational arc of students, that really appealed to me,” he says.

Altman knew the hands-on engineering projects and computer programming he did as a UCI student had fostered the right mentality.

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

“I’m limited in what I can do, but I feel like this is a small part in making a difference in society,” says Sandler.

The couple say they look forward to seeing the impact of their gift on UCI student experiences in the coming years.

They have already decided to make an even larger gift of $250,000 at some point in the future. This gift through their estate, a planned gift, will create an even greater legacy for future Anteaters.

“Our hope is that our contributions so far, and our planned gift, will allow students to come out of UCI with the skills and confidence they need to go out there and face engineering challenges head-on.”

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2020 CELEBRATION HONORS ACHIEVEMENT AND OPPORTUNITY

HALL OF FAME

SHANI MURRAY

MORE THAN 220 ATTENDEES GATHERED ON THE EVENING OF FEBRUARY 28 TO ATTEND THE 2020 HALL OF FAME CELEBRATION FOR THE SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND DONALD BREN SCHOOL OF INFORMATION AND COMPUTER SCIENCES. There was

no way to know that widespread quarantines were just around the corner, but this year’s event could not have happened at a better time − or place. As UCI alumni and their family and friends, along with faculty and staff, playfully explored a room full of interactive science-based exhibits, there was no doubting that the Discovery Cube Orange County was the perfect place to honor the achievements of computer scientists and engineers.

Engineering Inductees

“The value of your UCI degree has never been worth more than it is today,” said Samueli School Dean Gregory Washington, “and the reason it is worth so much, the reason it is so highly valued and highly coveted today… is because of the success of the individuals in this room.”

Such individuals included Amit Shah, the first of five engineering inductees. Shah earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda before coming to UCI to do graduate work in electrical engineering. His 20-plus year career has focused on earlystage investments and creating globally renowned businesses where technology innovation and markets intersect. Prior to establishing his current company, Artiman Ventures, he founded a company called Zeitnet. Shah has also shared his talents to help other startups succeed and currently sits on the boards of Ultrasense, Tonbo Imaging and Niron Magnetics.

The next inductee, Aziz Hashim, graduated with honors in 1988 with his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. In 1996, he founded NRD Holdings − a franchise development and holding company. What started as a single location in Atlanta blossomed and led to Hashim operating global franchise brands, including Popeye’s, KFC, Taco Bell and Domino’s Pizza. In 2018, Nation’s Restaurant News named him one of the 10 most influential leaders in the restaurant industry. He

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AZIZ HASHIM

AMIT SHAH

created the NRD Foundation to support nonprofit and for-profit international organizations that create entrepreneurs, foster financial independence and power academic research focused on franchise entrepreneurship.

Washington then recognized John Lenell, who received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1990 and his master’s degree in 1992. Lenell has the distinction of being the 25th employee at Broadcom Corp., where he began in 1995. Over the course of his 20 years there, he served as an engineer, manager and director of multiple product families and engineering teams, ultimately transitioning to a position as senior director of strategic investments. Lenell is currently the CEO and co-founder of technology startup Qxonis. He also serves as a member of the UCI Alumni Association’s board of directors and the Engineering Dean’s Leadership Council and is on the board of directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County.

Ameesh Divatia was honored next. Divatia moved to the U.S. from India to pursue a master’s degree in electrical engineering and graduated in 1989. After seven years of work experience, he began his entrepreneurial journey by co-founding Pipelinks with fellow inductee Amit Shah and serving as its chief technology officer. Today, Divatia is co-founder and CEO of 2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

AMEESH DIVATIA

JOHN LENELL

Baffle, a cybersecurity company that provides a privacy-preserving analytics solution for enterprise data stores.

His passion has led him to mentoring young startups via his incubation venture, Incarta, which helps to secure seed funding and provides business development guidance to less experienced entrepreneurs.

The final 2020 inductee was Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm, who graduated in 1989 with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. After five years in the Water and Sanitation Division of the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington D.C., Miralles-Wilhelm decided to return to the academic world. He is currently chair and professor of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science at the University of Maryland, where he also directs the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center. His research interests are modeling of surface and groundwater systems, climatehydrology-vegetation interactions, water quality and modeling of the water-energy-food nexus.

Sentiments of Gratitude After the inductees had been recognized, one from each school was invited to speak on behalf of his or her fellow inductees, starting with engineering inductee John Lenell. He talked about how he was influenced at a young age by his father, SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

FERNANDO MIRALLES-WILHELM

a career McDonnell Douglas engineer with “a pocket protector, slide rule and Apple II computer.”

He also talked about the importance of opportunity.

“It is said that success is when hard work and opportunity meet, and I can see from the impressive bio list tonight, for my fellow inductees that there was no shortage of hard work on their journeys, and that was true for me as well, but what about opportunity?” That, he went on to explain, is where UCI came into play.

“The unique opportunity and mentorship that I had at UCI as a student,” he said, “was instrumental in preparing me for a career on the leading edge of technology.” He thanked Professor Fadi Kurdahi for his class, Introduction to Digital Design, which Lenell admitted is when he first started to truly enjoy engineering. As his studies turned to digital systems and computer architecture, he joined Professor Nader Bagherzadeh’s research group focused on processors and VSLI design.

According to Lenell, his experience in that lab group enabled him to go on to successfully lead chip development in industry.

“There’s a Chinese proverb that says, ‘Teachers open the door; you enter by yourself,’” he said. “So thank you, Professor Bagherzadeh and UCI, for opening the door for me and providing not only the opportunity to pursue an advanced degree at UCI, but in doing so, providing a lifetime of opportunity.”

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DONATION ESTABLISHES RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIALS

WISDOM ANNA LYNN SPITZER

THE LINCOLN DYNAMIC FOUNDATION, CREATED BY UC IRVINE ALUMNUS JOHN D. LINCOLN, HAS MADE A $1 MILLION GIFT TO THE SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING TO ESTABLISH THE WORLD INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIALS. The new institute will advance interdisciplinary research, education and knowledge translation in an effort to innovate, evaluate and adopt technologies that utilize safer, nontoxic chemicals and materials, with the goal of mitigating environmental impacts.

It will be led by Julie Schoenung, professor and chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Oladele Ogunseitan, UC Presidential Chair and professor of public health.

“So much of the research in the field of materials science and engineering seeks to address sustainability-related issues, but what is often not recognized is that these technologies require the use of materials and manufacturing processes that might not be sustainable themselves,” said Lincoln, who earned a master’s degree in engineering in 2004 and a doctorate in materials science and engineering in 2007, both at UCI. “There is a need to value materials technologies beyond the benefits they deliver in use,” he added. “Scientists and engineers have the tools to make better environmental decisions about materials before they’re put into use,

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including characterization of benefits, impacts and environmental sensitivities present at all points in their life cycles. This institute is about putting that into practice.”

Lincoln, president of composite materials manufacturer Axiom Materials, said he hopes that the World Institute for Sustainable Development of Materials will place UCI at the forefront of discovery in the complex interface of green chemistry, materials selection and design, life cycle assessment, toxicology, alternatives assessment and public policy.

WISDOM’s potential research areas include the development of materials for advanced energy, transportation and other industrial processes that can mitigate environmental damages; and materials for geoengineering applications, such as solar reflection and greenhouse gas removal.

Schoenung and Ogunseitan, who have worked together for nearly two decades on related research, praised Lincoln for his generous gift and foresight.

“We are very excited about this opportunity to work with Johnny, one of our highly successful and visionary materials science and engineering alumni, in this effort to leverage UCI’s leadership in providing data-driven guidance to push the frontiers of sustainable development of materials,” Schoenung said. “Dr. Lincoln’s commitment to a better world is refreshing and inspiring, especially during these challenging social and economic times.”

2019-20 DEAN’S REPORT

She noted that the world needs better strategies to protect both workers and the public from toxic substances used in manufacturing and in products. Waste streams throughout the life cycle of a product need to be reduced, not just mitigated, Schoenung said, and critical materials need to be recycled and recovered – particularly those that promote overall sustainability.

“WISDOM will transform the paradigm guiding materials selection and design and will enable future generations of students to think creatively about the sustainable development of materials,” she said.

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

Bruce Feuchter

Michael Mussallem

Donald Beall

Pete Fiacco

Rabi Narula

Broadcom Foundation Retired, Rockwell

Ken Beall

The Beall Family Foundation

Tudy Bedou

Thales Avionics

Gregory Brand

Retired, DRS Defense Solutions

Ogunseitan said that manufacturers have not focused adequate attention on the types of materials used to make consumer products and that this has led to major pollution and toxicity issues for the worldwide environment and human health.

Jake Bredsguard

“Global warming, hazardous electronic waste, plastics in the ocean and accumulation of waste ... are all examples of materials problems that transcend national boundaries and warrant urgent interdisciplinary research solutions and creative education initiatives,” he said. “I couldn’t be prouder to be a founding partner of WISDOM – a very welcome addition to UCI’s portfolio of distinguished, transformative research initiatives.”

Dassault Systèmes

The Lincoln Dynamic Foundation, established in 2017, supports programs that focus on children and families, social inequalities, the environment and sustainability, and community enhancement.

SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING • UC IRVINE

Biosynthetic

Maureen Brongo Skyworks Solutions

Roger Brum

Meggitt Defense Systems, Inc.

Steve Bucknam

Bucknam & Associates

Al Bunshaft Bill Carpou OCTANe

Ray Chan K5 Ventures

Dan Cregg Insteon

Mark Czaja

Parker Hannifin Corp.

Troy Edwards

Michael Baker International

Ingrid Ellerbe Base 11

Feyzi Fatehi

Corent Technology, Inc.

Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth Executive Technology Consulting

Deepak Garg

Smart Energy Water

Judy Greenspon NPI Services, Inc.

Jai Hakhu

Horiba International Corp.

Bernard Harguindeguy Atlantis Computing, Inc.

JD Harriman

Foundation Law Group, LLP

Michel Kamel MelRok, LLC

Joe Kiani Masimo

Scott Kitcher Sustain SoCal

Robert Kleist

Retired, Printronix

Steve Kovacic

Skyworks Solutions

John Labib

John Labib + Associations

John Lenell Qxonix Inc.

William Link Versant Ventures

Ivan Madera MORF3D

Ramin Massoumi Iteris

Edwards Lifesciences Corp.

Knobbe Martens

Stacey Nicholas Opus Foundation

Denys Oberman Oberman Associates

Anoosheh Oskouian

Ship and Shore Environmental

Al Pedroza

The Boeing Company

Henry Samueli Broadcom

Amit Shah

Artiman Ventures

Paul Singarella

Latham & Watkins, LLP

James Spoto Xidas Inc.

Richard Sudek

UCI Applied Innovation

Maria Tirabassi

Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems

Rob Valle

Mazda North American Operations

Joan Wada

The Boeing Company

Derrick Waters UPS

James Watson CMTC

Larry Williams ANSYS

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AN ECOSYSTEM OF COLLABORATION

NEARLY COMPLETE, THE INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING BUILDING IS LOCATED IN THE HEART OF THE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING QUAD ALONG UCI’S RING ROAD AND WILL BE HOME TO RESEARCHERS FROM SCHOOLS OF ENGINEERING, PHYSICAL SCIENCES, MEDICINE, AND INFORMATION AND COMPUTER SCIENCES. The six-story, 205,000 square-feet structure will provide a variety of spaces to support a full range of team-based science and engineering activities. The laboratory bar integrates much-needed classrooms, student collaboration space, wet and dry research laboratories and flexible open space. The office wing houses faculty offices clustered around conference rooms. The twostory community hub includes interaction and breakout spaces that provide numerous opportunities for meeting, mixing and circulating. The first-floor multipurpose lobby adjoins a state-ofthe-art auditorium and colloquia room.

Nearly three dozen engineering faculty are slotted to move into the new building. Faculty are grouped in interdisciplinary research thrusts, including sustainability (water, energy and environment) and engineered health. Originally scheduled to open in fall 2020, the global pandemic delayed those plans. A virtual grand opening will be held in the spring.

Naming opportunities are still available; if interested please contact Angelique Andrulaitis, senior director of development and external relations, at aandrula@uci.edu.

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2019-20 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

2020 FALL DESIGN REVIEW EMBRACES THE

NEW VIRTUAL AGE The Samueli School hosted its 2020 Fall Design Review virtually, for the first time in the event’s history. More than 600 attendees, including students, faculty, staff, alumni and industry along with 127 student teams participated.

“Our students had to adapt to this remote learning environment. They rose to the occasion and their projects demonstrated innovative approaches to finding solutions for today’s grand challenges,” said Michael Green, interim dean. “Experiential learning is a hallmark of UCI’s engineering undergraduate experience.”

The school encourages industry collaboration in student design projects. Students, faculty and company sponsors all benefit from these engagements, not only by providing an excellent education to future engineers, but also from the experience of providing direct support to local industry. If you would like to learn more, contact Keith Yeung, associate director of development, at kpyeung@uci.edu.

Seniors in Biomedical Engineering, Materials Science Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering display their 2020-21 design project goals.

PARTICIPANTS

126

Student Teams

ENGAGEMENT

630

714

Student Officers

603

Registered Visitors Attendees

3194 Booth Visits

1400

Chat Messages

513

Interested

88

292

Video Video Conferences Conference Participants

Fri, Dec 11 at 2:00pm - Fri, Dec 11 at 3:30pm

2020 Fall Design Review | Virtual Map

BME & MSE

KEY: Biomedical Engineering (BME)

MAE

EECS

1

MAE BME & MSE EECS

3 2

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS)

Materials Science and Engineering (MSE)

1

Circuits & Devices

2

Computer Science & Engineering

3

EE Systems

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE)