UCLA Engineer Spring 2010 by UCLA Engineering

SpRinG 2010, issue no. 23

CompuTATionAl GeneTiCS > Wireless Health > Alumnus Ralph Crump â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;50 > The Smart Grid

from the dean

The faculty and students of UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science are working hard to deliver creative solutions to the new challenges of the 21st Century. This includes research in areas critical to the future — water, renewable energy, health care, and cyber security. This spring 2010 issue of UCLA Engineers features some of the latest advances in one of those areas: health care. Under this broad umbrella, UCLA engineers are working to improve health care — from the nano-level to the large-scale system level, and with big impacts here in the United States and in developing regions of the world. Professor Eleazar Eskin is using powerful computing techniques to find genetic and environmental factors that cause disease. Professors William Kaiser and Majid Sarrafzadeh are collaborating with partners across the UCLA campus to integrate the latest wireless technology into health care. Alumnus Ralph Crump ’50, is a pioneer in the biomedical device industry and an ardent supporter of engineering and medical research here at UCLA. Graduate students Andrew Fung and Christine Lee are developing rapid detection techniques for malaria and water contamination respectively. These are just a few examples of the many innovative and potentially world-changing research being conducted at UCLA Engineering. In other news, we have revamped the school’s Web site with a fresh, unified look, more photos and more content that will be useful to our alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends. Please visit it at www.engineer.ucla.edu. Finally, this year we are celebrating the school’s 65th anniversary. Since 1945, UCLA engineers have been driving innovation. Please look for a

UcLa e Dean Vijay K. Dhir

associate Deans Richard D. Wesel Academic and Student Affairs Jane P. Chang Research and Physical Resources assistant Dean Mary Okino Chief Financial Officer Department chairs Timothy J. Deming Bioengineering Harold G. Monbouquette Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Jiun-Shyan (J.S.) Chen Civil and Environmental Engineering Adnan Darwiche Computer Science Ali H. Sayed Electrical Engineering Jenn-Ming Yang Materials Science and Engineering Adrienne Lavine Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering UcLa engineer aDvisory BoarD Timothy J. Deming Vijay K. Dhir William Goodin Adrienne Lavine Mary Okino Richard D. Wesel

special issue of UCLA Engineer this fall.

externaL affairs commUnications Matthew Chin Communications Manager

Sincerely,

Wileen Wong Kromhout Director of Media Relations and Marketing Joseph Donahoo Executive Director of Development

Vijay K. Dhir Dean

office of externaL affairs 310.206.0678 www.engineer.ucla.edu uclaengineering@support.ucla.edu design: Leslie Baker Graphic Design cover photo: Todd Cheney

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ngineer 6 Using computer science to

solve the mysteries of genetics

8 Wireless health transforming healthcare 2 research summaries

10 a Lifetime of innovation from one of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;greatest generationâ&#x20AC;?

12 faculty news 14 school news 20 student news 24 alumni news

4 8

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research sUmmaries

$1 million niH CHallenge grant will furtHer arterial disease research collaboration Wileen Wong Kromhout

CLA engineers and doctors are working to develop a peripheral arterial disease treatment device that can prevent clotting in small-diameter blood vessels. Their research centers on stents that incorporate a material known as Nitinol, a superelastic nickel and titanium

A Nitinol stent next to a dime for size comparison. alloy that has the ability to be deformed and to recover its original shape upon heating. In recognition of the potential of the research, the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute recently awarded the team a $1 million Challenge Grant.

“What we’ve been doing at UCLA for the last five to ten years now is work with thin-film Nitinol,” said Greg Carman, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and lead investigator for the multidisciplinary team, which was organized under the umbrella of the UCLA Center for Advanced Surgical and Interventional Technologies. “I immediately saw the promise that thin-film Nitinol had for intravascular and cardiac applications,” said Dr. Daniel Levi, a pediatric cardiologist at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA and a principal investigator on the team. “Greg and I started working together immediately on stents and a heart valve.” Carman and Levi’s team looked into producing stents that incorporated thin-film Nitinol on the exterior. Originally, the team considered it a possible treatment for neural vascular disease. They then discovered that their thin-film Nitinol, at only five microns thick — compared to commercial stents, with a covering 100 microns thick — could be placed used in much smaller-diameter blood vessels, like those found in limbs. A second key to the research is chemically treating the Nitinol stent’s surface so that blood platelets will not clot at the site, in a condition called thrombosis. The group has already had success in in-vitro studies and with the grant, plans to move up to animal studies next. Funding for the two-year Challenge Grant comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The complete release is available online at: http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-researchers-awardedchallenge-112815.aspx

smart nanocaPsule delivery system

for Protein tHeraPy Wileen Wong Kromhout

rotein therapy — the delivery of healthy proteins directly into human cells to replace malfunctioning proteins — is considered one of the most direct and safe approaches for treating diseases. But its effectiveness has been limited by low delivery efficiency and the poor stability of proteins, which are frequently broken down and digested by cells’ protease enzymes before they reach their intended target.

The new study has shown that multiple proteins can now be delivered to cells with high efficiency and activity but low toxicity, allowing for potential applications in protein therapies, vaccines, cellular imaging, tumor tracking, cancer therapies and even cosmetics. This approach will also allow for a more targeted delivery of the proteins.

Polymer network A representative transmission electron microscopic image (left) and schematic (right) of the protein nanocapsules containing a single-protein core and a thin polymer shell.

In what could signal a major advance in protein therapeutics, UCLA researchers have developed a new intracellular delivery platform that uses nanocapsules made up of a single-protein core with a thin polymer shell that can be engineered to either degrade or remain stable based on the cellular environment. Their research was published in the January issue of the journal Nature Nanotechnology. “For proteins in general, it’s very difficult to cross the cell membrane. The protease will usually digest it, making stability an issue,” said lead study author Yunfeng Lu, a UCLA professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering. “Here, we’ve been able to use this new technology to stabilize the protein, making it very easy to cross the cell membrane, allowing the protein to function properly once inside the cell. This is one of our biggest achievements.”

crosslinker Protein

The authors also include chemical and biomolecular engineering professors Yi Tang and Tatiana Segura; Lily Wu, professor of medical and molecular pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; and Zhen Liu, a professor of chemical engineering at Tsinghua University in China. The team hopes the new technology will serve as a delivery platform for any type of protein or protein drug. Though the study, when originally submitted, described the use of the technology with five different proteins, in the short time since, the team has expanded to more than two dozen different proteins. The complete release is available online at: http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/uclaresearchers-create-novel-149808.aspx

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researCh suMMaries

Christine Lee holds the magnetic bead step for Cov-IMS/ATP. photo by matthew chin

Faster method to detect coastal water

and freshwaTer baCTeria ConTaMinaTion Matthew Chin

urrently, beachgoers are informed about water quality conditions based on results from the previous day’s sample. Scientists must collect samples in the field, then return to a lab to culture them for analysis — a process that takes a minimum of 24 hours. Now, UCLA engineers have sped up the process to under one hour, through the development of a new in-field, rapid detection method. Bacterial contamination is especially pertinent in California, where gastrointestinal illness can result from contact with contaminated waters. Also, coastlines are subject to sewage spills and urban runoff. Civil and environmental engineering professor Jenny Jay and her doctoral student Christine Lee ’05, MS ’06, have advanced and tested a rapid method in marine and freshwater samples in Malibu and Santa Monica, Calif. The work was published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology. “We envision a tool that can be used by lifeguards to collect and analyze water samples throughout the day, providing beachgoers with up-to-date, near real-time data on water conditions,” Lee said. “This could also be useful in determining persistence of a bacterial contaminant after a pollution event.”

“We are currently applying this method in a new approach to the identifying contamination sources in which we can adaptively sample the environment in order to hone in on hotspots,” Jay said. The process uses magnetic beads conjugated to specific antibodies that identify and bind fecal bacteria that are used as standards for determining water safety. After several filtration and chemical steps, bacterial concentrations are determined by how much light is emitted in an enzymatic reaction. The process is called covalently linked immunomagnetic separation/adenosine triphosphate quantification technique (Cov-IMS/ATP). For the Southern California coast, using this detection method could significantly inform source tracking practices. “UCLA’s rapid method work is very exciting,” said Mark Gold, president of the environmental group Heal the Bay. “It could result in faster notification of the public on the health risks of swimming at contaminated beaches and better protection of public health.” The complete news release is available online at: http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/newsroom/featured-news/ archive/2010/coastal-monitoring

Towards an affordable MiniaTure flow CyToMeTer for Point-of-care and resource limited settings Wileen Wong Kromhout

low cytometry is a technique for counting and examining microscopic particles such as cells and bacteria. The microscopic particles are focused to a narrow stream of fluid, by a surrounding stream, called the sheath fluid, such that focused light gives uniform signals as the particles pass by an electronic detection apparatus. Flow cytometers allow for simultaneous analysis of the physical and/or chemical characteristics of up to 50,000 particles per second and are routinely used in the diagnosis of health disorders, blood cancers and for evaluating HIV or AIDS disease progression. However, statistically accurate identification of a variety of rare cells that can also be present in blood is currently not possible in a reasonable amount of time. Also, these machines are expensive to purchase and operate. But now UCLA bioengineering professor Dino Di Carlo and his research group have developed a miniature flow cytometer that can address these issues. Their device can analyze up to one million blood cells per second. The mini cytometer, unveiled in a recent paper published in the journal, Lab on a Chip, is microfluidic based and needs only a single pump and one camera. Traditional flow cytometers have only one channel such that analysis cannot be performed in parallel, Di Carlo’s cytometer has 256 channels through which cells can flow and be analyzed in parallel. Di Carlo has also rid his microfluidic device of the sheath fluid. The miniature version allows the fluid’s own momentum to position cells for analysis within the channels. Removing the fluid also reduces costs and makes it more portable for use in point-of-care and resource-poor settings.

Artist’s rendering of a miniature flow cytometer at work by Marc Lim, a UCLA bioengineering undergraduate. “It’s the method of ordering the cells so you can see them without overlap and how we use inertia to focus the cells… that’s the great innovation of the work. This technique will enable many more, high throughput, rare cell applications and will allow for other types of detection,” said Di Carlo. Di Carlo’s team, including graduate students Claire Hur and Henry Tse, next plan to combine their microflow cytometer with wide field imaging and electrical detection techniques. The complete release is available online at: http://www. engineer.ucla.edu/newsroom/more-news/archive/2010/ mini-cytometer

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Cover Feature

Professor Eleazar Eskin is pictured on the cover. to the right: Origins of the Modern Classical Inbred Mouse Strain. Image first published in Nature, Aug. 30, 2007.

Using Computer Science to Solve the Mysteries

Wileen Wong Kromhout

hen the general population thinks of genes, most often they think simply of genetic traits that are passed on from parent to child, like eye or hair color. Unfortunately, diseases like cardiovascular disease are also hereditary. And though the fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used for centuries to improve crops and animals through selective breeding, the modern science of genetics, which seeks to understand the process of inheritance, continues to struggle with the root and complexity of many common human diseases. Almost all common diseases, from diabetes to arthritis to cancer, are considered complex diseases. These diseases are caused by the interaction of many genetic factors with many environmental factors. In an effort to provide much needed resources to the numerous communities of researchers trying to understand genetics and the complexity of these disorders, Eleazar Eskin, associate professor of computer science at UCLA Engineering, with a joint appoint-

ment in the Department of Human Genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine, is developing techniques for solving the challenging computational problems that arise in attempting to understand the genetic basis of human disease. “Our group’s research attempts to understand the genetic basis by analyzing human variation data and attempting to discover functional variants which contribute to disease,” said Eskin. “Our group focuses on developing computational methods for analyzing data and looks for difficult computational problems in genetics to solve. That’s our niche and that’s where we feel we can make the biggest contribution. There is a relatively small number of computer science groups who focus on genetics. This makes us fairly unique.” Eskin’s group has focused on developing techniques for analyzing genome-wide association studies (GWAS) which are studies that collect up to a million data points from each of thousands of individuals split into two groups where one group has a particular disease and the other consists of healthy individuals. These studies attempt to identify the genetic factors involved in the

of Genetics disease by comparing the frequency of the genetic variants between the two groups. Differences in frequencies of a given variant suggest that the variant may be involved in disease. GWAS have been very successful and in the last few years and hundreds of genes have been implicated in human diseases. Unfortunately, differences in frequencies can also arise for reasons unrelated to the disease if the individuals collected have ancestry from different regions of the world. This problem, called “population structure” has led to many apparent discoveries of genes involved in disease which later turned out to be artifacts. Eskin’s group has recently published, in Nature Genetics, a computational method to correct for population structure. Though Eskin and his group are focused on the study of human diseases, a key part of their strategy is to work with laboratory mice. “Inbred mouse strains are a very powerful and well-studied human disease and complex trait model. A tremendous amount of information is available for various inbred strains,” said Eskin. “Because of the amount of medical research done on mice, as an organism, their parallels with human disease traits are well understood. Mice and humans share about 90 percent of

the genome and almost all genes are identical between mice and humans.” While GWAS have been successful in human studies, there are many barriers to applying this approach to identifying the genetic factors involved in mouse traits, and in particular even more extreme issues of population structure. The goal of Eskin’s group is to develop the needed resources for making these types of studies possible. Their Web site hosted at UCLA (http://mouse.cs.ucla.edu/) is becoming a central repository for many of these resources. “One of the things required for these studies is that for each strain, you need to know the locations of all its genetic variation. That is a lot of data to collect and then analyze in the context of the traits you are interested in. Our Web server will also allow groups to upload their own measurements of the traits. Once loaded, we can run our methods for them. This will be beneficial as a lot of the groups just don’t have the capability,” said Eskin. “We hope these groups will be able to design their own experiments based on our methods.” Eskin and his research group are supported by Perlegen Sciences as well as the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), which is part of the National continued on page 32

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Feature

Wireless HealtH TRAnSfoRMIng Matthew Chin

Researchers across the UCLA campus are collaborating at the Wireless Health Institute. They are developing an array of powerful wireless devices that could revolutionize healthcare â&#x20AC;&#x201D; making it more personalized with real-time monitoring and data collection. Medical professionals can analyze body movements and vital signs of patients as they interact in the real world, then offer expert guidance. At the same time, these devices will help bring costs down through prevention. The interdisciplinary group creating and refining these innovations hail from engineering, law, management, medicine, nursing, public health, and theater, film, and television. Electrical engineering professor William Kaiser and computer science professor Majid Sarrafzadeh are two of four co-directors for the institute. Through collaborations with medical researchers, the pair and their students have already developed several innovative devices, with much more to follow. PerSonal activity monitor (Pams): this low cost device is worn by individuals and records motion through its microsensors that measure acceleration and rotation. Pam data and Web services promote activity and also guides patients in rehabilitation. Smart Glove: the gloveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sensors and actuators can help patients improve their dexterity.

Smart reStorator: these devices can measure torque, power and speed. they can help patients in a hospital stay active and battle muscle loss.

Smart inSoleS: a flexible circuit board that can help monitor a patientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gait. Matthew Chin

On Wireless HealtH’s benefits

HEalTHcaRE SMArT CAnE: its sensors detect motion and balance. The personalized feedback can help patients improve how they walk with a cane and avoid falls.

lorraine evangelista, UCla assistant professor of nursing, is managing a pilot study of monitoring the weight, blood pressure and general health of elderly chronic heart failure patients. a fluctuation in those vital signs may indicate a need for change in medication level, or a doctor’s visit. On Wireless HealtH’s pOtential remote monitoring devices have the potential to be costeffective and wide-reaching in application, targeting large samples or accessing hard-to-reach groups and may therefore be a practical support for enhancing self-care behaviors among elderly patients. On tHe benefits remote monitoring supports a more dynamic connection between healthcare providers and patients, and improves health promotion and patient care through monitoring of health data, communication of health reminders, and provision of patient feedback. Dr. bruce Dobkin, UCla professor of neurology and director of the UCla neurological rehabilitation and research program, a study where patients with neurological disease, such as stroke, use personal activity monitors (paMs). He notes this is also helping avoid the costs of having patients come into a laboratory setting.

gAMing FOr HEALTH: Video games, such as Dance Dance revolution, promote activity and exercise in patients.

More information on the UCLA Wireless Health institute can be found at: www.wirelesshealth.org.

On Wireless HealtH’s pOtential Trained machine-learning algorithms developed by engineers and computer scientists at UCLA can identify and characterize typical movements from sensor data in real-world settings, such as reaching for items, grooming and exercising with each upper extremity. They detect how often and at what speed subjects walk. Thus, the PAMs can bring these measures into daily care to monitor activity as it increases (or decreases from side effects) in relation to a new medication or physical therapy, to assess compliance with exercise and skills practice, and to test the utility of providing feedback to patients about the type and quantity of their daily skills practice and exercise. On tHe benefits Patients can get feedback about their performance while in their homes, rather than waiting until an office visit with their doctor is due. They will know how they are progressing in their exercises, conditioning program, or in their practice of new skills after a neurological disease causes weakness.

photos by todd cheney

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featuRe

it was 1941, and young ralph Crump, who was a senior at long Beach Polytechnic high school, planned to attend UClA after graduation in June of the next year.

Ralph CRump ’50

A lifetime of innovAtion from one of the “GreAtest GenerAtion” Matthew Chin and Joe Donahoo

But as with the many millions of Americans, who are part of what former NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw coined as the “Greatest Generation,” Ralph Crump’s story first winds through the history of World War II. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Crump, the valedictorian of his class, took a detour from his plans to attend UCLA by serving the country. He went to work in the local shipyards and later applied for a commission in the Navy. He was accepted to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (U.S.N.R.), but first went to sea for a year in 1943-44. Crump was commissioned as an officer, and completed a bachelor of science in marine engineering. He returned to UCLA in 1946 — four years after graduating high school — and still vividly remembers being greeted with, “Welcome Home,” from the woman at the window of the registrar. Following graduation in 1950, he started working at a specialty chemical company in the San Fernando Valley, spending 12 years there. Thanks to his ability to invent — and solve critical problems — Crump became a force in the emerging

biomedical industry. After extensive work with the semiconductor Bismuth telluride, Crump invented a tiny refrigerator which he developed with Dr. Charles Kelman, a New York ophthalmologist, into a “cryosurgical instrument” that could freeze and extract cataracts safely. Removing the cataracts intact is critical since they may contain toxic fluid that can permanently harm vision if broken. This technique became the state-of-the-art in eye surgery for 16 years. “We made it easier on the doctor,” he said. “We did what engineering is supposed to do, and that is minimize dependence on manual dexterity. A lot of engineering devices eliminate hard work, anxiety and tremor.” Despite moving east to access the New York capital markets, Crump maintained close ties to UCLA. He further developed tiny refrigerators for medical procedures for other parts of the body, including the throat and mouth, the prostate, the cervix, and the thalamus. Many of these procedures were pioneered at the UCLA Medical School. Crump’s company also invented a soft contact lens that was originally intended to deliver drugs safely

Ralph Crump ’50 at the 2009 Engineering Awards Dinner. photo by todd cheney

to the eye. When he learned that the soft lens was more comfortable for the wearer, they marketed soft lenses for cosmetic use. In the 1970s, one of Crump’s companies developed a line of tiny plastic lenses to be implanted in the human eye, directly after a cataract has been removed. Millions of these lenses have been implanted. That division was purchsed in 1986 by Johnson & Johnson. Crump has created twelve patents in various areas, including film lubrication. Crump and wife, Marjorie

After decades of working with UCLA doctors and engineers, Ralph and Marjorie Crump generously funded the UCLA Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging, which focuses on developing unique therapies for the treatment of cancer and immune deficiencies by better understanding human biology. The institute is a nexus for academic research in biomedical engineering and medicine, and was named in honor of the Crump family. When asked advice he could offer to young engineers, Crump reflected on his own career in the biomedical industry working with medical doctors and scientists. His advice was that engineers soak up as much engineering as they can so they can be the best asset when collaborating. “If they come across a doctor that’s interested in some orthopedic application, an ophthalmic application, or dental applications, the bioscientist, the doctor will teach the engineer everything they need to know to help the specialist in that specialty,” he said. “Engineers need to be engineers and doctors need to be doctors, and there’s a delightful symbiosis between the two.” Crump’s philosophy for entrepreneurial success is pretty simple: “Do it!” Though he cautioned young entrepreneurs make informed decisions when it comes to seeking investors. Ralph Crump, who was awarded the UCLA Engineering Alumnus of the Year award in 1967, is the standard bearer for what moniker “Greatest Generation” has come to mean. He is a former shipyard worker, naval officer,

“engineers need to be engineers and doctors need to be doctors, and there’s a delightful symbiosis between the two.” ’46, who was his high school sweetheart, have founded businesses in rapid prototyping, reverse osmosis water treatment, institutional furniture, bar code printers, and force and load sensors. These were later sold to the likes of Revlon, General Electric, Vishay Intertechnologies, Sorenson Capital Partners, and others.

and merchant marine who became an engineer, entrepreneur, innovator and leader. For decades, distinguished alumni Ralph and Marjorie Crump have been great friends and supporters of UCLA Engineering and the entire university. The school is proud to call the Crumps family.

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faculty news

Middle and HigH ScHool StudentS in loS angeleS The smart grid home of the future.

Building tHe smart grid Alison Hewitt

f everyone in Los Angeles put solar panels on their roofs, plugged electric cars into their garages and used smart power-meters today, something interesting would happen: The electric grid would collapse. L.A.’s aging grid simply isn’t stable enough to handle environmentalism from everyone, but policy-makers are eager to make that green future feasible. Now, a $60-million stimulus grant from the federal Department of Energy to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), plus $60 million in matching funds from the LADWP, will help local institutions create a “smart grid” that will take the existing grid to the next level. UCLA, USC and CalTech/JPL are partnering with the LADWP in a smart grid demonstration project. At UCLA, researchers will create smart climate-control systems, develop ways for consumers to respond to minute-by-minute energy fluctuations, use electric cars to stabilize the grid and more. UCLA is expected to receive $20.6 million from the LADWP over five years to build and test smart grid technology. Rajit Gadh, a UCLA mechanical and

aerospace engineering professor specializing in wireless smart grid technology, will direct the project, working with about three dozen UCLA professors, researchers, students and post-docs. “We have this electrical grid that we need, and we can’t rip it out, but it’s not compatible with renewable energy right now,” Gadh said. “But by building layers of technology on top of the existing grid, the existing grid can become compatible. We’re going to show what can be done, and the benefits to the consumer, the utility companies, the economy and the environment.” With Gadh in the lead, professors and researchers from UCLA’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Institute of the Environment and the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences will become the founding members of a new UCLA Smart Grid Energy Research Center. Gadh envisions electric cars that slurp energy into their batteries overnight when power production is cheap, then dispense it into homes and offices during the day when electricity demand is high. The new smart grid center will start by retrofitting a UCLA build-

recent FacultY awardS dan david Prize leonard Kleinrock, distinguished professor of computer science who is known as one of the Fathers of the internet, was one of three laureates for the 2010 Dan David Prize in Computers and Telecommunications. The prize is a joint international enterprise, endowed by the Dan David Foundation and headquartered at Tel Aviv University. The prize recognizes and encourages innovative and interdisciplinary research that cuts across traditional boundaries and paradigms. it aims to foster universal values of excellence, creativity, justice, democracy and progress and to promote the scientific, technological and humanistic achievements that advance and improve our world.

google FocuSed reSearch award

ing with wireless sensors to create complex smart powermeters, Gadh said. He described sensors that would detect how many people are in each room, enabling the building to decide which rooms needed air conditioning, for example. The sensors would also be linked to power utilities so they could react to fluctuations in energy availability. If demand surged and prices increased on a hot summer day, the building would be capable of switching to inexpensive stored battery power from an electric car fleet, Gadh said. Those intelligent sensors could also be used at home, connecting all of a building’s electronics to smart sensors, he added. The smart grid project is one component of UCLA’s growing role in clean technology, noted Michael Swords, executive director of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research. UCLA is also a founding member of CleanTech Los Angeles, a consortium of universities and local and government agencies working together to make the city a clean-tech capital. The complete UCLA Today article is available online at: http://www.today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/building-the-smartgrid-151474.aspx

Computer science professor deborah estrin has been named one of the recipients of the first-ever google Focused research Awards. Estrin, director of the Center for Embedded networked Sensing (CEnS), is leading efforts to trasform mobile phones into powerful data collection devices for public health and environmental monitoring. google announced awards to 12 projects at ten U.S. universities on February 2. The awards are for two to three years, and the recipients will have the advantage of access to google tools, technologies, and expertise.

two Sloan FellowS Two outstanding young engineering faculty received 2010 Sloan research Fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Sloan fellows are: rupak majumdar, an associate professor of computer science, and Yu huang, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering. The fellowships are awarded to “exceptional young researchers” who are “conducting research at the frontiers of physics, chemistry, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, computer science, economics, mathematics and neuroscience,” according to the new York–based foundation.

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School newS

Symantec makeS $500,000

Investment In UCLA CompUter sCIentIsts Wileen Wong Kromhout and Leti McNeill

ver the last several years, UCLA Engineering’s collaboration with industry partners has grown tremendously. The relationship with Symantec is a primary example of this growth. From a traditional starting point of recruitment of the school’s students, to a very untraditional, innovative step of endowing a $500,000 term chair to support young faculty. In particular, the partnership has grown over the last decade through collaborations with Symantec’s leadership including, Carey Nachenberg ’95 MS ’95 — vice president and fellow at Symantec — who has taught computer science classes at the school; Janice Chaffin MBA ’81, group president, Consumer Business Unit,

future technical leadership and research next-generation innovations.” “The partnership between Symantec and the school is an excellent example of the layered benefits enjoyed by students and industry through these partnerships,” said Dean Vijay K. Dhir. “We are thankful for Symantec’s continuous support.” Close relationships among industry, faculty, and students create an environment in which students and faculty are supported in their academic endeavors, and act as innovators in their fields. Symantec recognized this and chose to expand the relationship recently by establishing the Symantec Endowed Term Chair in Computer Science. The gift will support the

and Steve Trilling, senior vice president, Security Technology and Response, both of whom serve on UCLA Engineering’s Dean’s Advisory Council. “For many years, Symantec has supported several research endeavors with UCLA Engineering’s computer science department and the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics,” said Darren Shou, senior manager of the Symantec Research Labs University Research Program. “Symantec’s partnership with UCLA Engineering has been very beneficial to our efforts to foster

teaching and research activities of a distinguished junior faculty member for many generations to come. “UCLA is one of the nation’s top engineering schools,” said Mark Bregman, executive vice president and chief technology officer of Symantec. “Establishing the Symantec Endowed Term Chair in Computer Science at UCLA connects the company to leaders in the academic community and contributes to our ongoing efforts to advance innovative research and generate new ideas to solve real-world problems in security, storage and systems management.”

above: NEES@UCLA staff in front of the mobile field lab. right: Bob Nigbor, Steve Keowen, and Ben Ferrero, all of NEES@UCLA, lifting a small seismic shaker to the top of a test structure at the NEES Wildlife Array test site near the Salton Sea.

ucla center gets $4.5M in nSF FUndS for role In natIonal earthquake sImulatIon network Wileen Wong Kromhout

CLA’s earthquake center will receive $4.5 million of a $105 million grant given by the National Science Foundation to Purdue University to spearhead a national earthquake simulation network. The UCLA site — NEES@UCLA — is headed by John W. Wallace, a professor of civil and environmental engineering. It specializes in the field testing and monitoring of geotechnical and structural performance. NEES@UCLA’s state-of-the-art mobile field laboratory will allow researchers to glean significant new insights based on the response of full-scale test specimens under realistic field conditions. “We offer unique field-testing capabilities for full-scale earthquake engineering testing,” said Robert Nigbor, coprincipal investigator of NEES@UCLA. “We can shake and even break big structures with our vibration equipment.” “Prior to NEES, we simply did not have national facilities,” said Jonathan Stewart, professor of civil and environmental engineering and also a co-principal investigator of NEES@UCLA. “We could not run the type of experiments we run now. Today, there is a lot more high-quality experimental work being done. There’s been a shift in culture as

well. Resources and information are shared freely among the community, and that wasn’t always the case. We see NEES@UCLA as a resource to the entire country.” Stewart is currently working on two large-scale research projects for NEES as well. One, the NEES Grand Challenge Project, aims to develop effective strategies for identifying older, seismically hazardous non-ductile concrete buildings in Los Angeles — a project that could lead to the creation of lifesaving public policy. The second major project, which also includes civil and environmental engineering professor Scott Brandenberg, involves an analysis of the seismic vulnerability of levees along the Sacramento — San Joaquin Delta. These levees are critical components of California’s water distribution system. The delta supplies fresh water to 22 million people in Southern and Central California, as well as eastern portions of the Bay Area. The complete news release is available online at: http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-s-earthquakeexperimental-102660.aspx

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school news

Potholes like the one on the right could be a problem of the past with the new repair project. Below: an image of the molecular structure of the ultra–high-toughness, lowviscosity nanomolecular resin.

nAtionAl pothole-repAir project

funded for $3 million Wileen Wong Kromhout

research team led by UCLA Engineering has been awarded a major project by the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop an innovative pothole-repair technology for asphalt pavement. The project’s funding, totaling $3.05 million, comes in part from NIST’s Technology Innovation Program (TIP), which supports high-risk and high–payoff research in new technologies that address critical national needs in civil infrastructure. More than just an annoyance, potholes can be responsible for vehicle damage, accidents and traffic congestion costing billions of dollars annually. Thus far, most repair approaches focus on improving asphalt patches. “UCLA Engineering will be taking a radically different approach, infiltrating the compacted asphalt-aggregate mixture with an ultra–high-toughness, low-viscosity nanomolecular resin,” said Jenn-Ming Yang, professor and chair of the Department of

Material Science and Engineering and lead investigator on the project. The school, in partnership with Materia, Inc., and the Department of General Services of the City of Los Angeles (as a subcontractor), will be developing the new technology for use in both warm and cold weather. The resin will form a continuous network of mechanical “cages” to provide mechanical locking of the aggregates in the asphalt mixture. Anchor patches to the original pavement walls and sub-bases will also prevent water infusion. The project’s co-principal investigators are J.W. Ju, UCLA professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Wei H. Kao and Larry Carlson, both of the UCLA Institute for Technology Advancement (ITA). The Los Angeles Department of Public Works and the California Department of Transportation will support the deployment of the new repair materials and technology to street test sites. The complete release is available online at: http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/uclaengineering-awarded-a-project-149987.aspx

2010 tech Forum The 2010 ucla engineering Tech forum addressed two grand challenges of the 21st century: sustainability and security. The event, hosted at the california nanoSystems institute on february 11, featured keynote addresses from Josephine cheng, Vice President of the iBm almaden research; and Steven Hart, co-founder and chief Technology officer for ViaSat. ucla engineering faculty presented cutting-edge research on energy, the environment, critical infrastructure, healthcare and biotechnology. nearly 100 students presented their research at the poster competition. The presenting sponsors were: iBm, raytheon, and ViaSat. and the supporting sponsors were: cisco, element 14, newark electronics, and Qualcomm.

1 Steven Hart of ViaSat and nick uros me ’84, cerT ’93, vice president of advanced concepts & Technology for raytheon company’s Space and airborne Systems.

2 Keynote address by Josephine cheng ’75, mS ’77 of iBm.

3 dean Vijay K. dhir and asad m. madni ’69, mS ’72 chief judge of the competition, present the first place check to Katherine Bulgrin mS ’08, a doctoral student in the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

4-6 Students at the poster competition.

photos by todd cheney

ucla EnginEEr 17

school news

HENRy SAMUELI SCHOOL Of ENgINEERINg AND APPLIED SCIENCE

65th ANNIvERSARy

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. Here’s a photographic look back at the early years of the school.

1 Robert J. Taylor (left) stands on top of Continuous Current Tokamak in 1986 while checking out new fusion machine with graduate student Michael Brown.

2 Professor Albert Bush explains smog formation to actor Jack Lemmon, who visits the UCLA facility in the spring of 1971. Roof-top tube-shaped plastic smog chamber is visible behind Professor Bush.

3 Mechanic Arts Building, opened in 1930 and demolished in 1964 to make

4 Dean Russell O’Neill ’PhD 56 (center), cuts ribbon to open the school’s Minority Engineering Center, 1983. Standing, from left are Lisa Barker ’84, President of the campus chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, Lloyd Cook, President of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, and Rockwell’s Sam Iacobellis MS ’63, whose company made a $250,000 endowment toward the center’s establishment. Kneeling is Ricardo Cortez ’84, President of the UCLA chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.

room for parking structure 9, was home to the College of Engineering the first few years of the college’s existence.

5 Marvin Ring (left) and Franklyn DeBiasio of the ucla Biotechnology laboratory check a moon suit, a design project of senior engineering students.

6 Students test airplane designs off the roof of Boelter Hall, in an undated photo.

7 uclaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hydrogen-powered 1972 Gremlin undergoes laboratory tests before entering the 1972 urban Vehicle Design competition, in which the vehicle wins first prize for lowest emissions â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the exhaust of a hydrogen powered car is steam.

Do you have some historic photos to share in an upcoming commemorative edition of UCLA Engineer? Please send questions or photos to: uclaengineering@support.ucla.edu and look for your copy of the very special 65th anniversary edition this fall.

ucla EnginEEr 19

stUdent news

teC:

Creating entrepreneurs Matthew Chin

CLA Engineering students are at the very fore-

ago, the student group is open to all graduate and under-

front of technological innovation. Under the

graduate students who are interested in turning ideas into

supervision of faculty advisors, their advanced

commercially viable technologies.

research explores new areas, and their education gives them among the best foundations in the world for a technology career.

“We want to build a community at UCLA that is known both on and off campus. We constantly have students attend our events for their first time and explain they wish they had heard about us earlier. We want students to know that we are out there and trying to help,” said Alex Capecelatro, a senior materials science student and a TEC board member. “In five years we want to see successful entrepreneurs attributing their start to TEC.” TEC offers several programs to help students on their way to successful entrepreneurship. These include networking dinners with entrepreneurs, regular seminars, available counseling sessions with intellectual property legal firms, and mentorship of companies by the Tech Coast Angels, a leading investing network. The group has also started a year-long program called TAG (Technology Assessment Group) where engineers learn how to assess the business potential of various technologies. And while students interested in biotechnology and computer development make up the majority of its current membership, TEC offers events in all disciplines. For example, it had a recent seminar on clean technology, with the leading venture capital fund Mohr Davidow Ventures. “We focus on providing help and guidance in all areas.

TEC board members from left to right: Kumar Duraiswamy ’95, Alex Capecelatro, Ankit Kumar, Chuong Nguyen, Tanuj Thapliyal, Alborz Jooyaie, and Patrick Sislian ’05. photo by matthew chin

We think that the UCLA Engineering students have a diverse background which leads to diverse interests,” said Patrick Sislian, a doctoral student in chemical and biomolecular engineering and co-founder of TEC. “Ultimately,

However that’s only the academic side. Taking their

we want to make the connections between the students

developments into the business world is not required

and business community work to enable start-ups in

for a degree.

various areas.”

This is where the Technology Entrepreneur Community (or TEC) at UCLA comes in. Started a few years

To find out more about TEC, contact the group at its Web site at: http://egsatec.com/

Professor Jack Judy and Andrew Fung. photo courtesy of andrew fung

GrAduAte student Aims to develop chewing gum diagnostic test for malaria Matthew Chin

UCLA Engineering graduate student is working

The new idea, called MALiVA, is for chewing gum to

to develop a rapid diagnostic tool for malaria,

contain small colored and magnetized particles coated

one of the world’s most widespread infectious

in antibodies that bind to proteins expressed from the

diseases, that will require only a few minutes chewing

malaria parasite.

on specialized gum.

“If we’re using saliva as the diagnostic medium,

Biomedical engineering doctoral student Andrew Fung,

I thought ‘Why not build the test with a form factor

his advisor professor Jack W. Judy, and Dr. Theodore

that’s native to the mouth, like a stick of chewing

Moore of UCLA received a $100,000 grant from the Bill

gum?’” Fung said. “The flavors in the gum get you

and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop the potential

salivating, so you’re in fact supplying specimen for the

tool. The grant was part of round 3 of the foundation’s

test. The sucking action in your mouth delivers saliva

Grand Challenges Explorations initiative, which aims to

to the antibody test.”

improve health in developing nations.

After a few minutes of chewing, the gum is removed

Malaria is an infectious disease caused by the parasite

from the mouth and passed over a small magnet. If

Plasmodium, which are carried and transmitted by mos-

malaria biomarkers are present, the magnet will

quitoes. The disease is particularly common in tropical

concentrate the particles to form a visible line, much like

regions and especially affects poor populations with

a pregnancy test strip. The particular strain of malaria

limited resources to fight the disease.

can also be indicated, depending on the color of the line.

Current rapid diagnostic tests for malaria require blood

The key to this proposed in-the-field diagnostic tool is

or plasma, however this limits repeated testing in children,

its simplicity — no electricity is needed and it does not

as well as in communities that have taboos on blood

need to be sent to a lab for analysis.

being drawn. If someone is infected, their saliva could also contain protein biomarkers expressed from the parasite, although in lower density than in blood.

The complete news story is available online at: 0

http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/newsroom/more-news/ fy04 fy05 fy06 archive/2010/malaria-gum.

fy07

fy08

fy09

ucla EnginEEr 21

student news

from left: Henrik ’05, MS ’07, PhD ’09; Peter ’08, and Jonas Borgstrom ’04, MS ’05, PhD ’10. photo by todd cheney

Bruin Brothers: Jonas, Henrik and Peter Borgstrom Wileen Wong Kromhout

ith the Borgstrom brothers, one can say

“In high school, I had always been strong in math

engineering runs in the family. Not only

and physics, so engineering seemed to be the best

did all three brothers, Jonas, 28, Henrik,

choice for me. I narrowed my choice to electrical

26 and Peter, 24, earn their undergraduate and

engineering partly because Jonas was in that pro-

graduate degrees in electrical engineering but they

gram already and partly because I felt that electrical

all chose to go to UCLA Engineering to get it.

engineering showed potential for the most growth,”

Jonas will be graduating in June with a Ph.D. in electrical engineering with a specialization in speech

said Henrik. It is clear all three brothers are exceptional stu-

processing. Peter is currently working on his Ph.D.

dents. Henrik was awarded the Regents Scholarship

in biomedical engineering with intentions of enter-

as an undergraduate and the Chancellor’s Prize for

ing medical school to become a cardiologist, and

his graduate work. Jonas received the Outstand-

Henrik, who has already earned his Ph.D. in electri-

ing Master’s Student of the Year award from the

cal engineering, is now performing post-doctoral

Department of Electrical Engineering.

research in robotics at USC. “I chose UCLA because it offered an excellent en-

And they all speak passionately about their research. Peter’s current research group is studying the

gineering program and a beautiful campus,” said Jo-

electrical properties of the heart, allowing him to

nas. “The engineering school also did an exceptional

combine his electrical engineering background with

job at recruiting potential undergraduate students

his passion for physiology and medicine. Further,

early on. I was very impressed and had basically

he states he is most proud of being accepted into

made up my mind to attend UCLA much before any

graduate school at UCLA and being able to make

other schools contacted me about acceptance.” “When I first started looking at colleges, I wanted to do something different than what my brothers

the successful transition from electrical to biomedical engineering. “I am most proud of my work in statistical

had done,” said Peter. “But after visiting, I realized

approaches to speech enhancement,” said Jonas.

this was not a good reason to give up all the great

“I have worked on making automatic speech recog-

things UCLA has to offer: strong academics, beauti-

nition systems work better in adverse environments,

ful weather, a relaxed atmosphere, and exciting

for example with background noise. My work

sports teams.”

in speech enhancement is aimed at inferring

The Borgstroms’ father Per also has a master’s in electrical engineering and a doctorate in physiology and is currently a cancer researcher. Their mother

clean speech from a noisy signal to increase perceptual quality.” “As a graduate, I specialized in cable-driven

Eva Borgstrom was a successful tax accountant and

robotics geared toward environmental research,”

both are from Sweden. But all three brothers say

said Henrik.

they were not pressured into the engineering field.

continued on page 27

ucla EnginEEr 23

alumni news

2009 UCLA EnginEEring Aw alumnuS of the Year Paul Baran MS ’59

edward k. rice outStandinG doctoral award Ricardo Olivera MS ’05, PhD ’09

Entrepreneur and Inventor, best known for inventing packet switching while at the RAND Corporation

alumni achievement in academia Mark Kushner ’76

edward k. rice outStandinG maSter’S Student Won Jin “Brian” Ho ’08, MS ’09

Director, Michigan Institute for Plasma Science and Engineering George I. Haddad Professor of Engineering, University of Michigan

edward k. rice outStandinG Bachelor’S StudentS alumni ProfeSSional achievment

Nicholas Kusenov ’09

William J. Lloyd ’62, PhD ’77 Chief Technical Officer and Senior Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company, retired

Joy Park ’09

diStinGuiShed YounG alumnuS David Z. Pan MS ’94 MS ’98 PhD ’00 Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Texas at Austin

SPecial PreSenter K. Megan McArthur ’93 NASA Astronaut

lockheed martin excellence in teachinG award Milos Ercegovac Professor of Computer Science

a special Thank You To all our sponsors Platinum Marjorie ’46 and Ralph J. Crump ’50 Gold Nancy and Aaron ’58 Cohen, Intelligent Optical Systems,

northroP Grumman excellence in teachinG award Jian Zhang Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Inc., National Technical Systems, Inc.

Silver Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems Blue Paul Baran MS ’59, Blizzard Entertainment, The Boeing Company, Broadcom Corporation, CTS Cement Manufacturing Company, Easton Sports Development Foundation II, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, RAND Corporation

arDS 11

1 alumni achievement in academia award winner Mark Kushner (center) with his wife Debra ‘89 (anthropology) and associate Dean Jane P. chang.

2 associate Dean richard D. wesel (center) with 2009 Edward K. rice Student award winners Joy Park, nicholas Kusenov, ricardo Olivera and Brian Ho.

3 naSa astronaut Megan Mcarthur (top row, second from left) with members of the Society of women Engineers, who volunteer at the dinner.

4 a quartet of ucla Engineering students. 5 Dean Vijay K. Dhir (center) with four of ucla Engineering’s alumnus of the Year award winners: Sam iacobellis MS ‘63; Paul Baran MS ‘59; ralph J. crump ‘50, and asad M. Madni ‘69, MS ‘72.

6 Stanley Dashew with Dean Dhir. Dashew is a great supporter of ucla, whose generous gifts included funding for the Dashew center for international Students and Scholars, which assists thousands of international students make cultural, academic and personal adjustments to life at ucla.

7 Emcee Sharon Hong ‘01 welcomes guests to the awards dinner. 8 The awards ceremony gets underway. 9 computer science professor leonard Kleinrock, Dean Dhir and ucla chancellor gene Block accept two gifts on behalf of the school from naSa astronaut Megan Mcarthur: a commemorative plaque of Space Shuttle Flight 125. and a miniature model of the interface Message Processor (iMP) which she took into orbit aboard the shuttle. The model commemorates the first internet message, which was sent from Kleinrock’s ucla lab via the iMP, to the Stanford research institute, in 1969.

photos by todd cheney

ucla EnginEEr 25

alumni news

VERA ELSON:

From engineering to Patent law Wileen Wong Kromhout

Vera Elson ’82 (Cybernetics), MS ’85 is a trial lawyer and partner in the firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and is based in Silicon Valley. She focuses her practice on intellectual property trial and counseling for the firm’s technology clients. Elson has tried numerous intellectual property cases to verdict in federal circuit, district and state courts, and has extensive experience representing clients before the International Trade Commission. Before practicing law, Elson was an engineer at both TRW and Hughes Aircraft for seven years. What made you want to go into engineering? When I was in high school, my mother was an accountant with a large aerospace company called TRW located in Redondo Beach. I was fortunate in that in those days, TRW offered their employees a phenomenal perk – their children could obtain summer internships in the various engineering labs. So my very first job was as a programmer for TRW in their state-of-the-art Satellite Integration Lab.

You received a bachelor’s in cybernetics and a master’s in electrical engineering from UCLA, how did that lead you to law? After about five years doing circuit design with Hughes, I became more interested in the business and began to explore the idea of obtaining an MBA. However, my roommate at the time was getting his law degree from UCLA’s School of Law. He introduced me to one of the law professors who told me about the nascent field of intellectual property. I opted to pursue it.

It’s been said that engineering degrees can help one be versatile, would you agree with this statement and why? As I tell my own children, an engineering degree is a wonderful springboard for so many different professions — engineering, business, law or medicine, to name a few. A solid understanding of the physical sciences, as well as the knowledge of how to design and build products, gives you tremendous confidence and credibility in the marketplace.

What kind of advice would you give women entering into male-dominated fields like engineering and law? Do you have a secret to success? I think women need to be keen observers of how males communicate, and better understand how their own words and even body language can be misperceived by colleagues and clients. The upside of these observations is that the more you learn to project confidence in your voice, manner and approach, the more confidence you develop in your own abilities.

What kind of advice would you give engineering students or even career engineers interested in pursuing another profession? What should they keep in mind? Many people are raised thinking that they must pursue one profession and stick with it. They struggle with the idea of launching into an unknown field. Yet, it is my observation that after about five to seven years of pursuing and excelling at any one particular endeavor, people often need a new challenge — a change. Moreover it is often by combining diverse areas of interest that people can develop a specialty that few others offer, or bring new insights to their new profession making themselves even more marketable — moving from engineering to medicine for example. Just be open-minded and enjoy the ride! The complete interview with Elson is available online at: http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/newsroom/more-news/archive/2010/elson

BRuIN BROTHERS: Jonas, HEnrik and PEtEr Borgstrom continued from page 23 In his post-doctoral work, Henrik has worked on the problem of how to distribute forces in a multi-fingered robotic hand and is now working on algorithms to generate informative paths for mobile robots engaged in sensing tasks.

helpful with schoolwork, more importantly, they’ve been endless sources of guidance, support and friendship.” When asked what kind of advice the three would give to future generations of students aspiring to attend UCLA, espe-

“For example, if a fleet of underwater robots is deployed to

cially now with the rising cost of tuition and the lack of state

measure aquatic phenomena in a particular region, it is impor-

support, all three spoke of how invaluable this university is.

tant that they work in an intelligent and coordinated fashion to maximize the information that they gather,” said Henrik. Both Jonas and Henrik hope to pursue careers into academia as tenure track professors. When asked what the three like to do outside of engineering, Jonas responded, “more engineering.” But the three also enjoy

“UCLA is still one of the best educational values available. This is borne out by the competitiveness of the application process, which ranks among the toughest in the U.S. Getting into UCLA is an accomplishment most certainly worth striving for, so high school students need to focus on their grades and test scores,” said Henrik.

outdoor activities like hiking, golfing, and surfing. They all play

“UCLA has a top-ranked engineering school and it’s only

basketball, and Henrik walked onto the UCLA basketball team

getting better. The faculty are world-renowned researchers in

for a month during his freshman year. They often meet at the

their fields and are excellent and passionate teachers as well,”

gym to work out and on most days will have lunch together.

added Jonas.

They also enjoy watching their favorite sports teams compete —

In conclusion, “the best investment these students can make

the Chargers, the Padres (they grew up in San Diego) and of

with their time and money is in their education,” said Peter.

course, UCLA football and basketball.

“As opportunities in the workplace for high school graduates

The Borgstroms are all thankful for having the opportunity to share their college lives together. “It’s been great. My brothers have been an integral part of

diminish, it’s critical that they gain the knowledge and skillset that will allow them to not only persevere in tough economic times, but to still pursue their dreams in the process.”

my college experience,” said Peter. “While they’ve been very

ONLINE MASTErS ArEAs • Advanced Structural Materials • Aerospace Engineering • Computer Networking • Electronic Materials • Integrated Circuits • Manufacturing and Design • Mechanics of Structures • Signal Processing and Communications • Systems Engineering DistinctivE FEAturEs oF thE ProgrAm • Each course is fully equivalent to the corresponding on-campus course and taught by the faculty members who teach the on-campus course.

the primary purpose of this program is to enable employed engineers and computer scientists to enhance their technical education beyond the Bachelor of science level, and to enhance their value to the technical organizations in which they are employed. additional information and online applications available at www.msengrol.seas.ucla.edu

• The online lectures are carefully prepared for the online student.

ucla EnginEEr 27

alumni news

alumni Class nOTes 1950s Richard Kinsman ’54, MS ’64 married Dolores “Dody” McConkey ’52 (Home Economics) in 1953 and worked at Lockheed Martin for 37 years before retiring in 1991. He was married for 56 years until Dody died on November 4, 2009. Chang N. Kim ’55, MS ’65 has been retired since 2000 and has been busy with his family playing golf and tennis. Robert S. Gaylord ’56, MS ’61 published his first nontechnical book, Six P’s in a Pot: Winning Texas Hold’em Poker. He has four other books in progress; near completion is one about the earliest days of booster and space systems development. Marvin J. Wanetick ’58 is retired and living the good life in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was CEO and one of the founders of Armazones Opticos Del Peru, S.A., at one time, the largest optical manufacturing facility in Latin America with headquarters in Lima, Peru. They were incorporated in 1968 and had the only license to manufacture Ray-Ban Sunglasses and cases by Bausch & Lomb outside of the United States. Paul Baran MS ’59 has a new start-up, Plaster Networks, which provides local area networking solutions designed to deliver reliable, high-performance connections over existing wiring. Glen Greisz ’59, MS ’64 recently moved with his wife to Port Townsend, Wash. and is enjoying retirement by building a wood kayak and taking classes in wood working.

Thomas E. Sawyer ’60 is serving as Chairman and CEO of Brazil Gold which has over two million acres of gold concessions in Brazil and over 500,000 acres of similar concessions in Liberia and Sierra Leone. www.tesawyer.net Jim Postle ’62 is retired and living in Colorado. “If I decide to swim the English channel, UCLA will be the first to know. Go Bruins!!” Tom Lazear MS ’63, CEO of Archway Systems, is now a great-grandfather. His great-grandson, Ezekiel “Zeke” Ray Lazear, is almost nine-months old and “has gone through orientation at Archway. The company is expecting some creative work from him in the coming months. In a few years, there could be four generations of Lazears working at Archway.” Bruce Deresh MS ’66, PhD ’71 retired from MITRE in June 2007 and married his high school girlfriend that October. After consulting for the Marine Corps Systems Command for 18 months on advanced field radars, they are moving to Dallas. William Scott Jackson MS ’66 has just published his second textbook, Architecting Resilient Systems. He is also an adjunct associate professor of Systems Architecting and Engineering at the University of Southern California. Charles Rumbaugh ’66 has published an article in the July 2009 issue of NCMA Contract Management which offers a methodology that ensures prompt legislative action through a creative approach of resolving deadlocks in certain legislative processes - especially those mandating super-majority legislator approvals that are

1960s

found in California.

William Green ’60 (Applied Physics), MS ’65, has just

Leon Presser PhD ’68 has released What It Takes To

published My Life in Space — The Story Behind NASA’s Amazing Pictures of the Planets. For more information, please go to www.mylifeinspace.com.

Be An Entrepreneur (www.whatittakestobeanentrepreneur.com). Presser, a former UCLA and UCSB faculty

member in computer science, and a successful entrepreneur, “wrote this book to provide prospective and current entrepreneurs with a pragmatic overview of what is involved in being an entrepreneur and to help them improve their chances of success.” Lloyd nirenberg PhD ’69 was the organizer and moderator of the panel session on Cognitive Radio at the February 25, 2010 meeting of Silicon Valley’s Wireless Communications Alliance. To view his presentation, go to http://www.wca.org/event_archives/2010/Nirenberg_ CognitiveRadio_25Feb2010.pdf Larry rinek ’69, MBA ’71 is Senior Technology Consultant, Technical Insights division, at Frost & Sullivan

1970s nick Brestoff ’71 joined the firm of Stonefield Josephson in Century City, Calif. as a principal in their Valuation, Litigation, Forensic and Advisory Services group in January after 34 years as a business litigation attorney. He “looks forward to working with attorneys on the damages aspects of their cases and on issues pertaining to electronically stored information.” ramachandran Chandrasekaran MS ’71 has a company, Medscribe Communications, Inc., working on the presidential initiatives of health information technology. Lorant Szasz ’72 has published 16 books in Hungary with a 17th book to be published this summer.

in Mountain View, Calif. He also

nik Djordjevic ’75, MS ’78 was named the manager of the

has been selected to participate in

Aerodynamics, Fluid Mechanics and Missile Performance

the Society of Automotive Engineers

Engineering organization at Lockheed Martin Space

International’s Industrial Lecture

Systems in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Program, traveling around the U.S. and discussing “Defects in Aircraft Design and Materials: Engineering Lessons Learned.” Mr. Rinek is a frequent public speaker in the aviation community, a published aviation historian, a veteran of the U.S. aerospace industry, and a regular guest lecturer in aero engineering for two local universities. Active in the Bay Area Bruins, he is an advocate for UCLA in northern California, a region well populated with strong rival engineering schools. Kevin P. Shambrook PhD ’69 is teaching a class in physics at Diablo Valley College which he finds enjoyable. His “primary profession is financial planning — no charge to

Mark Kushner ’76, MS ’76 received the 2010 Will Allis Prize for the Study of Ionized Gases “for ground-breaking contributions to developing and applying hybrid plasma models that have advanced the fundamental understanding of the chemistry, surface kinetics, and energy transport in low temperature plasmas.” Louis Cheng ’77, MS ’77 is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his consulting firm, Applied BioMechanics. They specialize in accident reconstruction and biomechanical analysis.

alumni in California; better if you are in the Bay Area. My primary avocation is spreading the word about a plastic that conducts electricity better than copper - still in the early science stage — not a product. We ran out of angel funding in 2004, and only one U.S. research organization would look at it - amazing example of the difficulty of

Kenneth W. Privitt ’77, MS ’80 has achieved his third sabbatical (21 years) from Intel Corporation. He and his wife, nancy ’78, will be traveling to the Great Barrier Reef, Hong Kong and the Great Wall of China.

paradigm shift — or maybe I am deluded. I am happy to correspond and give seminars on this topic. I give seminars on 1) highly conductive polymers, 2) retirement planning and 3) global warming scenarios — contact me at 707529-4123 or kevin.shambrook@gmail.com”

ucla EnginEEr 29

alumni news

1980s

Michael Louie ’91, a Hitachi Consulting Aerospace and Defense senior

Robert Burks ’80, chief engineer of Strategic & Missile

manager, received a special service

Defense Systems at Lockheed Martin Space Systems

citation plaque for his contributions to

Company, is currently the Focus School Advisor for UCLA for Lockheed Martin. Mansour Izadinia ’83 was hired by Integrated Device Technology as senior vice president of the analog and power group, signaling the company’s growing emphasis on analog- and mixed signal-products. He was recently interviewed by EDN — http://www.edn.com/ article/CA6718493.html

the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in October 2009. Chun Wong ’92, MBA ’03 founded Asolva, a software company, which released a new natural language data mining system used by hospitals for infection control and monitoring of antibiotic usage. The system will help address the fact that 90,000 people die each year due to

Jeffrey Briggs ’86 has been appointed Chief Operating

hospital-acquired infections as estimated by the Center

Officer of Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc.

for Disease Control.

Ljiljana Trajkovic PhD ’86 has been active in IEEE. She has

Jason K. Hui ’97, MS ’98, PhD ’02 and

been selected as an IEEE Circuits and Systems Society

his wife, Jamie, welcomed the birth of

Distinguished Lecturer for 2010-2011, vice president of

their daughter, Janavieve Lai-Yin, on

publications for IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics So-

January 12, 2010.

ciety for 2010-2011, and a member of the IEEE Technical Activities Board Periodicals Committee for 2009-2010. Wim Leemans MS ’87, PhD ’91 won the 2009 E.O. Lawrence Award that is given for outstanding contributions in research and development supporting the Department of Energy and its missions. He was recognized for his breakthrough work in developing the laser plasma wakefield accelerator from concept to demonstration, and his scientific leadership exploring its promise and

2000s Omar Haroon ’00 of Los Angeles-based Palisades Park Capital has recently launched its first two hedge funds, including an Islamic based hedge fund. The Mizaan LP fund “…doesn’t invest in industries deemed to be counter to Islamic law,” such as alcohol, gaming, and hospitality companies.

unprecedented possibilities ranging from hyperspectral

Herbert Lee ’00 is at Clorox. You can find him and other

light sources to high energy colliders. U.S. Secretary of

UCLA chemical engineers on Facebook.

Energy Steven Chu will present a gold medal, a citation and $50,000 to him on April 28, 2010. He is currently at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Lourdes V. Abellera MS ’01, PhD ’05 is an assistant professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology, College of Science, University of the Philippines, Diliman.

1990s Rex Black ’90 has recently published the third edition of his first book, Managing the Testing Process. In addition,

Brad Brauer ’01 received a peer voted technical honors award from Raytheon.

a chapter on evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency

Emily Dunkel ’01 received her doctorate in physics from

of testing processes appears in the upcoming book,

Harvard in 2008. She married her husband, Brian, in

Beautiful Testing, in October. The profits from Beautiful

2009, and has recently moved to Brentwood, Calif.

Testing go to Nothing But Nets.

working as a staff scientist at Arete Associates.

Tasha Lopez MS ’01 relocated from Southern California

Peter Chuang ’06 is studying at Chicago-Kent College of

to the Silicon Valley in January and accepted a new role

Law with an emphasis on intellectual property.

within IBM as the Cognos Now! sales executive for the western region of the U.S. Friends can reach her at tasha_lopez@yahoo.com — she’s looking forward to checking out some Bay Area Bruins events. Scott Arbiv ’03 has accepted a position at MIT Lincoln

Chris guillory ’06 is working at Google in Santa Monica, Calif. Ahmad Mirzaei PhD ’06 has been promoted to Principal Scientist at Broadcom Corporation. gauvain Haulot MS ’07 is a doctoral student at UCLA

Laboratory in Lexingon, Mass.

Engineering.

Kimberly Kaleas ’03 was the lead author for “Industrial

Johann Ly ’08 is working on his master’s in computer

case study: Evaluation of a mixed-mode resin for selective capture of a human growth factor recombinantly

science at UCSB.

expressed in E. coli” which was in the January 2010

Hossein nasseri ’08 will be graduating with his master’s

issue of Journal of Chromatography A.

in Design and Construction Integration from Stanford

Jessica Mubaraki ’03 was interviewed by Diversity Careers for an article on systems engineers. http://www.diversitycareers.com/articles/pro/09-decjan/chg_tech_systems.htm Jae (James) Lee ’04 was promoted to program manager at Moog, Inc. and will marry Kathy Song ’04 (Sociology) on May 15, 2010. Alvera Akroush ’05 graduated from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in June 2009 and is currently doing her postgraduate medical training in internal medicine at Olive View — UCLA Medical Center in the San Fernando Valley.

University. He has focused his studies on virtual design and construction (VDC) and worked as a visiting fellow for 6 months at the U.S. General Services Administrations in 2009. He will begin working at Parsons Brinkerhoff in the Bay Area and will be a part of their VDC team. Bunga Setiawan ’08 has been busy since graduation. She is a master’s student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UCLA and has co-founded a start-up, ClickNSmart. She is also doing research in the field of selfcatalyzed growth and characterization of indium arsenide phosphate and indium phosphate nanowires, and is in the process of publishing a research paper in the field of semiconductor nanowires. She “likes to keep active and busy

Elvis “Elvo” Kibiti ’05 is excited that his

because she believes in combining engineering with busi-

latest project, the Apple iPad, has been

ness to make the world a better place. Engineers can create

announced. He is a proud member of

a groundbreaking product and business people can market

a 7-man product design team responsible

the product to consumers. Engineers and business people

for all mechanical aspects (design, manu-

work hand-in-hand to make our world a better place.”

facturing, structure, reliability, cosmetics, etc) of the Apple iPad. He is enjoying his career at Apple and glad to have been a key designer in the last generation iMacs and now the iPad. Youngwoo Park PhD ’05 has been promoted to Master of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. where he is responsible for developing an advanced NAND Flash device.

Melony Mahaarachchi ’09 graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering and is open to start working at any level.

in MEMoriAM Patricia Kirkwood ’50 (Math), MS ’61 Karl Bernstein ’51, MS ’55, PhD ’69 Dwight Weber ’68 Jon Jones ME ’83

Do you have an update to share? If so, please e-mail Grace Coopman, Director of Alumni Relations, at gcoopman@support.ucla.edu.

ucla EnginEEr 31

aLuMni news

The Kyser BroThers: DaviD ’61, MiKe ’67, Ms ’69 anD sTeve ’71 the kyser Brothers, David, Mike and Steve, grew up just a few miles from UCLA in Inglewood and feel they were fortunate enough to attend. David does research and development for Applied Materials; Mike is retired after 37 years in the satellite industry; and Steve is a commercial airline pilot. UCLA Engineer asked them how impactful their education was to their engineering careers. Do you have a favoriTe uCLa engineering experienCe? Steve: “One of my most memorable experiences has yet to be completed. I remember falling asleep during a thermodynamics class (because I pulled an all-nighter for another exam) only to awaken to the professor stating “...and that is the boundary-layer explanation for why we see what appears to be steam rising off the surface of a swimming pool when we know the water is not boiling.” I had always wondered about that and to this day have been unable to come up with the explanation. I missed my chance at knowing, but if someone reading this knows the answer and would like to share it with me, well, then I could consider my UCLA engineering knowledge base complete.” MIke: “My favorite classes were the dynamics classes taught by Professor Peter Likins. He just had a way of making the subject interest-

ing and fun to learn. I particularly remember his writing skills at the blackboard. He wrote faster than I could take notes and every equation he wrote was perfect. I was always amazed at how he did that.” DAvID: “the basic education in engineering fundamentals enabled me to enter the semiconductor industry at an early stage, and eventually enabled me to enter graduate school at USC (MS ’64, PhD ‘67) that led to a 42-year career in research and development in the Silicon valley. I can credit UCLA for starting me down this career path.” One LASt nOte . . . Steve, along with his best friend, created a self-help engineering group of two. “We shared leadership roles, and neither of us would have made it through without the other. We never cheated, but at the risk of UCLA wanting my degree back, I will stop there.”

using Computer science to solve the Mysteries of genetics continued from page 7 Institutes of Health (NIH). Besides wanting Eskin’s group to develop their resources as a service to the community, NIEHS is also very interested in Eskin’s approach to analyzing geneby-environment interactions. “They see a potential in our methods to better understand how genes respond to toxins and pollution in the environment. Currently, toxicity studies are performed on only a single genetic strain of mouse. We can provide more robust information if we extend this to multiple strains,” said Eskin, who also is involved in a new UCLA bioinformatics Ph.D. program this year. Bioinformatics, the application of information technology and computer science to the field of molecular biology, entails the creation of databases, algorithms, computational and statistical techniques and theory to solve problems arising

from the management and analysis of biological data. In this program consisting of interdisciplinary courses, Eskin teaches both graduate and undergraduate students from engineering, medicine and the life sciences. “Our first students in the Ph.D. program just arrived this year and there are 20 faculty from 14 different departments involved with this program so it’s very interdisciplinary,” said Eskin. “Bioinformatics is definitely a growing area, particularly now with a new generation of sequencing technology out there. A lot of people from computer science are moving into this area very rapidly. It’s a great opportunity for computational-oriented people because there is such an overwhelming amount of data. We’re working in a very exciting and explosive area and I’m just glad to be a part of it.”

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