2011 News

Students recognized for academic achievement in science and engineering

Project is hailed for successful application of design-build approach

The team behind construction of UC Irvine’s Engineering Hall has won the esteemed 2011 Design-Build Institute of America award for design excellence in educational facilities, which honors projects in which all services are provided under one contract with a single point of responsibility.

MAE professor named associate dean

Professor Faryar Jabbari, Ph.D., Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, has been named Associate Dean for Academic Affairs of The Henry Samueli School of Engineering effective October 1, 2011.

The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs is charged with conducting independent, impartial and thorough analyses of academic personnel actions in order to provide recommendations to the dean. Jabbari will also be responsible for reviewing the credentials and recommending the approval of appointments and other actions for non-senate research personnel, and has dean-delegated signature authority for those personnel actions.

Ko Nee and Michael F. Gray make presentations at the 19th International Solvent Extraction Conference

Ahmad Falahatpisheh’s research on bioprosthetic heart valves highlighted in Tecplot, Inc. case study

Ahmad Falahatpisheh, a mechanical and aerospace engineering Ph.D. student in the lab of Assistant Professor Arash Kheradvar, M.D., Ph.D., in The Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology, is at the forefront of pioneering research to improve bioprosthetic heart valves (BHVs) and patients’ quality of life. The software company, Tecplot, Inc. featured Falahatpisheh’s research used as a case study on their website.

Falahatpisheh studies cardiac mechanics, cardiac devices and cardiac imaging at The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine.

Samueli School benefactor receives lifetime achievement award

The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) announced Dr. Henry Samueli, industry pioneer and co-founder, chairman and chief technical officer of Broadcom Corporation, as the winner of the 2011 Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award. Dr. Samueli was presented with this lifetime achievement award during the GSA Awards Dinner Celebration on Thursday, December 8, 2011, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, Calif.

"Dr. Samueli had the foresight, innovation and belief that a semiconductor company could become highly successful without having to fabricate their own chips," said Jodi Shelton, co-founder and president of GSA.

Fundamentals of Microfabrication and Nanotechnology in Third Edition

CEE professor honored for interdisciplinary contributions

Professor William “Bill” J. Cooper, Ph.D., Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in The Henry Samueli School of Engineering, has been elected a 2011 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The world’s largest general scientific society, AAAS is dedicated to advancing science around the world through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education and more. The prestigious honor is awarded yearly to members whose “efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished.”  New Fellows are chosen by their association peers.

Washington discusses his desire to partner with industry

Eight students make presentations on their internship experience at the Samueli School

Carmine Galasso to research Japanese earthquake

Carmine Galasso, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Civil and Enviromental Engineering (CEE) at The Henry Samueli School of Engineering, was selected as one of three Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows in the U.S. to spend a month in Japan researching the massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated the country in March 2011.

Galasso, who is concentrating his research on performance-based earthquake engineering at the Samueli School, began work in November with Associate Professor Hitoshi Shiohara, Ph.D., University of Tokyo.

Khine is one of 16 women selected

Associate Professor Michelle Khine, Ph.D., Department of Biomedical Engineering, has been named as “Top Scientist” in the 2011 Women on Top Awards by Marie Claire Magazinein the November 2011 issue.

Khine is best known for the method she devised to fabricate tiny features onto plastic chips. She discovered this by using material from one of her favorite childhood toys, Shrinky Dinks.  She printed microfluidic patterns onto the Shrinky Dink sheets using a laser-jet printer, then heated them in a toaster oven. As the pieces flattened out into hard plastic shapes, the printed ink lines also shrank, creating patterns of channels and microwells that are perfect for the mixing of fluids and moving of cells needed to perform her experiments.

Assistant Professor Lorenzo Valdevit helps develop world’s lightest material

Assistant Professor Lorenzo Valdevit, Ph.D., Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, with a team of researchers from HRL Laboratories, LLC; The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine; and the California Institute of Technology announced that they have developed the world’s lightest material with a density of 0.9 mg/cc, approximately one hundred times lighter than Styrofoam™. The results of their research are published in the November 18, 2011 issue of the journal Science.

Visiting the iMove center at UC Irvine's Gross Hall is like being on the set of a sci-fi movie. Here, the merging of machines and humans — the premise of such futuristic films as "Alien" and "The Terminator" — has become a reality.

Inside the lab, at Sue & Bill Gross Hall: A CIRM Institute, patients whose limbs have been impaired by a stroke or spinal cord injury don robotic arms, gloves with special sensors and other high-tech devices designed to help get them moving again.

For more than 20 years, iMove center director David Reinkensmeyer has sought to restore human mobility by developing new technologies for motion training, exercise and rehabilitation.

James Earthman awarded Best Presentation in University and Research

Samuelsen met with officials as part of “Champions of Change” initiative

Professor G. Scott Samuelsen, Ph.D., Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, was selected to discuss his groundbreaking work, including the conversion of sewage gas into fuel for hydrogen cars, with White House officials as part of the “Champions of Change” program.

Samuelsen was part of a “Make it in America” roundtable with other honorees and key White House administration leaders regarding the importance of fuel cell technology in enabling a transition to clean energy for the United States market and in creating of thousands of jobs in manufacturing, installation, operation and servicing throughout the U.S. and around the world.

Timu Gallien researching urban coastal flood models

Meet the 2011-2012 Engineering Student Council Executive Committee

Local philanthropist passes away
 

G. Patricia “Pat” Beckman, 78, died at her home in Corona del Mar, Calif., in August 2011.

Reinkensmeyer gives NIH National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering Lecture

Professor David J. Reinkensmeyer, Ph.D., Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering with a split appointment in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology in the School of Medicine, and a joint appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, was selected to give the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering Lecture on Friday, October 14, at the 2011 Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Annual Meeting in Hartford, Conn.