In the Zotlight
Awards, grants and other honors can be sent to eknapp@uci.edu to be considered for publication.
MARCH 2010
Professors Cooper and Rosso Participate in Prominent Department of Energy Workshop
William C. Cooper, Ph.D., professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the Urban Water Reseach Center, and Diego Rosso, Ph.D., assistant professor of civil and environmental enginering, were invited to particpate in the Desalination and Industrial Energy Efficiency Workshop hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy, Industrial Technology Program, on Feb. 24 - 25, 2010 in Tampa, Florida. Additionally, Cooper was asked to be a plenary speaker because of his expertise and experience in industrial water usage efficiency and desalination, and addressed “Challenges in the Water Sector in the 21st Century.”
This highly specilized DOE workshop explored the technological challenges and potential research and development solutions specific to industrial water usage efficiency and desalination, including the importance of reducing the intensity of industrial water use and improving the efficiency and cost of desalination operations.
Professor Swindlehurst Recieves Best Paper Award from IEEE Signal Processing Society
A. Lee Swindlehurst, Ph.D., professor of electrical engineering and computer science, was recently selected for the prestigious 2009 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Signal Processing Society Best Paper Award for "Zero-Forcing Methods for Downlink Spatial Multiplexing in Multiuser MIMO Channels," published in the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, February 2004, and co-authored by Dr. Quentin Spencer (SAIC, Inc.) and Professor Martin Haardt (Ilmenau University of Technology, Germany).
This highly-cited paper was one of the first to address the general problem of multi-user “multiple-input, multiple-output” (MIMO) downlink wireless communications from an algorithmic point-of-view, and has been an impetus for research by numerous groups around the world. Swindlehurst's research focuses generally on the use of multiple antennas for communications, interference mitigation, localization, and tracking.
He will receive this award during the 2010 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP) in Dallas, TX, March 14-19, 2010.
FEBRUARY 2010
Dean Rafael L. Bras Elected to American Geophysical Union's Board of Directors
Rafael L. Bras, Sc.D., distinguished professor and dean of The Henry Samueli School of Engineering, has been elected to the American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) board of directors. AGU board members are selected by peer votes. The board has general authority for all the affairs of the Union, and serves as its representative in external relations. AGU, home to nearly 60,000 members, is dedicated to the furtherance of the geophysical sciences through the individual efforts of its members, and in cooperation with other national and international scientific organizations.
Bras is also a Fellow of the AGU, as well as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the American Meteorological Society. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, a member of the Academia de Artes y Ciencias de Puerto Rico, and a corresponding member of the National Academy of Engineering of Mexic
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Gajski Given Lifetime Achievement Award by European Electronics Group
Daniel Gajski, Ph.D., the Henry Samueli "Turing" Endowed Chair in Computer Systems Design, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and director of UC Irvine's Center for Embedded Computer Systems, has won the 2010 European Design and Automation Association Lifetime Achievement Award. The honor distinguishes those who have made outstanding contributions to electronic design, automation and the testing of electronic systems. Read more >>
Samueli School BME Professor Named One of Orange County’s “Top Doctors”
Brian Wong, M.D., Ph.D., professor of biomedical engineering, otolaryngology and surgery, and an investigator at the Beckman Laser Institute, has been named one of Orange County’s “Top Doctors” by Orange Coast magazine for the fourth consecutive year. Physicians on the “Top Doctors” listing are chosen on an annual basis by a selection committee who review nominations for the Orange County Medical Association’s Physicians of Excellence program. Wong’s medical practice is focused on aesthetic, corrective, and reconstructive facial surgery, with an emphasis on rhinoplasty. He is also a specialist in the reconstructive cranio-maxillofacial surgery, and in treatment of vascular tumors of the head and neck. As a Beckman Laser Institute professor, Dr. Wong also directs a large research laboratory focusing on the development of new ways to reshape and regenerate living tissues, as well as perform minimally invasive surgery and optical imaging.
JANUARY 2010
Professor Kwei-Jay Lin Named IEEE Fellow
Electrical engineering and computer science Professor Kwei-Jay Lin, Ph.D., has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) “for contributions to imprecise computations for scheduling real-time systems.” The IEEE Fellow is one of the most prestigious honors of the IEEE, and is bestowed upon no more than one-tenth of one percent of the total IEEE membership in a year.
Lin's research interests include service-oriented systems, Web technology, real-time systems, and distributed systems. He is involved in research projects providing system support for efficient, flexible and accountable services on the web.
BME Assistant Professor’s Research Published on Two Journal Covers
Michelle Khine, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical engineering, is co-author on two publications recently featured on journal covers. Khine’s paper, “Tunable Nanowrinkles on Shape Memory Polymer Sheets,” was highlighted on the cover of Advanced Materials, Vol. 21, Issue 44, and her other paper, “Tunable shrink-induced honeycomb microwell arrays for uniform embryoid bodies,” was published in Lab on a Chip, Vol. 9, Number 23.
BME Assistant Professor’s Research Featured in Journal Nature Medicine
Bernard Choi, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical engineering, recently had his work on "optical clearing" highlighted in the journal Nature Medicine. Choi and his research group are working on a way to make biological tissues more transparent, which could provide scientists and physicians with new biological insights and improve the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
New Samueli School Assistant Professor Receives 2010 Young Outstanding Scientist Award
Jasper Vrugt, Ph.D., assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, was given the 2010 Young Outstanding Scientist Award from the Hydrology Section of the European Geophysical Union (EGU). This award recognizes scientific achievements made by young scientists in any field of the geosciences within seven years of completing their Ph.D. degree. Vrugt was highlighted for his development of general-purpose algorithms and numerical approaches that attempt to analyze the discrepancy between model predictions and actual observations to improve the theory, understanding and predictability of environmental systems.
AIAA Elects New Honorary Fellow, Professor Robert Liebeck
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has elected Robert Liebeck, Ph.D., adjunct professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and a Senior Fellow at The Boeing Company, an Honorary Fellow - the highest distinction given by AIAA and its board of directors. An Honorary Fellow is granted to preeminent individuals who have had long and highly contributory careers in aerospace, and who embody the highest possible standards in aeronautics and astronautics. Liebeck will be honored, together with all new Fellows and Honorary Fellows, on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 in Washington D.C. at the AIAA Aerospace Spotlight Awards Gala.
Professor Stephen Ritchie Receives Frank M. Masters Transportation Engineering Award from ASCE
Stephen Ritchie, Ph.D., professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Irvine has been awarded the prominent Frank M. Masters Transportation Engineering Award for 2010 from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The award recognizes a member of the society for the best example of innovative or noteworthy planning, design or construction of transportation facilities. Ritchie's award citation reads, “For his innovative work in the development and application of new technologies in transportation engineering,” which will be presented in October 2010 at the ASCE Annual Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.Ritchie studies transportation systems engineering, and is specifically interested in advanced traffic management and control systems, development and application of emerging technologies in transportation engineering, and modeling greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions from transportation systems.