News

Vu is a senior manager at The Boeing Company

Liem W. Vu, an alumnus of The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine, was named “Asian American Executive of the Year” by the Chinese Institute of Engineers – USA at the annual Asian American Engineer of the Year Award Conference in March 2012 in Albuquerque, N.M.

Vu, a senior manager with the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) – Mission System Integrated Product Team (IPT) within the Boeing Defense, Space & Security division of The Boeing Company, was given the award for his sustained leadership and engineering contributions in the development of avionics, software, weapons systems, test facilities and training simulators in support of military aircraft programs and combat systems.

Friedman was one of 12 finalists

Nizan Friedman, a graduate student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering in The Henry Samueli School of Engineering, presented research at the inaugural Broadcom Foundation University Research Competition sponsored by Broadcom Foundation, a non-profit organization funded by Broadcom Corporation. Friedman’s project “MusicGlove: A Music‐Based Hand Rehabilitation Device,” creates a new, intensive and highly motivating rehabilitation regimen, reducing long‐term hand impairment from conditions such as stroke, high‐level spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, muscular dystrophies, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and cerebral palsy.

UC Irvine finishes third in the environmental design competition

Award is in cardiovascular and neurovascular research

Assistant Professor Arash Kheradvar, M.D., Ph.D. in Department of Biomedical Engineering has been named as a recipient of the 2011-2012 Career Development Award from Leducq Foundation as a senior investigator. Kheradvar received the award based on his research entitled “Flow through the Right Heart after Repair of Tetralogy of Fallot: anImage-Based Modeling Approach.”

Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is a common form of cyanotic congenital heart disease (CHD), which accounts for approximately 7 to 10 percent of live-born patients with CHD. “Our central hypothesis is that the abnormal patterns of flow through the RV in TOF hearts contributes to dissipation of the kinetic energy of flow and reduces the efficiency of RV function, promoting its failure,” Kheradvar states.

Notch network study has implications for cancer and heart disease research

By using a laser microbeam technology called optical tweezers, UC Irvine and UCLA researchers have uncovered fundamental properties of a key molecular signaling system involved with development, cancer and cardiovascular disease.

In collaboration, UCI’s Elliot Botvinick and UCLA’s Gerry Weinmaster published complimentary studies in the journal Developmental Cell, in which they each used optical tweezers to detect and measure mechanical force produced by cells when bound to Notch, a cellular pathway that serves as a communication network to ensure the correct cell types form at a precise time and location in the body.

He is one of 61 honored as Fellows in 2012

Professor James S. (Jay) Famiglietti, Ph.D., Department of Earth System Science in the School of Physical Sciences, and a joint appointment in in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) in The Henry Samueli School of Engineering, has been elected as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) for his exceptional scientific contributions. The designation is conferred upon not more than 0.1 percent of all AGU members in any given year.

Famiglietti’s research group focuses on how the water cycle and freshwater resources are being impacted by climate change.

Alexopoulos among top 0.01 percent of highly cited in computer science

Truc Vu recognized for his outstanding service and contributions to UC Irvine

Michelle Digman wins Young Fluorescence Investigator Award

Michelle A. Digman, Ph.D., director of the Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics (LFD) in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at The Henry Samueli School of Engineering, received the Young Fluorescence Investigator Award at the Biophysical Society’s 56th Annual Meeting on February 25 in San Diego.

As director of the LFD, Digman mentors graduate students in their research and conducts independent research on the extracellular environment and tumor metastasis in live cells. She also performs live cell migration studies in two-dimensional and three-dimensional space.

Liebeck teaches aerodynamics, airplane performance and airplane design.

As a child, Robert Liebeck loved tinkering with model airplanes. The UC Irvine adjunct professor of mechanical & aerospace engineering is still at it — but now he's working on a much different kind of model, one that could revolutionize air travel.

Called the blended wing body, the concept results in aircraft that look more like sleek manta rays than today's tube-and-wing jets. A BWB plane would burn about 20 percent less fuel than conventional planes, and because its engines mount high on the back of the aircraft, it would be an estimated 50 decibels quieter.

"It could operate out of John Wayne Airport 24 hours a day," says Liebeck, who has been developing the BWB as a senior fellow at the Boeing Company for more than 20 years.

Dr. Thomas W. Peterson, Assistant Director, Engineering Directorate, National Science Foundation

Schools served by the MESA Center at the Samueli School

Professor Brett F. Sanders and alum Tricia Maruki honored

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Orange County Branch honored Brett F. Sanders, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) in The Henry Samueli School of Engineering, and Samueli School alum Tricia Maruki, P.E., in February at the branch’s annual awards dinner banquet in Costa Mesa.

Sanders' work is in the area of environmental hydrodynamics and his specialty is numerical modeling of free surface flow and transport in rivers and the coastal zone (estuaries, harbors, and bays). Maruki graduated cum laude with a B.S. degree from the Samueli School in 2005, and received her professional engineer’s license in 2008.

Jered Haun working to diagnose diseases with nanotechnology

Jered B. Haun, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, in The Henry Samueli School of Engineering, is conducting research focused on developing nanotechnologies to diagnose diseases and obtain new insight into biology.

Haun is broadly interested in detecting unique signatures, or biomarkers, that accompany diseases such as cancer and atherosclerosis. These biomarkers herald the presence of the disease, and may also provide valuable insight about the pathological phenotype that can be used to formulate powerful, personalized therapies.

UCI’s Jay Famiglietti warns of global crisis in new documentary

UC Irvine professor Jay Famiglietti sits with his arms politely crossed, watching an irate Central Valley farmer wrest a microphone out of a conservationist’s hand. The two are dueling over the urgency of irrigation for 25 percent of America’s food supply versus cancelling crop production to save water.

A few minutes later, Famiglietti patiently tries to explain the scientific reality behind groundwater depletion and why proper resource management could help all sides. Suddenly, he abandons his professorial lingo and sighs: “We’re screwed.”

It’s just one of his memorable observations in the new documentary “Last Call at the Oasis,” which will open May 11 at the Edwards University Town Center cinema in Irvine.

New graduate program targets recently graduated engineering students seeking leadership roles

UC Irvine research featured on the cover of Tissue Engineering Journal

UC Irvine researchers are working on a new technology to develop the first patient-specific heart valve with self-regenerative capabilities. A recently published article entitled “Metal Mesh Scaffold for Tissue Engineering of Membranes” has been featured on the cover of the April 2012 issue of the journal of Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods. In this article, UC Irvine scientists revealed a novel engineered tissue made of an extra thin layer of metal mesh tightly enclosed by biological cell layers analogous to a heart valve leaflet.

Sean Burke created the ESCan wristband to gather data during E-Week

Grosberg to focus on tissue engineering

Assistant Professor Anna Grosberg, Ph.D., Department of Biomedical Engineering, has recently joined The Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology after completing postdoctoral research at Harvard University.

Grosberg joins The Henry Samueli School of Engineering facultyand is expected to provide new and synergistic expertise in applyingmultiscale computational modeling and tissue engineering to stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells), cardiac morphogenesis (development of structure), and cardiac function.

Highlights included a meeting with Israel President Shimon

UC Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake and three faculty members recently concluded an academic mission in Israel, forging collaborative research agreements and student and faculty exchanges with the country’s top universities. Among the highlights of the trip was a visit with Israel President Shimon Peres.

“Our meetings with university leaders and President Peres were enlightening and productive,” Drake said. “Together, we were able to identify many similarities between UC Irvine and the top universities in Israel. We look forward to continuing our relationships with these institutions, just as we have with many others around the world, including in South Korea, Norway, Poland, China and others.”