Media Watch

The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine is ranked 21st in US News & World Report’s current listing of best public engineering graduate schools. Its Department of Biomedical Engineering has a mission statement which succinctly encompasses its teaching and identity: inspire engineering minds to advance human health. “This mission is well integrated within and supported by our local community as Orange County is home to 150 biomedical device companies,” says Zoran Nenadic, William J. Link professor and Biomedical Engineering chair. Our department has strong ties to the UC Irvine’s School of Medicine, with many of our faculty members holding joint appointments there or collaborating with clinicians to translate their technologies from the laboratory to the bedside.” Read More

Shao Sun, [engineering visiting associate researcher], a climatologist who studies meteorological hazards at the University of California Irvine, told CNN that northern China has faced intensifying extreme rain over the past decade and needs to enhance its disaster defense capabilities. … “The drainage design standards in northern Chinese cities need further improvement to withstand the increasing frequency of extreme weather events caused by climate change,” he said. Read More

But this year, in the middle of summer with no rain for months, it could be El Nino’s warm-water influence causing the flooding, UC Irvine coastal engineering expert [and professor] Brett Sanders said. … The flooding local areas are experiencing could be a glimpse into the future with sea-level rise and warming waters that could make the higher ocean level an everyday occurrence, Sanders warned, meaning trouble for coastal highways, buildings and other infrastructure. [Subscription required, campus-wide access provided by UCI Libraries. Sign-up here: https://guides.lib.uci.edu/news/ocregister] Read More

“Beaches usually erode quickly during storms and then recover slowly under mild wave conditions,” said Brett Sanders, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Irvine, who runs UCI’s Flood Lab. “But when the coast experiences several storms in a row, with inadequate time for beach recovery, the impacts of winter storms magnify as we saw this year in Northern California. Given increases in wave energy and rising sea levels,” he said, “a takeaway message is that holding back coastal erosion is becoming even more challenging.” [Subscription required, you can request an electronic copy of the article by sending an email to communications@uci.edu.] Read More