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CERT Team Receives $1.2 Million from DOE for Fuel Economy Research

Researchers at the Center for Environmental Research and Technology at BCOE along with their research partners have received a $1.2 million grant from the Department of Energy to study and evaluate technologies that provide feedback to drivers so they can cut harmful emissions and reduce fuel use by up to 30 percent.

“This grant allows us to go beyond small, anecdotal studies to show, on a large scale, the significant positive economic and environmental impacts of eco-driving principles and the value of feedback systems,” said Matthew Barth, the principal investigator on the project and the director of CERT (pictured at right, above). Read More

USDA Funds Extension of Building Bridges Across Riverside Program

August 11, 2011 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded three years of new funding to continue the Building Bridges Across Riverside program, a collaboration between the Bourns College of Engineering and Riverside Community College District that provides research opportunities for community college students from underrepresented groups who have a desire to transfer to a four-year institution and pursue a degree in science or engineering. 

Louise Daniels, a physics major at Riverside City College (on the left in photo), and Brent Malcomb, an environmental engineering major at Moreno Valley College (in the center in the photo), participated in the eight-week residential program, which ends August 12. They are the eighth and ninth students to participate since the program began in 2006. 

In addition to a stipend, the program provides on-campus housing during the eight weeks. Both students will return to their respective community college programs in September, but will continue with their research at UCR 10 hours per week for the next 30 weeks.

“The goal isn’t necessarily to have them to transfer to UCR,” said Sharon Walker (on the right in the photo), associate professor of chemical and environmental engineering and John Babbage Chair in Environmental Engineering at BCOE. “We would like that, of course, but the program is designed to stimulate their interest in pursuing a four-year degree and an advanced degree in science or engineering.” 

Walker is co-director of the program, along with Heather Smith, assistant professor of life sciences at RCC. 

During the summer, Daniels worked alongside Walker and her students on research relating to removing nanoparticles from the water supply. Malcomb’s research focused on removing perchlorate from the water supply and was supervised by Mark Matsumoto, professor of chemical and environmental engineering and associate dean for research and graduate education at BCOE. 

Before beginning her studies at RCC, Daniels spent five years in the Marine Corps, where she served in Iraq and Okinawa. She feels her military experience was an asset to her research experience. “I’m still committed to the core values,” she said. “Especially attention to detail and discipline.” 

Malcomb reflected on the experience by saying, “It’s given me a feeling for what grad school is like and what my field is like. The weekly seminars and preparation for the GRE were really helpful. I learned a lot.” 

Daniels agreed, in saying, “In addition to the actual research, we learned how to write an abstract and a scientific paper and how to prepare a poster.” 

Both students will be eligible to transfer to a four-year college or university in fall 2012. They are considering UCR, but are looking at other options as well. UC Santa Barbara has a special appeal to Daniels because of the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network it is affiliated with. She is considering majoring in astrophysics. 

Malcomb, who grew up in nearby Perris, aspires to get his Ph.D. in environmental engineering and work in industry. 

The program is a part of an effort by the USDA to diversify the nation’s science and engineering workforce. While women make up nearly half of the degreed workforce in America, they represent only about 25 percent of the scientists and engineers. Africa-Americans account for less than seven percent and Hispanics about three percent of the science and engineering workforce.

California Energy Commission Funds Ongoing Waste-to-Fuel Research

August 11, 2011 -- The California Energy Commission's has funded the final phase of a CE-CERT project to convert Riverside's landfill waste into clean transportation fuels.

The new $650,000 grant, part of the CEC's Public Interest Energy Research Program, extends the $2-million project to build a process demonstration unit that will provide critical engineering data prior to a proposed five-ton-per-day plant at the City of Riverside’s waste water treatment facility. Read More

CE-CERT Group Awarded $2-Million Contract to Evaluate Hybrid Emissions

August 11, 2011 -- The California Air Resources Board has awarded the Emissions and Fuels Research Group at the College of Engineering-Center for Environmental Research and Technology a $2-million contract to evaluate the emission reduction benefits of hybrid technology for heavy-duty off-road construction vehicles.

This is part of a larger effort by CARB to expand the use of hybrid technology to help meet the goals of AB 118 -- to achieve an 80 percent reduction of greenhouse gas by 2050. Read More

Lake and Balandin Awarded NSF Grant for Topological Insulator Research

July 7, 2011 -- Professor of Electrical Engineering Roger Lake (photo, left) and Alexander Balandin, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Chair of the Materials Science and Engineering Program (photo, right), have been awarded a multi-year grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate and characterize the behavior of topological insulators, a new class of quantum materials with bulk insulating energy gaps and gapless Dirac-cone edge or surface states.

The successful project has the potential to lead to new technologies that exploit the low-dissipation, low-noise states of topological insulators for computation, communications, and sensors.

The electrons on the surfaces of topological insulators have many similarities to electrons in graphene, another material of intense interest. However, the electrons on the surfaces of topological insulators have even more special and peculiar properties. Bismuth telluride (Bi₂Te₃) and bismuth selenide (Bi₂Se₃) are examples of topological insulators, whose surface states are protected against time-reversal-invariant perturbations such as non-magnetic impurities, defects, and reconstruction. The charge is uniquely coupled to the spin, and charge current creates spin polarization. Since the surface states are topologically protected, and the momentum states are coupled to spin states, scattering is reduced and noise is suppressed.

Topological insulators have shown exceptional properties for thermoelectric, charge, and spin transport. These materials and properties will be investigated by Lake and Balandin’s research teams from an engineering electronics point of view. Devices that exploit these properties will be built, modeled and characterized, and the performance metrics and fundamental limits of such devices will be determined. Transformative concepts include the use of low-dissipation, low noise topologically protected states of topological insulators for electronic/spintronic devices and low-noise, low-power interconnects.

Their investigation will be simultaneously carried out both experimentally and theoretically. The project will (i) add to the fundamental knowledge of the material properties and physical processes in highly-scaled topological insulator materials; (ii) build, model, and characterize devices that exploit topological insulating properties for computation, signal processing, and sensing; (iii) determine the performance metrics and the fundamental limitations of such devices, (iv) explore the use of topological insulators for low-dissipation, low-noise interconnects; and (v) develop the electrochemical atomic layer deposition technique to grow few-atomic-layer films of topological insulators.

All materials will be extensively characterized using a wide range of methods including atomic force, scanning electron, and transmission electron microscopy, low energy electron diffraction, X-ray spectroscopy, Auger spectroscopy, electron probe micro-analysis, micro-Raman spectroscopy, electrical, and thermal measurements. Experimental measurements will be compared to device models and ab initio, density functional theory calculations of the electronic structure and vibrational modes of the thin film and nanowire materials.

This three-year investigation will be simultaneously carried out at both theoretically in Lake’s Laboratory for Terahertz and Terascale Electronics (LATTE) and experimentally in Balandin’s Nano Device Laboratory (NDL).  

BCOE Grad Students Form Chapter of the Electrochemical Society

July 6, 2011 -- A group of graduate students at the Bourns College of Engineering have formed a student chapter of the Electrochemical Society (ECS). The UCR student chapter was approved at the Electrochemical Society’s meeting in Montreal, Canada, in May.

Doctoral graduate students and Ph.D. candidates Khan M. Farhan Shahil, Javed Khan, M. Zahid Hossain and Muhammad Rahman serve as the UCR chapter’s chair, vice chair, secretary and treasurer, respectively. Other graduate student members – founders of the UCR chapter – include Jie Yu, Craig Nolen, Vivek Goyal, Guanxiong Liu and Desalegne Teweldebrhan. Professor Alexander A. Balandin serves as a faculty advisor and mentor. The UCR student chapter of ECS became the second one in the UC system after the UC Berkeley chapter founded in 2006.

The idea to create an ECS student chapter came to the students after some of the students attended and gave talks at the Electrochemical Society’s annual meeting in Las Vegas in 2010. The students were impressed with the quality of technical presentations, and opportunities for interactions with researchers and engineers from both academia and industry. The students’ dissertation research in Balandin's Nano-device Laboratory includes investigation of thermal and electronic properties of graphene, applications of graphene in electronic devices, nanostructured materials for thermoelectric, photovoltaic and battery applications.  

ECS was founded in 1902 as an international nonprofit, educational organization concerned with a broad range of phenomena relating to electrochemical and solid-state science and technology. ECS has more than 8,000 scientists and engineers in over 70 countries worldwide, who hold individual membership, as well as about 100 corporations and laboratories that hold corporate membership. Among ECS’s objectives are to advance the theory and practice of electrochemistry, solid-state science, and allied subjects. ECS bridges the gaps among academia, research, and engineering—bringing together scientists from around the world for the exchange of technical information.  

Lonardi Awarded NSF Grant for Genome Sequencing Project

July 5, 2011 -- Professor of Computer Science Stefano Lonardi has begun work with co-principal investigator Timothy Close, professor of genetics at UCR, on an NSF-funded project to develop a new sequencing protocol for hierarchical genome sequencing of large eukaryotic genomes.

Lonardi will focus on solving a set of challenging computational challenges that require the study of novel combinatorial optimization problems, the development of new time- and space-efficient algorithms, and ultimately the implementation and deployment of user-friendly web-based software tools. The new combinatorial sequencing protocol will be trained first on simulated data and then applied to the cowpea genome.

Cowpea Vigna unguiculata, also known as China bean or black-eyed pea, is one of the most important food legume crops in the semi-arid tropics covering Asia, Africa, and Central and South America. A drought-tolerant and warm-weather crop, cowpeas are well-adapted to the drier regions of the tropics, where other food legumes do not perform well and its modest genome size makes it an excellent candidate to demonstrate the utility of the protocol.

Lonardi and Close expect the final assembly to provide a sufficient depth of knowledge to support most downstream applications including map-based cloning of trait determinants, development of markers for marker-assisted breeding, microarray development for gene expression studies and analysis of synteny with related species.

Liu Publishes Breakthrough Laser Research Results

July 5, 2011 -- Professor of Electrical Engineering Jianlin Liu (center in photo) and his colleagues have made a breakthrough in zinc oxide nanowire waveguide lasers, which can offer smaller sizes, lower costs, higher powers and shorter wavelengths.

Liu’s findings have been published in the July issue of Nature Nanotechnology. Co-authors are: Sheng Chu, Guoping Wang, Jieying Kong, Lin Li and Jingjian Ren, all graduate students at UCR; Weihang Zhou, a student at Fudan University in China; Leonid Chernyak, a professor of physics at the University of Central Florida; Yuqing Lin, a graduate student at the University of Central Florida; and Jianze Zhao, a visiting student from Dalian University of Technology in China. Read More

BCOE Students Develop App to Protect Facebook Accounts from Hackers

June 20, 2011 -- Two BCOE graduate students and a company run by an alumnus of the school have partnered to develop a free Facebook application that detects spam and malware posted on users' walls and news feeds.

Md Sazzadur Rahman and Ting-Kai Huang, both Ph.D. students in computer science, created MyPageKeeper.org to provide real-time protection from viruses and phishing and spam campaigns for the 700 million users of Facebook. Read More

Black Voice News Highlights Positive Impact of NSBE

June 16, 2011 -- The Black Voice News ran a story, “Engineering The Gateway To Success” in today’s edition that describes the positive impact of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) on young people around the country, focusing on the work of the UCR chapter, whose members were able to attend the society’s national convention in 2011 thanks to support from the Bourns College of Engineering.

Pictured at the convention, which was held in St. Louis, Mo., in March, 2011, are the following NSBE members (also identified by their roles in the UCR chapter and NSBE Region 6):

Back: Alexander Keys (Senator, 2010-2011)

Center row, left to right: Ricki Ohiri, Musa Usman (Senator, 2010-2011), Letia Solomon (Southern California Zone Chair, Region 6, 2011-2012), Alanoud Hamad (Pre-Collegiate Initiative Chair, 2010-2011 and 2011-2012), Danielle Smith (Secretary, 2011-2012), Olivia Gray (Programs Chair, 2011-2012), Dante O'hara (Treasurer, 2011-2012), and Christopher Webb (President, 2010-2011)

Foreground: Roslyn Womble (Programs Chair, 2010-2011 and Vice President, 2011-2012) and Malia Billups (Treasurer, Region 6, 2011-2012)

BCOE Students Earn EPA Grant for Energy Project

June 16, 2011 -- A team of BCOE students have been selected for a $15,000 grant from the EPA to develop a system that could cut electricity bills up to 16 percent by using heat from the sun and attic to operate a new kind of clothes dryer.

The students are working to implement the concept at Victory Gardens Moreno Valley, a 30-home zero net energy, urban agriculture focused community planned for redevelopment on 10 acres by Steven Ribeiro, principal of the Independence, Ore.-based Aldeia, LLC.

The students – Jesse S. Lozano, Kenny Chau, Nhat Nguyen, Etinosa J. Agbonwaneten, Ariana E. Villanueva and Stephen R. Opot – won the phase one grant in the built environment category of the EPA People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) Student Design Competition for Sustainability. Read More.

Winston Chung Named Inaugural Fellow of the College During Commencement Ceremony June 13

June 15, 2011 -- Inventor and entrepreneur Winston Chung was named the inaugural Fellow of the Bourns College of Engineering during commencement ceremonies held on Monday, June 13.

At the commencement ceremony approximately 2,000 family members and friends watched as 270 students were awarded B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in engineering.

Pictured in the photo are (left to right) UCR Chancellor Timothy P. White; Steve Chen, M.S. '05, MBA '07; Winston Chung; and Reza Abbaschian, dean of the college.

Chung is founder, president and chairman of Winston Global Energy Co., Limited, in China, and earlier this year established a $10-million endowment at the college to create two new professorships—one in energy innovation and one in sustainability—and the Winston Chung Global Energy Center in the College of Engineering-Center for Environmental Research and Technology.

During the ceremony, UC Riverside Chancellor Timothy P. White cited Chung for “his generous support and exceptional service to the Bourns College of Engineering and at the University of California, Riverside, resulting in significant advancement of its mission; and for his numerous personal achievements in science, technology and business in advancing the future of sustainable energy.”

In accepting the award, Chung said, “As you leave the university and begin your own life’s work, keep in mind that success is measured not only by the money you earn or the quality of life you enjoy, but the quality of life you create for others. You have been given the gift of knowledge and the ability to solve important, challenging technical problems. I ask that you use that gift for creating a better future for all the people of our world.”

Capt. Jay A. Kadowaki (photo, right), commander of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Corona Division, was the keynote speaker. The center, which is the Navy’s independent assessment agent for training and weapons and combat systems, is a long-standing partner with the college. Kadowaki and Reza Abbaschian, dean of the college, signed a formal collaborative agreement in 2010.

In his remarks, Kadowaki told the graduates, “So I come here today to ask how you might do that. How you might be a force for good in the world? With the talented UCR minds I have seen come through our ranks -- those of you I’ve met here on campus -- I am confident you will -- no doubt -- make this a better, more peaceful, more prosperous world. “

The student speaker was Andrew Mikkelson (photo, left), a native of Hemet, Calif., who graduated with his B.S. degree in chemical engineering. A member of the U.S. Navy for the past two years while a student, he begins training with the Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program after graduation and will serve on board a submarine.

Mikkelson shared with the audience the rigors of being an engineering student: “You know, whenever a graduation comes around, you inevitably start to hear a whole lot of things about getting into the ‘real world,’ as if there was something unrealistically easy about juggling the pressures of coursework, research projects, social life, family life, half a dozen extracurriculars and trying to figure out what you’re going to do with your life for at least the second time in five years. So if you’re the proud parent of a graduate here tonight don’t let them fool you, they can handle the real world.”

Mechanical Engineering major Alan Lin, who died in February, was awarded his B.S. degree posthumously at the ceremony. His sister Christine took his place in accepting the degree from Chancellor Timothy P. White. A memorial plaque and bench in the Bourns Hall courtyard were dedicated in Alan Lin’s honor on June 3, the day he was scheduled to give his Senior Design presentation.

Video of the ceremony is available on the UCR website and photos can be viewed and downloaded the BCOE Flickr gallery.

Dean Abbaschian Recognized with Mayor's Award for International Service

Reza Abbaschian, William R. Johnson, Jr. Family Professor and Dean of the Bourns College of Engineering, was recognized by City of Riverside Mayor Ronald Loveridge with the Mayor's Outstanding Service Award for 2010-2011 at an event at City Hall on Friday, June 3.

Abbaschian was cited for his extensive work with the city’s International Relations Council and for being an "invaluable asset in moving the city's sister-university relationships forward and enhancing the international profile of the city."

Abbaschian was instrumental in establishing a relationship between BCOE and Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, one of Riverside's sister cities. Abbaschian signed the agreement on behalf of UCR on the 50th anniversary of the sister city relationship in 2007. In addition to promoting collaborative clean energy projects, the Sendai agreement also includes an academic research and student exchange program between UCR and Tohoku University.

As a result of the success of the Sendai-Riverside agreement, the City of Riverside adopted a policy that all future sister city relationships include two cities and two universities.

Abbaschian was also instrumental in the creation of the Southern California Research Initiative on Solar Energy (SC-RISE), a partnership with Tohoku University and the City of Riverside that is based in the College of Engineering-Centers for Environmental Research and Technology. Recognizing the impact of the Riverside-SC-RISE partnership, Sisters Cities International and the U.S. Department of Energy awarded Riverside awards for innovation in the development of sustainable energy in 2010.

In March 2011 Abbaschian hosted a delegation from Erlangen, Germany, a dynamic, technology centered city in Bavaria, in order to explore a potential sister city relationship with Riverside. During the visit, Abbaschian discussed potential research collaborations between BCOE and the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. 

During Abbaschian's tenure as dean, he has signed collaborative agreements with a number of international universities and organizations with global reach, including Chungnam National University, Hanyang University, the Overseas Koreans Foundation, and the Gangnam-UCR International Education Center (Korea); the City of Sendai, Josai International University, and Tohoku University (Japan); Jiao Tong University, Tsinghua University, and Nanjing University (China), the Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (Thailand), and the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Corona Division (Calif.).

In January 2011, BCOE announced a $10-million endowment gift from Chinese inventor and businessman Winston Chung, whose company develops state-of-the-art battery storage systems. The gift, the largest-ever by an individual in UCR history, will fund professorships in sustainability and energy innovation and a new Global Energy Research Center.

BCOE Graduate Students Earn Top Awards at Materials Research Society Annual Meeting and DARPA-SRC Workshop

Electrical Engineering Ph.D. candidate Desalegne Teweldebrhan (pictured at right) received the Silver Medal Award of the Materials Research Society (MRS) at the annual society meeting in San Francisco in April. Desalegne gave the talk, "Tuning of Graphene Properties via Controlled Exposure to Electron Beam Irradiation."

The finalists in the MRS graduate research competition were students from the best U.S. and international universities, including Harvard University, Stanford University, UC-Berkeley, Caltech, UCSB, MIT, Penn State, University of Michigan, and University of Tokyo.

According to the MRS, the awards were presented “to honor and encourage graduate students whose academic achievements and current materials research display a high level of excellence and distinction. MRS seeks to recognize students of exceptional ability who show promise for significant future achievement in material research.”

The annual MRS Spring Meeting in San Francisco is the world’s largest and most prestigious conference in the field of materials science and engineering. Teweldebrhan conducts his dissertation research in Prof. Alexander Balandin’s Nano-Device Laboratory (NDL).

Electrical engineering graduate students Zahid Hossain and Guanxiong Liu (pictured at left) received the best research presentation awards at the competition sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) in May.

The event took place during the Functional Engineered Nano Architectonics (FENA) annual review workshop at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The competition featured more than 50 research presentations from the top U.S. engineering schools such as MIT, UCB, UCLA, UCSB, Stanford, Columbia University, Caltech, USC and NCSU.

Only one poster was selected in each of the seven FENA research themes. Hossain won in the Topological Insulator theme while Liu took the award in the Carbon Electronics theme. Hossain and Liu also conduct their dissertation research in the Nano-Device Laboratory and the Balandin group from UCR was the only one that received two research awards while the groups from MIT, Caltech, UCLA, Stanford and University of Massachusetts received one award each, making the total of seven.

The winning presentations have been selected with the help of representatives from Intel, Texas Instruments, IBM, Raytheon, other industry leaders and government organizations. The awards to Hossain and Liu included a certificate of achievement and a cash prize. Among co-authors of the winning research were additional graduate students in the Balandin group – Jie Yu and Farhan Shahil.

Chen Elected Fellow of IFAC

June 2, 2011 -- Professor of Electrical Engineering Jie Chen has been elected fellow of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) for his “seminal contributions to the theory of performance limitations in feedback systems and to robust identification and control.”

The IFAC Fellow Award is given to persons who have made outstanding and extraordinary contributions in the field of interest of IFAC, in the role as an engineer/scientist, technical leader, or educator.

Chen's research focuses on system identification; robust and robust adaptive control; linear multivariable system theory; nonlinear control; optimization and complexity theory; active control of noise and vibration, and magnetic bearing systems.

He is an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control and recently published the book, "Control-Oriented System Identification: An H-infinity Approach" (Wiley Interscience, 2000). His awards include a NSF Career Award and a UC Regents Fellowship, University of California. He has served on numerous programs committees of international conferences and held several guest and visiting appointments.

Vafai Named Interpore Honorary Member 2011

June 2, 2011 -- Professor of Mechanical Engineering Kambiz Vafai was awarded the InterPore society's InterPore Honorary Member 2011 award at its international conference in Bordeaux, France, March 29-31, 2011.

The Honorary Membership Award is reserved for individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to porous medium science and technology, who are world renown in porous media community, and whose contributions are consistent with the aims and ideals of InterPore. This award is given to only one individual per year.

Interpore's newsletter InterPore News said of the award:

"Ever since his graduate studies in Mechanical Engineering at UC-Berkeley in the late 1970s, Kambiz has been a relentless force in the development, advancement, and promotion of porous media science and its application to industrial innovation. The description of InterPore Honorary Membership Award states that it is reserved for individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to porous medium science and technology, who are world renown in the porous media community, and whose contributions are consistent with the aims and ideals of InterPore. Now, Kambiz is the embodiment of such a description. He is contributed to porous media community through research as well as services.

"First and foremost, Kambiz is a leading scientist. Most impressive to me is the wide range of applications of his work in industry. He has done pioneering work in many different areas such as his experimental and theoretical studies of aircraft brake housing, non-Darcian flow and momentum boundary layer in porous media, the physics of non-equilibrium heat and mass transfer in porous beds, thermal interactions between solid and vapor phases and their effects on fluid flow and heat transfer, original in-depth analyses of buoyancy-induced flows in open-ended and partially open cavities.

"His research is documented in an impressive array of quality papers. He has authored thus far some 240 publications. His most recent book, to be published by Taylor and Francis in 2011, is entitled “Porous Media, Applications in Biological Systems and Biotechnology." Kambiz is one of only four individuals within the heat transfer community worldwide to be recognized by ISIHighlyCited.com as being among the most highly cited researchers in engineering."

Vafai is the founder and editor-in-chief of two journals: Journal of Porous Media and Special Topics and Reviews in Porous Media. He also serves on the editorial advisory board of the International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, Numerical Heat Transfer, International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat and Fluid Flow, International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow, and Experimental Heat Transfer. He is the editor of the first and second editions of the Handbook of Porous Media, which became best sellers, and he has been the initiator and chair of the first, second, and third International Conferences on Porous Media, all sponsored by ECI and NSF.

Vafai has supervised 50 graduate students and has directed more than 20 post-docs and visiting scholars. He has worked on a multitude of fundamental research investigations. He was the recipient of many awards; among them are: Fellow of American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), Fellow of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Associate Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Fellow of World Innovation Foundation (WIF). He has also received the ASME Classic Paper Award in 1999 and the 2006 ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award, which are amongst the most selective awards in the field of heat transfer.

Kisailus and Students to Discuss Bioinspired Materials at
Riverside Metropolitan Museum June 11

June 1, 2011 -- Assistant Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering David Kisailus and his students will bring a collection of sea creatures to the Riverside Metropolitan Museum on June 11 to show how they are inspiring the design of everyday materials.

Kisailus and 11 undergraduate students and five graduate students who work in his lab, will be giving the presentation from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the museum, 3580 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside. It’s free and open to the public. Advance registration is not required.

Pictured are, from the left, Ana Bowles, Alexander "Sasha" Dudchenko and Steven Herrera in front of an aquarium in David Kisailus' lab. Read More

BCOE Faculty Recognized for National and Faculty Senate Awards

May 26, 2011 -- Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering Bir Bhanu was awarded the 2011 Doctoral Dissertation Advisor/Mentor Award at the 2010-11 UC Riverside Faculty Awards Reception Monday, May 23. The event, which is sponsored by the Chancellor and the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, recognizes faculty who have received significant national awards or Faculty Senate awards.

Also recognized at the event was Associate Professor and John Babbage Chair in Chemical and Environmental Engineering Sharon Walker, who earned the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement. The award was established in 1994 to recognized faculty members who have distinguished themselves through their excellence at fostering undergraduate research or creative activity. Students nominate the faculty mentors considered for the award.

Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering Anastasios Mourikis was named a 2011-2012 Hellman Fellow. The Hellman Fellowship Program was established at UC Riverside in 2011 by Chris and F. Warren Hellman and provides financial support to junior faculty who show capacity for great distinction in their research.

Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering Yushan Yan was awarded the President's Chair.

Additional faculty from the Bourns College of Engineering who were recognized for awards and recognition they received in the recent past include: 

Reza Abbaschian
Mechanical Engineering
2010 Honored for more that four decades of seminal contributions in the field of Materials Science & Technology (MS&T) Conference and Exhibition special event titled “Symposium in Honor of Professor Reza Abbaschian: Processing, Crystal Growth and Phase Equilibrium of Advanced Materials 

Bahman Anvari
Bioengineering
2011 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 

Akua Asa-Awuku
Chemical and Environmental Engineering
2010 NSF BRIGE Career Award (Broadening Participation Research Initiation Grant in Engineering)

Alexander Balandin
Electrical Engineering
2009 Inventor Recognition Award, Semiconductor Research Corporation; 2010 Inventor Recognition Award, Semiconductor Research Corportation; 2010 OSA Fellow, Optical Society; 2010 Fellow, International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE); 2011 Pioneer in Nanotechnology Award, Nanotechnology Council of IEEE 

Matthew Barth
Electrical Engineering
2010 Innovative Transportation Project Award, 22nd Annual Clear Air Awards, SCAQMD

Laxminarayan Bhuyan
Computer Science and Engineering
2010 Inducted into the Engineering Hall of Fame, Wayne State University (WSU) 

David Cwiertny
Chemical and Environmental Engineering
2010 NSF Career Award 

Christopher Dames
Mechanical Engineering
2011 NSF Career Award

Jay Farrell
Electrical Engineering
2009 Distinguished Service Award, IEEE Control Systems Society; 2009-10 GNSS Leader to Watch, GPS World Magazine; 2011 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Elaine Haberer
Electrical Engineering
2010 NSF BRIGE Career Award (Broadening Participation Research Initiation Grant in Engineering)

Robert Haddon
Chemical and Environmental Engineering and Chemistry
2010 Richard E. Smalley Research Award, Electrochemical Society (ECS); Top 100 Chemists 2000-2010, Thomson Reuter’s Science Watch List 

Dimitrios Morikis
Bioengineering
2011 Distinguished Educator Award, Orange County Engineering Council (OCEC) National Engineer’s Week

Victor Rodgers
Bioengineering
2009-10 Upper Division Honors Program Faculty Mentor of the Year Award, University of California, Riverside 

Kambiz Vafai
Mechanical Engineering
2011 Honorary Membership Award, InterPore - The International Society for Porous Media 

Sharon Walker
Chemical and Environmental Engineering
2010 NSF Career Award 

Albert Wang
Electrical Engineering
2009 Fulbright Specialist Roster; 2011 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Charles Wyman
Chemical and Environmental Engineering
2010 Top 100 in Bioengineering, Readers and Editors of Biofuels Digest

Yushan Yan
Chemical and Environmental Engineering
2010 Donald W. Breck Award, International Zeolite Association (IZA)

Lynn Gref Will Discuss Greatest Invention of the 20th Century in Distinguished Lecture May 25

The event is free and open to the public and a reception will follow the lecture.

In his talk, Gref will discuss: Is it possible that a single invention could claim to be “THE GREATEST” of them all? What makes an invention great? What criteria would one use to compare the thousands of inventions of the twentieth century?

Lynn Gref’s career spans four decades as a developer, manager and consultant in research and development applied to defense, space and intelligence systems. An ardent and active advocate for technology awareness and for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, he is the author of the book, “The Rise and Fall of American Technology” (Algora Publishing, 2010). The book traces the origins of America’s leadership in technological research and development and identifies factors that have led to the nation’s crumbling technological preeminence in the modern global era.

As manager of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s non-NASA business, Gref oversaw a wide range of technology developments, including the active-pixel CCD at the heart of today’s cell phone cameras. Earlier, as a lead investigator on an effort for the director of ARPA, he provided landmark recommendations on the disposition of the ARPANET that eventually became the Internet.

Gref has served on the Army Science Board, as a panel member of several studies of the Naval Studies Board of the National Academy of Sciences and a member of the Secretary of Defense’s 2000 Joint Senior Advisory Group. He is currently a member of the board of advisors at the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at UCR and a trustee of the UC Riverside Foundation. Gref earned all of his degrees in mathematics from UC Riverside (B.A. ’63, M.A. ’64, and Ph.D. ’66).

BCOE Commencement to be Held June 13

The Bourns College of Engineering commencement ceremonies will be held Monday, June 13, 2011, begining at 6 p.m. at the Pierce Lawn.  

A reception for graduates and their families and guests will follow the ceremony in the courtyard of Winston Chung Hall, second floor, and will include a slide show of the ceremony, photo opportunities, and department break-out receptions with awards and gifts for graduates. Students should RVSP for the reception at www.engr.ucr.edu/reception.html.

Capt. Jay Kadawoki (photo, left), command officer of the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Corona Division, will be the keynote speaker at the ceremony; Andrew Mikkelson, who will be awarded his B.S. in chemical engineering, will be the student speaker; and Chinese battery technology scientist, inventor and entrepreneur Winston Chung will be honored as the first Fellow of the College.

At the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Kadowaki leads the scientists and engineers of the U.S. Navy's independent assessment agent for training and weapons and combat systems. He oversees one of the newest federally designated labs located at the Inland Empire Navy base.

Kadowaki is a 1986 graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy and received his master's degree from the Naval Postgraduate School. He is a graduate of the College of Naval Command and Staff at the Naval War College and the Darden School of Business Executive Program. During his distinguished career, Kadowaki has been awarded four Meritorious Service Medals, five Navy Commendation Medals, two Navy Achievement Medals, and numerous campaign and service awards.

In 2010, NSWC Corona and the college of engineering entered into agreement that enhances BCOE students' experience and provides access to NSWC Corona's unique expertise, one-of-a-kind facilities and specialized equipment relating to naval warfare systems and technologies. The partnership enables NSWC Corona to work with BCOE faculty to help solve challenging technical problems, as well as facilitating training and recruitment of students as future employees of the science and engineering command.

Mikkelson (photo, left) is originally from Hemet, Calif., where he graduated salutatorian from West Valley High School. While at BCOE, he was named to the Dean’s List all quarters, earned the Dean’s Academic Distinction Award, the Bourns College of Engineering Award and numerous scholarships. He was one of a team of students that finished first at the WERC international environmental design competition, earning the highest score in its 21-year history. A member of the U.S. Navy for the past two years, he will begin training for the Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program after graduation.

Chung (photo, right) is being recognized for his generous support in establishing the Winston Chung Global Energy Center and the Winston Chung Endowed Professorships in Energy Innovation and Sustainability at the college. He is the founder of Winston Global Energy Limited and inventor of the rare earth lithium yttrium battery. During ceremonies to be be held in fall 2011, Engineering Building Unit II will be renamed Winston Chung Hall in his honor.

Additional information for students, family and friends about commencement tickets, parking and other questions can be found on the UCR Event Management and Protocol commencement website. 

 

 

Animatronics Pioneer Garner Holt to Speak at BCOE May 17

Garner Holt (photo, right), founder and president of Garner Holt Productions, Inc., a leader in the development of animatronics characters, will present a lecture as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series at the Bourns College of Engineering Tuesday, May 17 from 4 to 5 p.m.

Garner Holt Productions, Inc., is the internationally recognized leader in the design and manufacture of animatronic figures, show and ride systems, show action equipment, special effects, and sets and scenery. Under Holt’s creative direction, the company has built more than 2,000 animatronic characters, from songbirds to dragons, and giant horses to jelly fish.

At age 12, a visit to the “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” show at Disneyland forever changed Holt's life. Witnessing the animatronic president rise from his chair and deliver an inspirational speech, Holt realized that he wanted to create for himself the things he saw at Disneyland.

In 1977, while still in high school, he started his own animatronics company in his parent’s garage. Garner Holt Productions, Inc., based on San Bernardino, Calif., has since grown to over 60,000 square feet of design and manufacturing space spread throughout a five-acre creative campus and employs dozens of engineers, artists and technicians.

Clients include such prestigious names as The Walt Disney Company, Universal Studios, MGM, NASA, Lockheed Martin, Chuck E. Cheese, Coca-Cola, Mutual of Omaha, Caesars Forum Shops, Mohegan Sun Casino and McDonald’s restaurants, among hundreds of others.

Holt has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the 2011 Inland Empire District Small Business Person of the Year Award, Ernst & Young Technology Entrepreneur Award of 2006 presented by the Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship, 2001 Leader of Distinction, and 11 THEA Awards for outstanding theme park attractions, in addition to dozens more for both entrepreneurship and creative achievement. He currently serves on the Board of Governors and the Board of the College of Arts and Letters at California State University San Bernardino.

The lecture will be held in Winston Chung Hall, room 205/206, and is free and open to the public. A reception will follow the lecture. Parking for off-campus visitors is $6.

BCOE to Collaborate with Thailand Institute

The Bourns College of Engineering and the Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research entered into an agreement Monday that will lead to researchers in Thailand using a thermal chemical process that converts biomass and agricultural wastes into fuel in their new research laboratory.

The steam hydrogasification technology that will be used was developed by Professor Joe Norbeck, along with Dr. Chan Park and his students at the College of Engineering Center for Environmental Research and Technology. Pictured at the signing of the MOU are (left to right): Professor Matt Barth, director of CE-CERT; Chancellor Timothy P. White, BCOE Dean Reza Abbaschian; TISTR governor Kasemsri Homchean; and Sutiporn Chewasatn, deputy governor of TISTR. Read More

Balandin Named Pioneer of Nanotechnology by IEEE

Alexander Balandin, professor of electrical engineering and founding chair of the campus-wide Materials Science and Engineering Program, was selected to receive the Pioneer of Nanotechnology Award for 2011, the Nanotechnology Council of IEEE, formerly known as The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, announced Friday, April 15, 2011.

He will receive the award and give a keynote talk at the organization’s conference in Portland, Oregon in mid-August. Only one university professor is selected for this award each year. Last year’s award recipient was internationally renowned scientist Phaedon Avouris from the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY.  Read More

BCOE Students Win International Environmental Design Contest

April 13, 2011 -- A team of BCOE students placed first last week at an international environmental design competition for a system they created to clean hard, brackish water for municipal water districts.

The team’s cumulative score was the highest in the 21-year history of the Waste-Management Education & Research Consortium contest in Las Cruces, N.M. James Gutierrez (second from left in photo) received the Terry McManus Outstanding student award. Read More

BCOE Students Earn Prestigious NSF Graduate Fellowships

April 11, 2011 -- Five students in the Bourns College of Engineering’s Department of Bioengineering are among 18 UCR students awarded the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships, it was announced last week.

The students are: first-year Bioengineering Interdepartmental Graduate (BIG) program students Kaila Bennett (David Lo, advisor) and Gabrielle Goodman (Masaru Rao, advisor), second-year BIG students Vicente Nuñez (Valentine Vullev, advisor) and Noriko Sausman (Dimitri Morikis, advisor), and Pamela Jreij, a senior in bioengineering who will begin graduate study at UC Berkeley in fall 2011.

All five of BCOE’s NSF fellowship recipients earned, or will earn, their B.S. degrees in bioengineering from UCR.

BCOE students Melissa Eberle, Jaclyn Lock, Michael Oliveira (bioengineering), Kelsey Rose Whittaker (environmental engineering) and Daniel Stark (mechanical engineering) also received honorable mentions from the NSF Foundation.

At a reception hosted by the Department of Bioengineering, chair Jerome Schultz recognized each of the department's fellowship winners and runners-up.

"You are the Miracle Team," Schultz said, referring to the 1980 U.S. hockey team's "Miracle on Ice" in defeating the highly favored Soviet Union en route to winning the gold medal. He shared a graph of 2011 NSF fellowships in bioengineering and biomedical fields that showed the five earned by BIG students were surpassed only by Cornell University (nine) and the Georgia Institute of Technology (six). Stanford, UC Berkeley and the University of Wisconsin-Madison also had five winners.

Dean Reza Abbaschian also offered praise for the students, the deparment and its faculty. All BIG students were required to attend a class about writing a proposal and then submit one. "I have recommended this approach to the university," he said. "Our college has shown remarkable growth in stature in our 21-year history, but yours, our youngest department, is surpassing that."

The NSF Graduate Student Research Fellowship is one of the most prestigious awards to support students who exemplify outstanding graduate research. The awards span three years and provide a $30,000 in stipend per year, as well as $10,000 in fees and a one-time $1,000 travel grant.

Tamar Shinar to Join Faculty as Inaugural Amrik Singh Poonian Chair in Computer Science and Engineering

April 8, 2011 -- Tamar Shinar will join the faculty as the inaugural Amrik Singh Poonian Chair in Computer Science and Engineering in fall 2011. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University.

Shinar earned her Ph.D. in scientific computing and computational mathematics from Stanford University in 2008 and her B.S. in mathematics with a minor in computer science, magna cum laude with highest distinction in mathematics, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1998.

Prior to her appointment at the Courant Institute, she served as a research assistant at UCLA and Stanford University. Her research focuses on mathematical simulations of fluid and solid behaviors and computational algorithms for physically based simulation.

Her teaching and mentoring experience includes working with Technovation Challenge, a program that engages young girls in technology innovation and entrepreneurship.

The Amrik Singh Poonian Chair in Computer Science and Engineering was established through a generous endowment gift from Duane and Kelly Roberts, keepers of Riverside’s historic Mission Inn and Spa. They restored the facility, which is a National Historic Landmark and the largest Mission Revival style building in the United States. Mr. Roberts is also a member of the UCR Foundation board of trustees.

The Poonian chair honors the Roberts’ late friend and business partner Amrik Singh Poonian, who died suddenly and unexpectedly in November 1998 at age 50.

A native of India, Mr. Poonian moved to Southern California in 1984 and worked for American Diversified Savings and Digital Equipment Corporation before starting his own company. In 1986, he founded Telecom Solution, Inc., now iBASEt, located in Lake Forest. He directed the company’s expansion into one of the fastest-growing technology firms in Southern California.

BCOE Students Awarded Aerospace-Related Research Grants

Five UCR undergraduate students, including four from the Bourns College of Engineering, have been awarded $1,000 each to participate in the Undergraduate Student Research Opportunities in Aerospace-Related Fields sponsored by California Space Grant Consortium.

All five students will be participating in space-related undergraduate research projects under their faculty mentors (listed here after the student's major). Pictured in the photo are, from left to right: Nosang Myung, professor of chemical and environmental engineering and director of the California Space Grant Consortium Aerospace Workforce Development Program at UCR, Amirmansour Rustamzadeh (junior in electrical engineering, Jay Farrell), Emad Totari (junior in mathematics, James Kelliher), Daniel Stark (senior in mechanical engineering, Masaru Rao), Carlaton Wong (senior in mechanical engineering, Christopher Dames), and Elizabeth Horstman (junior in chemical engineering, David Kisailus).

In 1988, Congress passed the National Space Grant Act to establish a National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program. NASA accepted the Congressional mandate to manage this higher education program, designed to provide activities that increase the understanding, assessment, development, and utilization of aerospace resources and to expand the educational, scientific, and research base of all aerospace-related fields.

Research Led by Charles Wyman Could Lead to
Less Expensive Production of Biofuels

Research published March 28 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides new clues about plant structure that are helping researchers from the Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center narrow down a large collection of poplar tree candidates and identify winners for future use in biofuel production.

Led by Ford Motor Company Chair and Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering Charles Wyman, a research team from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the UCR's College of Engineering - Center for Environmental Research and Technology determined that the amount and composition of lignin in the plant’s cell wall interact in an unanticipated way to influence release of sugar from the plant. Read More

SWE Chapter Wins Award for Outreach

The student chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) was one of three chapters in the Sonora Region to win the SWEeter Futures Outreach Program awards for 2010, which recognize chapters for the success of their events based on the number of people reached and the number of SWE volunteers.

“Last year, we had a variety of events, including making our planetarium for a camp for autistic children at Grove Community Church in Riverside, and at our annual Space, Science and Engineering Day (pictured here),” said Heather Salvador, SWE student chapter president. “This year we again held our planetarium for the autism camp in the summer, sent SWE members to the Mira Loma Middle School to speak about engineering for their Career Day, and participated in the MESA Family Night here on campus.”

This spring, the chapter’s members will serve as judges at a science fair in San Bernardino, and will also be setting up their planetarium at the Pachappa Elementary School in Riverside.

Their third-place award for 2010 earned the UCR chapter a $500 prize. Through February of this year, they were in second place behind Weber State University in the competition for the $1500 top prize for 2011. The Senora Region of SWE covers Arizona, New Mexico, Southern California, Southern Nevada and Utah.

“We are hoping to pull ahead of Weber State in the final count at the end of this year,” Salvador said.

The faculty advisors for the UCR chapter of SWE are Elaine Haberer, assistant professor of electrical engineering, and Sharon Walker, associate professor of chemical and environmental engineering and John Babbage Chair in Environmental Engineering.

Riverside's Sister City Sendai, Japan, Devastated by Magnitude 9 Earthquake and Tsunami

Update March 18, 2011, 1:45 p.m. -- Tohoku University's website contains the latest information about the universitys' status and includes a message from its president, Akihisa Inoue, who says, "My deepest condolences go out to those who were affected by the Tohoku Pacific Ocean Offshore Earthquake of Friday March 11, 2011. Moreover, I would like to offer my sincerest thanks to all those who have been providing us with both material and moral support. Currently, we are putting all of our efforts into confirming and ensuring that our students and instructors are safe. In addition, we are assessing damage to university buildings, and the entire university is working together to restore Tohoku University's functionality. It is our intention to use our university's resources to the fullest in order to contribute to rescue and reconstruction efforts in the affected areas. I respectfully request everyone's continued support and cooperation in helping us restore Tohoku University and this devastated region."

Update March 18, 2011, 12 noon -- In his Friday letter to the university community, Chancellor Timothy P. White updated the campus with information about people and events related to the events in Japan. The national media picked on a story that unfolded when a Japanese student studying at UCR was able to confirm her family survived the disaster when she saw her sister on a news broadcast. Chancellor White also pointed out the City of Riverside has established a Sendai relief fund.

Update, March 15, 3 p.m. -- The following message was sent to the UCR community this afternoon by Billy Caganap acting director of Asian Pacific Student Programs:

All concerned members of the UCR community are invited to join us on Wednesday, March 16, from 5-6 p.m. in Watkins 1000 to talk about how UCR is currently responding to the need in Japan and to coordinate relief efforts. If you have thoughts and ideas, or if you simply have a desire to contribute somehow, please join us.

Update, March 15, 1 p.m. -- BCOE Dean Reza Abbaschian was among a group of local leaders who met in the office of City of Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge yesterday to discuss ways to assist Sendai in recovering from the earthquake and tsunami. A story in the Riverside Press-Enterprise lists local and national agencies that are accepting contributions to assist with the relief efforts.

Update, March 15, 9 a.m. -- All 11 UCR students in Japan are safe and accounted for. Cynthia Welle, coordinator for international student services at UCR Extension, said that all 109 Japanese students at the education center have been able to contact family and friends to get news. The international studies program has created a website with answers to frequently asked questions relating to the situation in Japan.

Faculty and administrators at BCOE and CE-CERT have been in touch with members of the faculty at Tohoku University, which has been closed to due the earthquake. They report that electricity has been restored, but water and gas services are still not available.

For any student who feels the need, counseling services are available at the Counseling Center in the north wing of the Veitch Student Center. Walk-ins are welcome between 8:30 and 4:30 p.m. Appointments may be scheduled by calling 951-827-5531. Counseling services are also available evenings or weekends by calling the same number.

Update, March 11, 9:45 a.m. -- UCR Chancellor Timothy P. White has issued a statement that says, in part: "Currently UCR has 11 students studying abroad in Japan. We are in the process of contacting them to ascertain their safety, and are notifying their parents as we reach them." The message also describes ways to contribute to relief efforts through the American Red Cross and CARE.

March 11, 9 a.m. -- The City of Sendai, Japan, was devastated a tsunami yesterday that came ashore in the wake of a magnitude 8.9 earthquake that struck off the coast. A Sister City of the City of Riverside, Sendai is also the home of Tohoku University, which the Bourns College of Engineering collaborates with on a variety of initiatives, including the Southern California Research Initiative for Solar Energy (SC-RISE).

We are not aware of any BCOE students or faculty who are currently in Sendai, and we have no information on the condition of Tohoku University. Persons with information to share are encouraged to send it to the BCOE Office of Communications at news@engr.ucr.edu. Our best wishes go out to our friends at Tohoku University, in Sendai City, and throughout Japan.

Asa-Awuku to Deliver Imagining the Future Lecture March 16

Akua Asa-Awuku, assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering at BCOE and the Center for Environmental Research and Technology, will present, "Is There a Silver Lining in Air Quality? Understanding Cloud Droplet Formation" on Wednesday, March 16, at 6 p.m., at UCR's Palm Desert Campus.

Part of the ongoing Imagining the Future Lecture Series, her talk will address aerosols, or particles, emitted into the air that have adverse effects for regional air quality and health. She will discuss parameters that affect organic droplet growth, and discusses the links between cloud formation and air quality. More information, including a map to the Palm Desert campus and a link to on-line registration, is available here.

 

 

 

German Dignitaries to Visit BCOE March 7

German Consul General Wolfgang Drautz will join a group of dignitaries from the city of Erlangen, Germany, on Monday, Mar. 7, to tour the Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE) and explore opportunities for the college, UC Riverside and the region’s businesses to collaborate as a potential Sister City of the City of Riverside.

The delegation’s visit to BCOE on Monday will culminate with the Randall Lewis Seminar Series talk by Erlangen mayor Siegfried Balleis (photo, right), who will discuss, “Germany’s Model City: Erlangen’s Rise to the Top.” The talk will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at UCR Extension. Registration is required to attend and can be done on the website, where details of the event and a profile of Balleis are available.

In addition to Balleis and Drautz, the delegation will include the mayor's wife Angelika Balleis, CEO of Ercas Group in Erlangen; Thomas Schoeck, chancellor of University of Erlangen-Nürnberg; Andreas Falke, director of the German/American Institute Nürnberg and professor of political science; Marlene Wüster, director of the Department for Environment/Law and Order, City of Erlangen; and Peter Steger, international relations officer, City of Erlangen.

During their visit to BCOE Mar. 7, the delegation will tour the College of Engineering – Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT), which will introduce them to the leading-edge research being done there on air quality and transportation systems. They will also meet with the deans and senior leaders of many of UCR’s other colleges, schools and programs.

The delegation’s five-day visit to Riverside will include meetings with Riverside city officials and area business leaders, and is follow-on to an earlier visit to Erlangen by BCOE Dean Reza Abbaschian and other members of the Erlangen Committee of the International Relations Council of Riverside.

“We see tremendous opportunities for collaboration with Erlangen,” said Dean Abbaschian. “Like Riverside, they understand the tremendous economic benefits that can be realized when industry and government partner with a world-class research university. The University of Erlangen’s mission, ‘Advance through Networks,‘ exemplifies the interdisciplinary model we are adopting in our college, particularly in our new Materials Science and Engineering program. There is much we can learn from each other.”

A 1,000-year-old city in the Bavarian region of Germany, Erlangen was recently identified as Germany’s top economic powerhouse by the German magazine Die Wirtschaftswoche (Economy Week), which ranked it first with its lowest unemployment rate (4.4 percent) and lowest rate of welfare recipients, first with the largest percentage of residents with university degrees, third with the highest job density.

A successful business incubator model, Erlangen is headquarters for many technology firms, the center of green technology in Europe and has a world-class university with a medical school and adjacent university hospital (University of Erlangen-Nürnberg). As the second largest employer in Erlangen, the university has almost 12,000 employees in the fields of research and teaching, administration and the provision of medical care.

Environmental and Transportation Research Pioneer Joseph Norbeck To Be Honored

On the eve of his retirement, a reception honoring the service of Joseph Norbeck, W. Ruel Johnson Professor, director of the UCR Environmental Research Institute and founding director of the College of Engineering – Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT), will be held Wednesday, Mar. 2, from 5 to 8 p.m. at CE-CERT headquarters, 1084 Columbia Ave., in Riverside.

A brief presentation recognizing his distinguished career in industry in academia will begin at 7:30 p.m. Parking and refreshments are free.

Norbeck joined the University of California, Riverside, in January 1992, after working as head of the Chemistry Department, Research Staff, at Ford Motor Co. He earned his Ph.D. in theoretical chemistry from the University of Nebraska and has published more than 75 papers in theoretical chemistry, atmospheric modeling, vehicle emissions and advanced vehicle technology.

Norbeck’s recent research includes the relationship between vehicle emissions and air quality, development of renewable fuels, and development of advanced vehicle technology. Norbeck was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1999. He received the South Coast Air Quality Management District Clean Air Award in 1995, the Valley Group Award in 1997 for Excellence in Environment and Research, and was elected as local leader for the City of Riverside and received the Regional Leader of the Year Award in 1998.

He has held a gubernatorial appointment as an Air Quality Expert on the California Inspection/Maintenance Review Committee and is a member of several other committees, including the Cal/EPA Environmental Technology Partnership Task Force, the Executive Research Advisory Committee of the Society of Automotive Engineers, and Scientific Review Committee for the South Coast Air Quality Management District. In December, he was named to the Advisory Committee of the California Energy Commission’s Alternative Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program.

BCoE Hosts Wind Turbine Competition

The Bourns College of Engineering hosted its second annual Wind Turbine Design Competition for local community colleges Saturday, Feb. 12.

This year, nine teams and 82 students (15 UCR students and 67 community college students) participated in the competition, which showcased projects they began last October. Of those, eight teams (34 students), their families and advisors attended the event on Feb. 12, including three teams from UCR and five teams from partner community colleges.

The teams were required to give a PowerPoint presentation with all group members presenting, along with an on-site demonstration to test the output of their designs.

"We saw many creative works with this year’s competition," said BCoE Professional Development Officer Jun Wang, who helped organize the event. "We also saw many new designs with new materials compared to last year, which led to a dramatic improvement in the overall wind turbine efficiency. The highest output this year was 12 watts compared to two watts last year."

The top teams were:
1st place: Moreno Valley College team 1
2nd place: Moreno Valley College team 2
3rd place: RCC City College
Most Innovative: UCR team 4 and MSJC San Jacinto Team

Photos of the event can be viewed at http://bit.ly/UCRWindTurbine

The project is funded by the Department of Education's College Cost Reduction and Accessibility Act, which funds several activities that are part of UCR’s STEM Pathway Project.

Memorial Service for Alan Lin Announced

A public memorial service for Alan Lin will be held on Saturday, Feb. 19, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the Crystal Cathedral, 12141 Lewis St. in Garden Grove.

Students Win National Clean Energy Contest Award

A team of BCoE undergraduate students received national honors Wednesday, Feb. 16, for the third time in the past year for their research aimed at generating hydrogen and developing clean, affordable fuel cells to generate electricity. The students -- Jason Skovgard, Joon-Bok Lee, Christian Contreras and Marcus Chiu, all fourth-year chemical engineering majors, and Joshua Goins, an MBA student -- placed second in a field of 54 teams from throughout the world in a Department of Energy contest in Washington, D.C. Read More

 

 

Morikis and Gorham to be Honored by O.C. Engineering Council

Professor of Bioengineering Dimitrios Morikis and bioengineering Ph.D. candidate Ronald Gorham will be honored at the Orange County Engineering Council's (OCEC) National Engineer's Week (E-Week) Awards Banquet in Huntington Beach on Monday, Feb. 21.

At the banquet, Morikis (photo, left) will receive the Distinguished Engineering Educator Award and Gorham (photo, right) will be recognized with the Outstanding Student Award. The OCEC organizes the banquet each year to recognize outstanding individuals and projects for their exceptional professional engineering performance and accomplishments.

The Distinguished Engineering Educator Award is given to an educator who is committed to professional engineering activities outside of the normal scope of the teaching profession. Involvement in student extracurricular activities and scientific achievements with industry applications are given strong consideration. Nominations are received from engineering professionals and organizations throughout Orange County.

The student award is given based on a faculty nomination. Gorham, who is in his third year of graduate study at BCoE, is originally from Stillwater, New York. He earned his B.S. in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 2008 and is a member of Morikis' Biomolecular Modeling and Design Laboratory (BioMoDeL).

BCoE Hosts Boy Scouts for Merit Badge Day

The Bourns College of Engineering’s student chapter of IEEE hosted Boy Scout Merit Badge Day on Saturday, Jan. 29, drawing more than 80 scouts along with their parents. More than 35 student volunteers from the engineering and honors programs participated in this popular event.

The day-long event gave scouts an opportunity to earn merit badges in the areas of geocaching, energy, and engineering. BCoE is one of only a handful of universities in the nation that offers this unique program, and it’s one of the first times that the geocaching merit badge has been offered since it officially became a merit badge.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for our local Boy Scouts to learn new skills and prepare for the future—it is also a fun activity for our BCoE students to get involved with the local community,” said Matthew Barth, professor of electrical engineering and director of the College of Engineering – Center for Environmental Research and Technology. Barth is also a scouting leader who helped the IEEE organize this event with the local Boy Scout district. Barth is an Eagle Scout and his son will finalize his Eagle badge later this year.

Also attending in the event were Gordon Bourns, chair of the BCoE Council of Advisors, and Henry Coil, Riverside businessman and long-time supporter of the college. Another Merit Badge event is being planned for April 16. For additional information, visit the IEEE chapter’s website.

Photos from the event are posted on Facebook.

College Community Saddened by Death of Student Alan Lin

The Bourns College of Engineering community was saddened to learn the news of the death of 22-year-old mechanical engineering major Alan Lin, whose body was found in Newport Beach on Sunday, Feb. 13.

UPDATE: A public memorial service for Alan Lin will be held on Saturday, Feb. 19, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the Crystal Cathedral, 12141 Lewis St. in Garden Grove.

Lin was last seen a week earlier a few blocks from where his body was found. The Orange County Coroner determined Lin died from drowning. There was no evidence of foul play.

In a news release issued by UCR's Office of Media Relations, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Jim Sandoval said, “This is a tragedy and our hearts go out to his family. We will be working with the family to provide anything we can for their comfort.”

Students who have been emotionally affected by this tragic event can get support at UCR's Counseling Center.

A senior, Lin was on track to graduate in spring 2011 and was active in the student chapters of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), where he was a Formula SAE team leader.

BCoE Dean Reza Abbaschian said, "We send our condolences to Alan Lin's family and friends. He was a model student whose energy, engagement and the promise of his contributions to society are a loss for all of us."

"I am deeply saddened to hear about Alan Lin's death," said Professor of Mechanical Engineering Akula Venkatram. "He was a hardworking, conscientious student who made his presence felt in class. He asked insightful questions that improved my understanding of the subject and would often see me after class to ask me about some subtle aspects of the subject. In his own pleasant way, Alan would give me advice on how to improve my teaching. He had the promise for a successful career and life and will be deeply missed by all the people he came in contact with."

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Heejung Jung recalled a presentation Lin gave in his class Experimental Techniques (ME 170B): "He had such a pleasant personality that everyone enjoyed hearing his presentation. He was a bright student with a warm and caring heart."

UCR holds a memorial service each May for members of the community who have died, and Lin will be among those honored this year.

BCOE to Collaborate with Hanyang University

Dean Reza Abbaschian (photo, right) and Dong Hyuk Shin, dean of the College of Engineering at Hanyang University ERICA in South Korea (photo, left) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on February 9 to collaborate on research, student and faculty exchanges and a variety of other initiatives.

Founded in 1939, Hanyang University is one of South Korea’s most prestigious private universities and its engineering program is one of the oldest in the nation. With a student population of more than 30,000, it has two campuses – the main campus in Seoul, and the Education Research Industry Cluster at Ansan (ERICA).

“I am very confident in the success of this collaboration between our engineering schools,” Shin said. “I hope we can develop more interaction in the future.”

The agreement calls for the development of these and similar types of activities:

• Visits and informal exchanges of faculty, scholars and administrators
• Exploration of ways to cooperate in postgraduate education and training
• Organizing joint conferences, symposia and scientific meetings
• Pursuing avenues for undergraduate and graduate student exchange
• Developing joint research programs and collaboration

“We are very pleased to collaborate with Hanyang University in sharing ideas and finding common ground for research and the development of new knowledge,” said Abbaschian. “Their long history of engineering education coupled with our college’s relative youth and adaptability shows great promise.”

Present at the signing of the MOU were (pictured in photo, left to right): Frank Chung-Hoon Rhee, vice dean of engineering at Hanyang University ERICA; Shin; Abbaschian; Professor Nosang Myung (BCoE Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering); and Tom Strahovich, professor and chair of BCoE’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

The MOU formalized a relationship that was already underway through the research of Prof. Myung with Profs. Yong-Ho Choa, Bongyoung Yoo, and Jungho Lee, who are members of the faculty at Hanyang University’s college of engineering.

Chris Dames Awarded NSF CAREER Grant

Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE) Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Chris Dames has been awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER grant for his research in thermal conductivity.

Dames’ $404,665 grant will fund a five-year research project titled, “Mean Free Path Spectroscopy – Experimental determination of the mean free path distribution of solids.” Dames will seek to advance the fundamental understanding of thermal conductivity that can be applied to a wide range of material systems including alloys and crystalline materials, and for the thermal engineering of numerous applications including lasers, transistors, and thermoelectric energy conversion.

His work will seek to better understand the mean free paths (i.e., the average distance between their collisions) of energy carriers in materials containing structures much smaller than one micron. Various models used for more than a half century can exhibit large disagreement with each other when used with microstructures. Dames will experimentally measure the full distribution of mean free paths in several standard materials to identify which standard models are most correct.

In addition to the research, Dames will conduct workshops at regional high schools based on thermoelectric energy conversion and visualizing the nanoworld on the human scale. The workshop materials will be donated to the classrooms for future use.

Dames’ high school outreach will extend work he has done since 2009 through the Success Partnership for Increasing Recruitment Into Technology (SPIRIT) program at BCOE. In partnership with the Riverside Unified School District and the Alliance for Education, the program exposes middle and high school teachers to the latest developments in engineering to help them design programs that stimulate student interest in education and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Dames came to BCOE in 2006. He earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley in 1998 and 2001 respectively, and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006. From 1998-1999, he worked as a research engineer at Solo Energy Corp. in Alameda, Calif., and in 2006, he was awarded the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Young Faculty Award.

Winston Chung Commits to a $10 Million Gift to UCR and BCOE

The University of California, Riverside announced Monday, January 24, 2011, that Winston Chung, a Chinese battery technology scientist, inventor and entrepreneur, has expressed his intent to give $10 million to support clean battery power, solar energy and sustainable transportation research at the Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE).

Chung, UC Riverside Chancellor Timothy P. White and BCOE Dean Reza Abbaschian signed a memorandum of understanding that will lead to the gift, which will make Chung the largest individual donor to the campus in UC Riverside history. Chung is the founder of Winston Global Energy Limited and inventor of the rare earth lithium yttrium battery. Photos from his historic campus visit are shown above. A video of his visit is available at UCR's YouTube channel. Read More

 

Two Electrical Engineering Students Received the Young Scientist Awards

Two electrical engineering PhD candidates received the Young Scientist Awards at the 38th Conference on the Physics and Chemistry of Surfaces and Interfaces (PCSI) held in San Diego, California this month.

Guanxiong Liu (photo, left) and Zhong Yan (photo, right), who conduct experimental research in the Nano-Device Laboratory (NDL) of the electrical engineering professor Alexander A. Balandin, were recognized for their work on device applications of graphene. Guanxiong presented his research entitled “Low-Frequency Noise in Back-Gated Graphene Field-Effect Transistors” while Zhong gave a talk and presented a poster on “Few-layer Graphene Top-Surface Heat Spreaders for High-Power Electronics”.

Guanxiong’s and Zhong’s graphene research in Balandin laboratory has been sponsored by the DARPA – SRC Functional Engineered Nano Architectonics (FENA) center and the US Office of Naval Research (ONR), respectively. Guanxiong’s research is focused on reducing electronic noise in graphene transistors designed for communication and mixed signal applications. Zhong’s research deals with improving thermal management of GaN high-power density transistors with the help of graphene heat spreaders.

A recent study conducted in the Georgia Tech University put UCR as number eight among top 50 US universities that conduct graphene related research. The only UC campus ranked higher was UC Berkeley. In graphene research, UCR was listed above Stanford, Princeton, Penn State, Harvard, Cornell, and all US national labs. UCR was ranked 22 among top 50 research organizations in the world that conduct graphene research. The ranking was based on the number of publications on graphene, which appeared in top technical journals before October 30, 2010. Balandin was named among the two UCR professors with significant publication record in graphene field. PCSI is a major conference in the field of semiconductors and electronics sponsored by the American Vacuum Society, US Office of Naval Research and a number of private companies.

Nano-Device Laboratory: http://ndl.ee.ucr.edu
PCSI: http://www.pcsiconference.org/
Report: Graphene Publications Index

Anvari, Farrell and Wang Elected Fellows of AAAS

(January 11, 2011) Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE) professors Bahman Anvari, Jay Farrell and Albert Wang have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), it was announced today.

Sixty of the 83 members of the BCOE faculty are now fellows of professional societies and many of them have been recognized by multiple societies in their fields, including Anvari, Farrell and Wang.

Professor of Bioengineering Bahman Anvari (photo, left) was recognized by the AAAS for "distinguished contributions to the field of biophotonics, particularly for development of technologies aimed at photoremediation of tissue malformations and cellular biophysical analysis.”

Anvari’s research is directed towards development and application of photonics-based instrumentation to obtain quantitative information that will provide insight into the fundamental mechanisms underlying a biological phenomenon, and to achieve effective optical modalities for diagnosis and therapy of specific tissue malformations. He earned his Ph.D. in bioengineering at Texas A&M University and in 2008 was named a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).

Professor of Electrical Engineering Jay Farrell (photo, right) was recognized for "distinguished research, educational, and service contributions to the field of intelligent, autonomous vehicle analysis and design.”

Farrell's expertise is in estimation and control for nonlinear dynamic systems. His current research includes adaptive approximation based control systems, aided navigation systems and autonomous vehicles. He earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and in 2008 was elected a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Professor of Electrical Engineering Albert Wang (photo, left) was recognized by the AAAS for "distinguished contributions to the field of electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection for integrated circuits and enabling technologies for radio-frequency systems-on-chip.”

Wang's research centers on RF/analog/mixed-signal integrated circuits (IC), advanced on-chip electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection for ICs, systems-on-a-chip (SoC), IC CAD and modeling, and nano and emerging devices and circuits. He earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo and was elected a fellow of IEEE in 2008.

Election as a fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers. This year AAAS gave this honor to 503 of its members “because of their efforts toward advancing science applications that are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished.” Ten members of the UC Riverside were honored this year, bringing the total number of UCR faculty members who have been recognized with AAAS fellow distinction to 190.

New AAAS fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Feb. 19 during the annual meeting of the AAAS in Washington, D.C. All of the 2010 AAAS Fellows will be announced in the Jan. 28 issue of Science, a weekly magazine published by the AAAS.

The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. Currently, members can be considered for the rank of fellow if nominated by the steering groups of the AAAS’s sections; by three fellows; or by the association’s chief executive officer.

The AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society. Founded in 1848, the association includes 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals.

Student Teams Win Awards from American Public Power Association

Two award-winning undergraduate research projects by BCOE students have received additional support from the American Public Power Association (APPA).

APPA awarded two of its 10 annual DEED (Demonstration of Energy-Efficient Developments) grants to two student teams now conducting research funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s P3 sustainability design competition (People, Prosperity and the Planet).

One group, consisting of alumni advisor Doug Duchon and students Stephanie Stasiuk, Michael Bagtang (left to right in photo, left) and Phillip Brendecke (not pictured), is applying steam hydrogasification technology developed at the College of Engineering - Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT) to turn UCR campus food and other landfill wastes into synthetic diesel fuel to power the university’s vehicle fleet. Their work is being done in the research lab of Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering Joe Norbeck.

The additional funding from APPA will allow the team to collaborate with Riverside Public Utilities, where they are evaluating the generation of electricity from syngas reclaimed from waste materials.

The second winning team is working in the lab of Yushan Yan, professor and chair of the Department of Chemical and Enironmental engineering. That team is designing fuel cell electricity generation for off-grid, remote areas. Jason Skovgard, Marcus Chiu, Joon-Bok Lee, and Christian Contreras (left to right in photo, right) are employing Yan’s breakthrough technology for unitized regenerative hydroxide exchange membrane fuel cells.

The faculty advisor for both research teams is Kawai Tam of the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering.

Balandin Named Fellow of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

Alexander Balandin, professor of electrical engineering and chair of the Materials Science and Engineering Program has been named a fellow of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering.

Balandin (pictured at left in front of the micro-Raman spectrometer in his Nano-Device Laboratory) was informed of his election by the SPIE board of directors in December 2010. SPIE is an international society for the exchange, collection and dissemination of knowledge in optics, photonics, and imaging engineering. Balandin was also elected a fellow of OSA – The Optical Society in October 2010.

Balandin was recognized for distinguished contributions to investigation of "optical and phonon properties of semiconductor nanostructures and graphene." SPIE fellows are defined as “members of distinction who have made significant scientific and technical contributions in the multidisciplinary fields of optics, photonics, and imaging.”

Balandin will receive the award certificate at the SPIE Smart Structures and Materials conference, scheduled for March 2011 in San Diego, California. The SPIE board of directors concluded that Balandin has made sustainable and distinguished contributions to the advancement of optics and optics related fields in research and education. Balandin becomes the first SPIE fellow among the BCOE faculty.

Balandin’s research contributions, which led to his election, include investigation of quantum dot superlattices and their applications in photovoltaic solar cells; study of wurtzite semiconductor nanostructures and their applications in light-emitting diodes and lasers; as well as discovery of unusual phonon and thermal properties of graphene.

Specifically highlighted was graphene related work carried out in Balandin laboratory, which was made possible by the original micro-Raman spectroscopy technique for investigation of thermal effects invented by Balandin. Graphene is a new allotrope of carbon, discovered in 2004 by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov and their coworkers from the Manchester, U.K. – Chernogolovka, Russia research group. The 2010 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Geim and Novoselov for their graphene work.

SPIE was founded in 1955 as the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers in California. In 1964 the society formally changed its name to the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, and in 1981, to reflect a changing membership, the Society became SPIE—The International Society for Optical Engineering.