School Priorities

The exploding population around the globe is consuming the planet’s finite resources at an unsustainable rate. Warnings of global warming and environmental pollution emphasize the need to develop renewable energy sources and clean technology. Today’s engineers face other grand challenges, including: the availability of clean water; new technologies to ensure human health; the protection of cyberspace; the multiple threats from terrorism, and the destructive power of nature.

In response, the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science is addressing these most pressing needs. As we’ve already seen from the school’s 65 year history, the work of UCLA Engineering faculty will impact our everyday lives in ways we cannot yet imagine.

Below are just a few examples of how some of our faculty are making the difference today.

Renewable Energy/Clean Technology

UCLA researchers engineer bacteria to turn carbon dioxide into liquid fuel

Low-cost solution processing method developed for CIGS-based solar cells

DOE to fund multimillion-dollar energy research center at UCLA Engineering

Fill 'er up: Prof awarded $2.1M to build hydrogen fueling station at UCLA

Researchers push nature beyond its limits to create higher-density biofuels

UCLA solution to chemical mystery could yield more efficient hydrogen cars

Stimulus Funds Help Start Program to Create Clean-Tech Leaders

Water

Water Technology Research Center (WaTeR)

Researchers achieve major breakthrough with water desalination system

UCLA engineers develop revolutionary new desalination membrane

Today’s seawater is tomorrow’s drinking water: UCLA Engineers develop revolutionary nanotech water desalination membrane (UCLA Engineer, page 4)

UCLA Researchers identify post-fire effects on downstream water supplies (UCLA Engineer, page 2)

Study by UCLA Engineering researcher shows high levels of unhealthy bacteria found in sand at L.A. area beaches (UCLA Engineer, page 4)

Improving Water Resource Characterization Through Remote Sensing (UCLA Engineer, page 10)

Healthcare

Researchers create new 'smart' nanocapsule delivery system for use in protein therapy

Engineers, doctors at UCLA develop novel material that could help fight arterial disease

UCLA researchers reconstitute enzyme that synthesizes cholesterol drug lovastatin

NIH recognizes engineering professor's innovative research with major award: Pioneering work on cell-phone imaging could transform global health care

NSF awards UCLA Engineering $10M to create customized computing technology

Researchers engineer metabolic pathway in mice to prevent diet-induced obesity

E. coli engineered to produce important class of antibiotic, anticancer drugs

Intracellular Drug Trafficking: Applications in Cancer Drug Delivery (UCLA Engineer, page 6)

Wireless Sensing/Networking

Wireless Health Institute (WHI)

UCLA names executive director of Wireless Health Institute: WHI is dedicated to improving health care through wireless and networked-enabled technologies

Building the ‘Smart Grid’

Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS)

Smart Dust? Not Quite, but We’re Getting There (New York Times)

Personal Environmental Impact video

Security

UCLA researcher, colleagues devise new method for protecting private data

UCLA center gets $4.5M in NSF funds for role in national earthquake simulation network

Evaluation of Seismic Levee Deformation Potential by Destructive Cyclic Field Testing

Center for Information and Computation Security (CICS)