MAE Professor Sia Nemat-Nasser presents John E.
Starrett Memorial Scholarship to four engineering
graduating seniors - June 2008
Sia Nemat-Nasser, Distinguished Professor of Mechanics and
Materials, and Director of the Center of Excellence for
Advanced Materials (CEAM), presented the seventeenth annual
John Starrett Memorial Scholarship Award to four graduating
seniors: two from MAE [Eric Haar, Warren College and Joel
Kaluzny, Sixth College], one from Bioengineering [Kaveh
Zakeri, Warren College], and one from Structural
Engineering [Andy Tran, Sixth College], during two
commencement ceremonies. [Picture: June 22nd Warren
College Commencement, presentation of two of the awards].
The Starrett Memorial Scholarship (which carries a $750
award) was established in 1990 to commemorate Dr. John
Starrett, UCSD Ph.D. and CEAM Principal Development
Engineer, who suddenly passed away at the age of
47.
Operating at the Interface between Science and
Society: Mechanical Engineering - Summer
2008
Instructor Dr. Kristin Schaaf and teaching assistant Sara
Marshall (both MAE graduate students - former and current,
respectively - at the Center of Excellence for Advanced
Materials under the direction of Dr. Sia Nemat-Nasser)
taught a mechanical engineering course entitled
‘Operating at the Interface between Science and
Society: Mechanical Engineering’, as part of this
summer’s UCSD’s Academic Connections outreach
program, which offered a unique pre-college summer academic
and residential experience to seventeen students who took
this mechanical engineering course. The goal of the
program is to provide hands-on college subject matter
courses and the opportunity to experience life and learning
at a top-ranked research university. More
information...
MAE Professor Sia Nemat-Nasser Speaks at the
Sacramento State University Convocation -
2008
Sia Nemat-Nasser, Distinguished Professor of Mechanics and
Materials, delivered the convocation speech at the 2008
Sacramento State University graduation ceremony, to the
graduating engineers. His comments were focused on
the pivotal role that engineering has played in the human's
cultural evolution, from tool-making of the hunters and
gatherers to the 20th century that has witnessed many great
innovations which have completely transformed our lives.
The photo includes President Alexander Gonzalez (3rd
left), Dean of Engineering, Emir Macari (right), and Sia
(center).
MAE Professor Sia Nemat-Nasser Speaks at an
NAS Symposium at Northwestern University to Honor Two
National Medal of Science Recipients - May
2008
Sia Nemat-Nasser, Distinguished Professor of Mechanics and
Materials, delivered an invited lecture at a National
Academy of Science one-day symposium held at Northwestern
University, May 14, 2008, to honor two National Medal of
Science recipients, Chemistry Professor Tobin Marks (left)
and Mechanics Professor Jan Achenbach (right).
Professor Nemat-Nasser’s lecture focused on his
new research to create multifunctional composites.
More information...
MAE Professor Franke Talke to Receive 2008
ASME Medal - June 2008
ASME is the home of mechanical engineering. It
includes over 130,000 members from academia, industry, and
national laboratories. This society honors its
outstanding members through symposia, awards, medals,
honorary memberships, and the society's medal. Among
these the honorary membership and the society medal are
bestowed to very few members with exceptional educational
and innovative scientific and industrial contributions to
the art and science of mechanical engineering. This
year, MAE has been particularly and exceptionally honored.
Professor Frank Talke has been selected by ASME to
receive the 2008 ASME Medal. This is truly a
recognition of his excellent contributions over many years
to mechanical engineering.
Physics of Surfing Class Introduces
Students to Research - June 16, 2008
It was a sunny Saturday morning in La Jolla and a UCSD
student was getting ready to wade in the waves with his
surfboard. But the undergraduate wasn’t there
to just have fun. He also was trying to measure the
physical forces at work when he surfed. Two devices
were snugly duct-taped to the front and the back of his
board. The experiment was part of a class titled
“The Physics of Surfing” co-taught by Professor
David Sandwell at UCSD’s Scripps Institution of
Oceanography and Professor Stefan Llewellyn Smith at the
Jacobs School of Engineering's Department of Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering. The course is part of the
university’s freshman seminars program, which allows
students to explore interesting topics and introduces them
to research.
Recent MAE Ph.D. Student Alberto Aliseda
wins NSF CAREER Award to Support Microbubble Research in
Diagnosing and Treating Cardiovascular Disease
- Spring, 2008
Alberto Aliseda, assistant professor of Mechanical
Engineering at the University of Washington, has won the
CAREER Award, the National Science Foundation's highest
honor for junior faculty. This award is part of
Faculty Early Career Development, which is among NSF's most
prestigious awards in support of early career development
activities. The award, $450,000 over five years, will
support Dr. Aliseda's research in the area of microbubble
dynamics in the human blood circulation. This work is
aimed at improving the clinical use of microbubbles in the
diagnostic and treatment of cardiovascular disease, the
leading cause of death in the developed world.
More information...
UC San Diego Unveils Cymer Center for
Control Systems and Dynamics, Founded by MAE Professor
Krstic - May 29, 2008
The UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering has announced today
that Cymer Inc. has provided major sponsorship of a novel
educational and research program designed to train
engineers to improve the performance of wide variety of
industrial products and processes. The new Cymer
Center for Control Systems and Dynamics (CCSD), which will
educate many of the finest students in the country in the
field of controls, is designed to put UCSD's Jacobs School
on the fast track to industry partnerships in numerous high
tech arenas. "The field of controls has matured to
the point where we can now apply what we are learning from
fusion reactors and magnetic levitation trains to numerous
other areas of application, including cell biology, or
traction, stability, and engine controls in vehicles," said
Miroslav Krstic, founding director of CCSD and a professor
of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the Jacobs
School. "The new center will broaden the faculty’s
exposure to practical problems to a growing list of
important industrial applications."
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