Message from the Dean
In September, I celebrated the first anniversary of my tenure as dean. The milestone was marked by tremendous excitement about the college’s future and deep appreciation for the many wonderful colleagues, alumni and friends who have coached and guided me. We are fortunate to have an amazing community of Aggie Engineers.
And the community is growing.
In this issue, you will meet six new faculty members bringing innovative teaching approaches and unique research expertise to UC Davis. They are joining the likes of Professor Laura Marcu, Associate Professor Katerina Ziotopoulou, Associate Professor Zubair Shafiq and others featured in this issue—all of whom demonstrate a deep commitment to our students, society and the planet. Engineering for the greater good is part of our ethos and the core value of our Next Level strategic vision for research, education and community.
I am excited about the coming months. We will recruit 10 more new faculty members. We will renew the Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series with two outstanding visitors: Linsey Marr at Virginia Tech, and Kim Budil, M.S. ’88, Ph.D. ’94 at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. We will open our new Diane Bryant Engineering Student Design Center. Renovations will begin at the Coffee Center. On a personal note, I am thrilled to have returned to the classroom for the first time in five years. I am teaching a first-year seminar entitled “(Almost) Every Breath You Take” and have enjoyed interacting more frequently with our wonderful students.
As you will read, we have much to celebrate and even more to look forward to. Follow us on social media, attend our events, and stay connected as we take the College of Engineering to the next level.
Go Ags!
Richard L. Corsi
Dean, UC Davis College of Engineering
Inside this issue
- NIH Grant Creates National Center at UC Davis
- New Faculty Roundup
- EcoCAR EV Challenge Marks a New Era
- Amiya Mukherjee Memorial Fellowship
- AvenueE
- Faculty Feature: Katerina Ziotopoulou
- Good AI vs. Bad AI
- Give Day Impact
- Building a Better Battery
- Horsing Around with Music
- Dean Corsi Goes to the White House
- Strategic Research Vision Update
NIH Grant Creates National Center at UC Davis
A new center that stands to transform surgical procedures and brain monitoring on a national scale using light-based, artificial intelligence-informed technologies is now part of UC Davis thanks to the efforts of an interdisciplinary team led by Laura Marcu, professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.
Meet Our New Faculty
The UC Davis College of Engineering welcomed six new faculty members to campus this fall, for a total of nine in 2022. Their arrival strengthens the college’s expertise in teaching and research in aerodynamics, bioinstrumentation, molecular dynamics, public transportation and bio-integrated electronics.
EcoCAR EV Challenge
Over the next four years, UC Davis students will be designing the car of the future as part of the EcoCAR Electric Vehicle (EV) Challenge. The competition challenges students to convert a Cadillac LYRIQ EV into an autonomous, next-generation battery-electric vehicle with vehicle-to-everything connectivity so it can interact with devices and the environment.
In Honor of Amiya Mukherjee
Alumni couple, Robert (Bob) '73 and Carolyn Caligiuri '74, gave a $1.27 million endowment, the largest ever to the UC Davis Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), in honor of Bob Caligiuri’s first mentor, the late Distinguished Professor Amiya Mukherjee.
Engineering AvenueE
The road to obtaining a college degree isn’t the same for everyone. It twists and turns. It often isn’t paved and sometimes it can even get a bit rocky. For some students—particularly those who are the first in their family to go to college, are from underresourced communities or have underrepresented backgrounds—these bumps in the road can be enough to derail their journey toward a college degree.
Enter AvenueE.
An Earth Shattering Shift
Katerina Ziotopoulou, M.S. '10, Ph.D. '14 is consumed with the shifting of the world - both professionally and personally.
As an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ziotopoulou’s work is focused on developing tools to improve the way we gather data about and understand soil behaviors and the resilience of soil-structure systems during earthquakes.
Good AI vs. Bad AI
Online life has become increasingly mediated by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Nearly 70% of all videos watched on YouTube are recommended by its AI algorithm, and that number is even higher on social media services like Instagram and TikTok. Though these AI algorithms can help users find content that’s interesting to them, they raise serious privacy concerns and there is growing evidence that people are being radicalized by some of the recommended content they consume online.
Giving a Hand to Hands-on Engineering
Giving students hands-on learning experiences has been a pillar of the College of Engineering for decades. Thanks to support from donors from the 2022 Give Day, it is sure to continue for decades to come.
Give Day is a 29-hour online fundraiser held every year in conjunction with UC Davis Picnic Day. This past Give Day the university raised a record-breaking $4.1 million from more than 5,000 gifts to support colleges and departments across the university.
Building a Better Battery
The humble battery: a device most people rarely think about until the phone runs low, the car won’t start, or the smoke detector beeps in the middle of the night.
While they may take a back seat in our interactions with the devices they power, batteries are a critical factor in advancing technological innovation.
Horsing Around with Music
Though animals respond well to music, humans are usually the ones that choose it. To help change this, a senior design team in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering (BAE) developed a device that lets horses choose which music they want to listen to.
Dean Corsi Invited to Speak at White House Summit
Dean of the College of Engineering Richard Corsi was invited to speak at the White House Summit on Improving Indoor Air Quality on October 11, 2022.
Strategic Research Vision
The Next Level research vision is making great strides. Last spring, the College of Engineering announced four impact areas, identified in consultation with faculty. Strategic actions to advance work in these areas are in motion.
Upcoming Events
- Dean's Distinguished Speaker: Linsey Marr
February 23, 2023 - Give Day 2023
April 14-15, 2023 - Picnic Day 2023
April 15, 2023 - Dean's Distinguished Speaker: Kim Budil
April 19, 2023 - Engineering Design Showcase
June 8, 2023 | 1-4 p.m.
