A digital noticeboard celebrating achievements and highlights in the college, from grant updates to best paper awards.
Take a bite of some byte-sized news.
UC Davis Researcher Takes Leadership Role in Soft Robotics
Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Wenzhong Yan has joined Soft Robotics, the leading journal in the field, as an associate editor. The appointment recognizes Yan's growing contributions to soft robotics, an emerging area of research focused on robots that safely interact with people and adapt to complex environments.
UC Davis Researchers Receive 2026 Geometry Processing Software Award
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering John D. Owens, alum Ahmed H. Mahmoud, Ph.D. ’24, and project scientist Serban Porumbescu received the 2026 SGP Software Award from the Eurographics Symposium on Geometry Processing for RXMesh, an open-source library that simplifies GPU-based processing of 3D triangle meshes. The award recognizes software that has made significant contributions to geometry processing research.
UC Davis Electrical Engineer Selected for Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting
Calum Shelden, Ph.D. ’25 and a current postdoctoral scholar in the Munday Lab, is among the nearly 600 young scientists from around the world exchanging knowledge, ideas and experience during the 75th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. Shelden researches the Casimir force, a quantum mechanical effect disruptive to advancements in nanotechnology.
Lillie Vehling Receives Big West Student Athlete Service and Leadership Award
The mechanical and aerospace engineering student and water polo player is among nine athletes recognized for their service, leadership and academic success. Co-founding a water safety initiative, completing nuclear engineering internships and leading her team in shooting percentage are among Vehling's many
Alum Honored for Work Using Spatial AI to Enhance Live Sport Experiences
IF/THEN, an organization supporting women in STEM, has selected electrical and computer engineering alum Nadia Banks as one of 26 women changing the game of sports. A leader in spatial AI at Quintar, Banks works to blend digital content, like data and 3D mapping, with the real world to create interactive experiences during live sporting events.
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Undergraduate Receives Top UC Davis Athlete Award
As captain of the UC Davis women’s volleyball team, graduating senior Jade Light was recognized for her excellence in academics, athletics and leadership with the W.P. Lindley Award, UC Davis' highest student athlete honor. During the 2025-26 season, Light was named Big West Player of the Year and became the program's first All-American since 1996.
Alum Daniel Dennies Announced as ASM International President
Mentored by Professor Emeritus Jeffery Gibeling, Dennies earned his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering at UC Davis in 1993, specializing in metallurgical engineering. A renowned expert in failure analysis, Dennies has largely contributed to the aerospace industry, including the International Space Station and the Boeing 747.
Alejandro Martinez Receives Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research
The professor of civil and environmental engineering has been recognized for offering undergraduate students opportunities to develop research skills and integrate into his Granular Materials Lab, from performing laboratory tests and conducting physical modeling experiments to participating in the group's social activities and weekly meetings.
Learn more about the Chancellor’s Undergraduate Research Awards
Researchers Win Best Paper Award at MLSys 2026 for Hardware-Efficient LLMs
A collaboration between UC Davis, Rice University, NVIDIA and Meta has produced a new method that accelerates processing speed in LLMs up to 150% by identifying and skipping unnecessary calculations, with no impact on response quality. At MLSys 2026, the top AI systems conference, the researchers received a Best Paper Award for their innovation.
Graduate Student Researcher Award Supports Bio-Inspired Robotics Research
With funding from the competitive UC Davis Graduate Studies award, mechanical and aerospace engineering Ph.D. student Zhongxiao Deng will spend the summer exploring the design and control of a biologically inspired climbing robot and how its systems can better adapt to challenging surfaces and transition between different modes of locomotion.
Without Federal Support, Fewer Solutions Move from the Lab to Real-World Use
Investments from agencies like NSF, USDA and NASA enable Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Zhaodan Kong to develop technologies that work with humans, such as wildfire-detection drones that support firefighters. Without funding, testing and getting technologies into the hands of people who need them becomes much harder.
See Kong discuss the benefits of human-centered technologies
Lack of Federal Funding Shortchanges Long-Term Breakthroughs in Health Monitoring
In one of her research projects, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Cristina Davis and her team are developing wearable sensors to monitor increasing exposures that could harm our health, such as chemicals released by wildfires. Without federal support, the nation risks decades of stalling scientific progress on such projects.
Watch Professor Davis speak on why federal funding is needed
