News

2018 student highlights

December 19, 2018

The UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering is home to 9,000 engineering and computer science students, each of whom make an indelible impact on our campus community and beyond. Here are just a handful of ways our students made an impact in 2018. Full Story

Hardware-software co-design approach could make neural networks less power hungry

December 19, 2018

A team led by the University of California San Diego has developed a neuroinspired hardware-software co-design approach that could make neural network training more energy-efficient and faster. Their work could one day make it possible to train neural networks on low-power devices such as smartphones, laptops and embedded devices. Full Story

2018 Jacobs School highlights

December 18, 2018

A lot happened at the Jacobs School of Engineering this year. Revisit some of our key research wins from 2018 as we prepare for the challenges we'll solve next year. Full Story

UCSD Battery Startup Ateios Receives Funding for Placing in November Pitch Competition

December 13, 2018

UCSD Startup Ateios was among the three finalists chosen to receive a collective amount of $150,000 in Seed Funding from investment firm Vertical Venture Partners (VVP) in the 2018 University of California Fortune 500 Startup Showcase in November. Full Story

Switching to a Home Battery Won't Help Save the World from Climate Change

December 11, 2018

Home energy storage systems might save you money, but under current policies, they would also often increase carbon emissions. That is the conclusion reached by a team of researchers at the University of California San Diego in a study published recently in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Full Story

Press Clips

Groundbreaking Research In 2018 That Furthered The Study Of Alzheimer's, Cancer And Blood Pressure

Forbes | December 21, 2018

In large part because of the support of the NIH, scientists across the United States and around the globe conduct wide-ranging research to enhance health, lengthen life and reduce illness and disability. This research includes a project, led by Sheng Xu, assistant professor at the University of California San Diego, to engineer a blood pressure sensor that uses ultrasound technology and can be worn as a flexible skin patch. The technology could replace other methods of monitoring blood pressure in the future. Full Story

Could the Future Be Powered by Salt? This Researcher Thinks It's Possible

Inverse | December 8, 2018

If battery innovation were a cocktail party, lithium ion would be the one sucking up all the oxygen in the room, telling too many jokes and barely letting anyone get a word in edge wise. But these lithium ion batteries aren't perfect, explains Shirley Meng, a nanoengineering professor at the University of California San Diego. They're expensive and require the use of cobalt, which can sometimes be a conflict mineral. Meng and colleagues recently started looking into the question of whether our infatuation with lithium ion might be overshadowing other more promising areas of battery research. Full Story

University of California San Diego Researchers Develop 'Easy-to-Use' 3D Bioprinting Method for Living Blood Vessels

3D Printing Industry | December 4, 2018

Bioengineers from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) have developed a 3D bioprinting method that integrates natural materials which produce lifelike organ tissue models. The UCSD team used their method to create blood vessel networks capable of keeping a breast cancer tumor alive outside the body as well as a model of a vascularized human gut. The research, recently published in Advanced Healthcare Materials, aims to accelerate the production of human organ models to be studied for pharmaceutical drug screening. Full Story

Batteries made from sodium would be cheap yet powerful

Earth.com | December 4, 2018

Today's Video of the Day from the National Science Foundation (NSF) describes the potential for batteries made from sodium, which would be cheaper and more powerful than lithium batteries. Materials scientist Shirley Meng of the University of California San Diego is leading a research team that has a vision of making sodium batteries a reality. The study is supported by the Ceramics Program within the Division of Materials Research at NSF. Full Story

UC San Diego develops easy-to-use bioprinting process for vascularized networks

3D Printing Media Network | December 3, 2018

A team of bioengineers from the University of California San Diego is developing a bioprinting method that could enable scientists and pharmaceutical companies to easily create human organ models for research purposes and drug screening. At this stage in the research, the UC San Diego team has demonstrated the technique's ability to produce blood vessel networks that can keep a breast cancer tumor alive outside the body (ex vivo). Full Story