UC San Diego Student Motorizes Bike

Do you ever find yourself hitting the snooze button over and over, and then wishing you could fly or had roller skates for feet so you could make it to class on time? James Yao, a first year Visual Arts major, solved this problem by building an electric bike.

Yao came to UC San Diego to build his bike.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile, ever since I first saw electric bikes in my junior year of high school,” said Yao. “I designed the bike over the summer but I didn’t have the time or money to hire someone to machine the parts. My top two choices for schools were the University of Washington or UC San Diego, but my design wasn’t good for the rainy weather.”

When Yao arrived at UC San Diego, he asked his orientation leader about resources for makers on campus and heard about EnVision. When he saw the photos of the space on the website, he knew he could finish the project.

Yao used the 3D printers to prototype brackets for mounting his electric motor and the soldering stations to build the electronics.

According to Yao, the 3D printers provided the biggest benefit. “At first, my design didn’t work – the bracket wasn’t strong enough,” said Yao. “I was able to iterate on the design by printing versions.”

Yao’s bike goes up to 25 mph, which helps him get from Warren to his 8:00 a.m. class on the other side of Peterson Hill! Jealous? Who knows, maybe he’ll help you build one!

Gordon Center Presents Adventures of an Industrial Physicist

On May 20th, The Gordon Engineering Leadership Center hosted Dr. Jonathan Arenberg for their quarterly forum. The forum took place in the Powell-Focht Bioengineering Building ground floor. Dr. Arenberg gave a wonderful presentation on his work and life experience working in the interesting and ever-expanding field of industrial engineering within the realm of physics.

Each quarter, the Gordon Center brings in professionals within a myriad of industries, such as bioengineering, aerospace, technology, and more, to speak on behalf of their experiences. Many of the visiting speakers hold extensive years of experience within their fields and are able to impart useful knowledge and helpful tips to the audience.

Dr. Arenberg, with years of experience working with optical, space, and laser systems, brought to students words of advice about career decisions, how to advance in a career, understanding the importance of loving what you do, and being unafraid to change career paths should you find something you truly enjoy doing more.

In his presentation, rightly titled "The Adventures of an Industrial Physicist: A Curated Tour," Dr. Arenberg touched upon his educational growth. Dr. Arenberg is a UCLA alumni who was initially interested in physics but found engineering to suit his lifestyle more as he discovered his passion for it via a college internship. As he decided to apply to graduate programs for both physics and engineering, he trusted his gut and made the decision to follow through with engineering school. He claims that this pivotal choice was "the best decision I've ever made as an adult."

He opened up about the true reality that is the engineering workforce, remarking that the beginning assignments may not always be the most fun, but that true satisfaction builds after having gone through those less exciting assignments and job positions. Dr. Arenberg also touched upon the fact that engineering is generally a career path that does not yield immediate satisfaction. Still, despite all of it, he is glad he made the decision and cannot see himself doing anything else with as much passion and dedication.

Touching upon his experience with optical telescopes, helping to create and sell the technologies helping with discoveries of exoplanets, and the ever-expanding future of industrial engineering and physics, he ended the presentation optimistically. As he added in the end, "I look forward to tomorrow's challenges, and look forward to the promise of the skyline."

We invite the local engineering community to join or consider sharing their story at our next forum.

A Hackathon for Startups

Do you have an idea for a company? What about an unfinished project? Or perhaps you’re looking to try something completely new. You’re in luck! UC San Diego will host a one of a kind hackathon called STARTUP UCSD specifically for UC San Diego graduate and undergraduate startups May 13-14, 2016 at the RIMAC arena.

“For 24 hours you will be competing for over $15k in prizes, all aimed at getting your products to market,” said Martin Arreola, one of the students behind the event.

The top three teams that emerge from the hackathon will be invited to join the Qualcomm Institute Innovation Space.

The new incubator features a dedicated workspace with meeting rooms, legal advice and technical support, and access to the prototyping lab. In addition the teams will be given $5,000 of in-house credit.

“We’re expecting a lot of apps, some hardware and a few bioengineering products,” said Arreola. “The format will be a work session with mentors from industry that are available to provide advice to the teams. It doesn’t matter what stage the teams are at.”

Check out these frequently asked questions:

Q: Who's this for?
A: A good idea and a great team usually has the support of people from a variety of disciplines. This is why STARTUP UCSD is open to all, no matter if you're an engineer, an MBA student, or a Biology major, a graduate or undergraduate.

Q: What projects are you looking for?
A: Our judges will be scoring projects based on Functionality, Innovation, Design, and the Team’s promise. The top projects will have shown a prototype or idea that’s well thought-out, has a particular market in mind, and is backed by an agile, bright, and passionate group of hackers.

Q: Where and when is this happening?
A: STARTUP UCSD will be held at UC San Diego's largest venue, RIMAC Arena, from May 13-14. Connect with mentors, investors, cofounders, and sponsors, all ready to help you win and get your startup off the ground.

Gordon Engineering Leadership Center Welcomes Scholars & Alumni to their Annual Fall Reception

Every year in the Fall, the Gordon Engineering Leadership Center invites board members, alumni and returning Gordon Scholars and Fellows to meet the new Gordon Scholars. This receptions serves to introduce the newly accepted aspiring technical leaders to seasoned members of this community, with the intent that they will learn about the opportunities and resources the Gordon Center provides. 

This year's cohort of undergraduate Gordon Scholars.

This year, UC San Diego Alumni member and Gordon Professional Fellow, Steve Hart, CTO and Co-founder of Viasat, and Pamela Cosman, the Jacobs School of Engineering’s Associate Dean for Students, joined the event. Both were able to connect with Gordon Scholars over dinner and icebreakers.  Mr. Hart was invited to give remarks welcoming students and sharing the need for engineering leadership in today's world.

Gordon Center Executive Director Ebonee Williams
pictured with this year's Graduate Gordon Scholars.

Gordon Center Executive Director Dr. Ebonee Williams explained, “This is how we like to start the beginning of the year. We always try to bring our alumni, our advisory board and the scholars together to get to know each other. The goal is to build a community of leaders. And while the reception is a lot of fun, it also helps us figure out who to pair for mentoring in order to help scholars reach their goals.” 

Enjoy viewing more photos of the event below:

Entrepreneurism & Leadership Programs Spotlight Series: Regina Caluya, Chemical Engineering '16

Regina Caluya, Chemical Engineering '16

From Cebu, Philippines, chemical engineering student Regina Caluya has focused her education and career towards making a strong social impact through science and engineering. At the age of 18, Regina emigrated to the States with her family in 2009 and enrolled at UC San Diego as a transfer student in 2013. At UCSD, Regina has been involved in Global Teams in Engineering Service (Global TIES) and the UC San Diego chapter of American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChe at UCSD), specifically the Chem E Car project to construct a small chemically powered car.

Regina enrolled in Global TIES last Spring and joined One Village Philippines (OVP), a team partnered with Gawad Kalinga’s (GK) Enchanted Farm to develop easily replicable, sustainable technologies to be adopted in rural communities in the Philippines, a country that is struck by approximately 15 typhoons annually. Regina has found it to be a very special opportunity to be a part of OVP and help GK’s mission.  “It’s been wonderful to gain experience and give back to your motherland,” said Regina. “My heart really goes into this. It was eye opening to be there… I was able to see the condition of my country and realized that we can do something to change or improve their condition.”

One Village Philippines Team and Global TIES Advisor Mandy Bratton
with local Filipinos at the Enchanted Farm.

This summer, OVP brought the design for the second iteration of their solar street lamp back to the Philippines, where scavenged for the necessary materials and taught some of the local Filipinos how to replicate the lamp at GK’s Enchanted Farm. “We were humbled by their practical skills,” said Regina. “They were able to wire the poles faster than us. Even though as UCSD students we have a world class university education, there are still people who know better than us.”

After graduation, Regina hopes to work for a renewable energy company, but for her last year at UCSD, Regina sees herself continuing her work with AIChe and OVP. This year, OVP has plans to pursue a brand new sustainable project, possibly one that involves relieving the whole Enchanted Farm community’s reliance on the grid.

“Working with OVP really helped me realize what career path I want to take. This summer I’m working as a research intern for Global Energy Network Institute, and I’m writing an executive summary on the possibility of making the Philippines completely renewable (hopefully by 2030), including the possible mixes of renewable energy.”

To learn more about the Global TIES One Village Philippines Project, read here.

Moxie Center Awards $20K to Students at the 2015 Zahn Prize Competition

This year, the Moxie Center for Student Entrepreneurship was able to double the total amount of cash prizes for student teams at its annual Zahn Prize Competition. The 2015 Zahn Prize Competition was held at The Basement, UCSD’s newest entrepreneurial space, and the Moxie Center awarded a total of $20,000 in cash prizes to seven students, Ganesh Elie of Slithr, Josh Cohen of Tranio, Eric Suen of Aqua Design Innovations, Inc., Joy Sampoonachot and John Chou of Cocoon Cam and Deepak Atyam and Alex Finch of Tri-D Dynamics.

Moxie Center Executive Director Dr. Jay Kunin introduced the competition’s three judges, Dr. Martha Dennis, Mike Krenn, and Jeff Draa, who are experts in building startups and securing venture funding. The judges had their work cut out for them as the competition had 12 participating teams from the Moxie Center and only five prizes to award. The new Moxie teams and the veteran Moxie teams competed in two separate divisions for their presentations; Division I for the new teams had an allocated $5,000 budget, while Division II had the remaining $15,000. After the presentations, the judges had only 20 minutes to make their final decisions.

Division I winners Slithr and Trainio impressed the judges with their designs for a customizable electric longboard and an athlete training device respectively. After attaching Slithr’s base unit to their longboard, users can control the speed and acceleration of their vehicle with a wireless controller. The team is now currently working on their Delta prototype before launching a kickstarter. On the other hand, Trainio is developing their SpeedTrain device that will enable athletes and coaches to improve their speed and train smarter. The device connects with your smartphone and users can access the recorded information, workout analysis and  training suggestions through their mobile application.

Division II participants were also faced with tough competition. In the end, Aqua Design Innovations, Inc., Cocoon Cam and Tri D Dynamics ended up taking the prizes. The founders of Aqua Design Innovations, Inc. (ADI) designed a desktop ecosystem with an aquaponics filter. Their design for their EcoQube is already on its second iteration and recently ended their kickstarter with over $370,000 in backer support. Cocoon Cam, a Computer Science and Engineering-based startup, aims to improve health and activity monitoring systems for infants. By using computer vision, wireless hardware and video analytics technology, the camera will be able to transmit and record live respiration rate, heart rate, temperature, sound and video of a baby without requiring the baby to wear an activity tracker. Tri D Dynamics is another impressive student startup that made UC San Diego the first university in the world to successfully design, print and test a metal 3D printed rocket engine. Both Cocoon Cam and Tri D Dynamics have participated in the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center's NSF Innovation Corps program.

Congratulations again to the students and teams who participated!

Make-A-Thon 2015: Hack-A-Thon Takes on 3D Printing

Recently, I had the pleasure of stopping by UC San Diego’s first annual Make-A-Thon. I wasn’t entirely sure of what I should expect, but I was excited and knew I would be amazed. Upon entering the room, I could feel something special—you know, that buzz and energy only a room full of driven and tenacious people working with grit could create.

The student organization Triton 3D-Printing Club (T3D), new since January of this school year, arranged a 3D printing hack-a-thon event with the hope of encouraging students to learn how to approach problems in a team setting and exposing them to experiment with 3D printing. The competition was split into two categories: novice and advanced, with participants ranging from first years to graduating seniors. I had the opportunity to speak with winning advanced team.

Shake and Bake's award-winning design

The four members of the winning team, Shake and Bake, were awarded their own 3D printer for their design, which resembled the pod racer from Star Wars. The team consisted of graduating seniors Narek Geghamyan, Daniel Ip, Victor Long and Glen Padilla, all studying either mechanical or aerospace engineering, and most of them had no prior experience with 3D printing. It took the team about thirty minutes to brainstorm, and four to five hours of pure design before they were ready to print. They each made their own individual designs before reconvening to take the best aspects of each idea and build prototypes until they knew each part was entirely functional and efficient. They described their experience as a “very enjoyable process,” and praised 3D printing for its rapid prototyping ability. As one Shake and Bake member said, “You rarely have the ability to build an entire device out of scratch in one sitting.” And I believe the event’s lead coordinator, Andy Kieatiwong, would vigorously nod his head in agreement.

Andy Kieatiwong

I also had the pleasure of meeting and speaking to Kieatiwong at the event. He is a third year aerospace engineering student, and, as one of the co-founders of T3D, he is no stranger to 3D printing and the many opportunities it offers. He described 3D printing as a “new way to solve problems in scientific fields” such as aerospace engineering. For example, 3D printing enables engineers to make lighter materials, lower manufacturing costs and “democratize the act of making things.” For the future, Kieatiwong says he and T3D will mostly likely collaborate with other organizations to expand the event to twice its size, moving from fifteen available printers to thirty or even forty. As for the future of 3D printing, he said, “3D printing is not an answer within itself. It’s just a tool, but a very powerful tool.” 

The novice team's design

For some of us, this tool is still very new. I also spoke with one of the novice teams; the group consisted of freshmen Zenas Heng, Emilee Kang, Kasey Li, and Joe Wong, all students pursuing – or at least interested in – some form of engineering. None of them had any experience with hack-a-thon-type events, nor did they have much experience working with 3D printers. They learned a lot – miscommunication and technical errors prevented them from printing on time, leaving them with very small models. Despite the drawbacks, none of them regret having participated in the event. As a freshman myself, I agreed with them that the Make-A-Thon is one of the many opportunities that contribute to our above-average engineering experience here at UC San Diego.

Beyond the grandeur and promise 3D printing holds, the Make-A-Thon offered experience to those without the means of obtaining it. Furthermore, the event was less about competitive feelings and more about having fun. The novice team I spoke to chose to participate in the Make-A-Thon after having heard about the event from their friends. One of the Shake and Bake members even called his group the “all-star team.” Perhaps he said that because they all had extensive experience with modeling software, but I’d like to believe it was because the accomplished something else – they simply made memories with friends.

Some 3D printers!

This event was sponsored by ARRK, Forecaset 3D, Pixologic, Polymaker, and XYZPrinting. ARRK and Forecast3D attended the networking event. As prizes, Pixologic donated ZBrush licenses (software for design) and XYZ contributed a smartwatch and lanyards. For the competition Polymaker donated filament (PolyFlex, PolyMax, and Plywood), and XYZ loaned printers. Also, special thanks goes to Adrienna Yan and Joe Wong for photographs from the event.

Shake and Bake
(From left to right) Narek Geghamyan, Daniel Ip, Glen Padilla, and Victor Long