#ILookLikeAnEngineer: Mary Graves

Meet Mary, a graduating chemical engineer who is not only a MARC U-STAR Awardee, but also a Gordon Scholar and has interned at the National Institutes of Health in neuropharmacology.

Mary Graves

Chemical Engineering

Expected graduation date: June 2016

Why chemical engineering at UC San Diego?

Let me start by tell you why I chose to study at UC San Diego. During my senior year in high school, I was watching a program on KPBS about the science behind cereals, and UC San Diego chemical engineers who made Fruit Loops could measure and know how much sugar was on each loop. I was amazed but the detail that went into each piece of cereal and by the chemical engineers who understood every aspect. Chemical engineering has a plethora of applications and I wanted the knowledge that came with it, such as fluid mechanics which explains the laws governing all flow.

I thought it was amazing and wanted to be involved in food because of it. But then, I also have an interest in biomedical research because my grandmother died of a preventable cause when I was a kid. In addition, my family struggled with substance abuse and medical disorders, so I’ve gravitated toward research questions that will help us better understand why these things happen.

What was your transition into UC San Diego like as a transfer student?

Transitioning from community college was difficult. When I came to UC San Diego, it was a lot more competitive and I was no longer the best at what I wanted to do. Everyone else was the best, too - and you have to be, to get into the engineering program here. It did push me to work harder but sometimes that was not enough. I found my outlet through extracurricular activities.

Can you describe your involvement in different organizations here at UC San Diego?

During my time at UCSD I was part of the Academic Enrichment Program (AEP). I was awarded the competitive MARC Honor fellowship which funded research on and off campus and travel for two years. I presented my research at the 2014 SACNAS conference in San Antonio, TX. While at the conference I met the director of summer internships for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. I explained my research interests, long term goals, the research I was presenting and desire to participate in the program. The program has a less than 10% acceptance rate so I did not think I would get in. However, I was accepted. It was a great experience and I would recommend NIH and DC to everyone.

The Gordon scholars were a great leadership development program. It prepared me to be an effective and understanding leader through team building exercises and discussions.

Being an AICHE officer allowed me to use the skills from the Gordon program. I coordinated events with upwards of 300 participants in an effort to give back to the community and showcase the science behind chemical engineering through demonstrations.

What are your career goals?

I want to go into academia, but there isn’t a lot of flexibility unless you get the grants for it. I’ve done modeling behavior with drugs, such as cocaine and now I’m working with neural modulations. We are looking for correlations to see if people can recall memories. I’m also interested in neuroscience at the intersection between neuroscience and pharmaceuticals. I interned at a neuropharmacology lab for about a year and a half. I was the National Institutes of Health (NIH), working on and designing new drugs.

What are three things that make you an individual?

1. I really like hot sauce. Louisiana hot sauce. Jalapeños, habaneros, serranos. Every hot sauce.
2. I’m a really good listener.
3. I have good tenacity and persistence, which is what makes me a good engineer. Engineering is where you learn how to take defeat.   

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:

The Gordon Engineering Leadership Center's Think Tank on Digital Health

This year, the Gordon Engineering Leadership Center held its annual Think Tank on the Future of Digital Health on Friday May 15th and Saturday May 16th. The goal of the Think Tank was to bring together students, industry professionals, healthcare workers, and faculty to discuss the problems in medicine and how technology can make an impact. This year’s Think Tank was a success with approximately 50 researchers, faculty, industry experts and graduate students in attendance working on current challenges at the intersection of medicine and technology.

CEO of Cambridge Life Sciences, Dr. Cleland Landolt, MD kicked off the event as this year’s keynote speaker. Dr. Landolt’s talk was titled “Digital Diagnostics – Identify the Killer You Never Saw Coming”. His background as a cardiac surgeon and experience in the biotechnology industry gave unique perspective into how new diagnostic technology detecting metabolic indicators could make a significant difference in predicting onset of cardiovascular disease. Dr. Landolt emphasized that while statistics developed via “Big Data” and diagnostics are interesting, focus has to be on making statistics clinically useful and applied in a preventive model of healthcare.

Following Dr. Landolt’s talk, Gioia Messinger, MS, MBA, gave insight on the intersection of engineering and technology commercialization in healthcare. Messinger is a serial entrepreneur, who has served as Chief Judge of Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, Founder/CEO of MedSmart, and participated in the development of the endoscopic PillCam.. In her talk titled “Why Digital Health, Now!”, Messinger introduced the audience to trends in entrepreneurship, funding, and startup companies while highlighting key characteristics of companies that caused them to succeed.

Dr. Jacob Aptekar, PhD, CEO/Co-founder of Helynx, introduced the audience to the world of Electronic Health Records (EHR). In his talk “Data Driven Medicine in the EHR Age”, Dr. Aptekar spoke about how his company utilizes the data available in hospitals to effectively visualize trends that are clinically actionable, making an immediate impact on patients’ lives. Dr. Aptekar also described his journey of how he combined his medical and graduate education at UCLA to start an entrepreneurial venture, giving sound advice to all the students in the audience who were interested in pursuing a startup in the healthcare space.

Dr. Daniel Calac. MD, finished off the morning session with his talk “Hacking the Rez”. Dr. Calac serves as the Chief Medical Officer of the Indian Health Council, where he actively treats the Native American population. As a practicing physician embedded in an underserved community, Dr. Calac educated the participants on the challenges, the mentality, and lack of resources available to these communities. At the same time, he also posed a framework to innovate so that many of the talented participants in the room could develop ideas still being cognizant of the cultural and financial sensitivities.

After lunch, UC San Diego alum Dr. Wilson To, PhD highlighted how to impact patients personally and on a population level in his talk “Innovation Across the Healthcare Spectrum.” Dr. To emphasized how the healthcare system today is ripe for destruction, and explained why the business model of medicine is changing and how do we holistically allocate resources to the right patients and ultimately improve clinical outcomes. Dr. To argued how it is important not only to utilize analytics and data, but also programs that keep the patients engaged with their own health.

Next, Moxie Center for Student Entrepreneurship Executive Director Dr. Jay Kunin, PhD moderated the Future of Digital Health panel consisting of Dr. Cleland Landolt, Dr. Wilson To, and Dr. Rob Matthews, PhD. An experienced engineer, Dr. Matthews has worked in the industry at large companies and startups is currently starting companies focused on health technology. The panel focused on answering questions regarding three different topics: Remote Monitoring, Big Data Analytics, and Lifestyle Medicine.

Following the panel, the participants received informational material on these topics in order to form teams and brainstorm potential solutions to the affected areas in healthcare. Great discussions began at this point and were continued the following day.

Nursing Innovation Leader at Kaiser Permanente Dr. Dan Weberg, PhD, RN finished off Friday with his talk titled “Imaging Care Anywhere: Future of Healthcare Technology.” Dr. Weberg focused on innovation within Kaiser Permanente and how emerging technology is evaluated and tested in clinical situations. As the final speaker of the day, he gave key advice for product developers on how to integrate within the healthcare system, keeping in mind the electronic systems and the workflow.

Gordon Engineering Leadership Center Executive Director Dr. Ebonee Williams PhD and von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center Executive Director Dr. Rosibel Ochoa PhD welcomed participants back on Saturday with a quick recap of Friday’s talks and an introduction of the day’s first speaker, Dr. Erik Viirre, MD, PhD. A UCSD Professor and Director of the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, Dr. Viirre gave a phenomenal overview of the XPRIZE competitions and in particular how people can be empowered to change healthcare. He emphasized how the competition evaluates the devices not only based on functionality but also consumer appeal and understandability.

Next up, Dr. Royan Kamyar, MD, MBA, CEO of OWaves, explained his insight into the intersection of lifestyle medicine and entrepreneurship in this talk “New Vitals Signs and Opportunities in Mobile Health”. He emphasized how lifestyle changes including diet, exercise, sleep, meditation, and social connections are essential to living healthy. Dr. Kamyar now wants to empower patients with his app-based company OWaves which offers a method to track the time spent in various lifestyle facets.

After Dr. Kamyar’s talk, the participants split into three groups in order to tackling the issues in remote monitoring, big data analytics, and lifestyle medicine. The group focusing on lifestyle medicine came up with an idea to create a financially or academically motivated incentive system within university targeted at both undergraduate and graduate students. The Big Data Analytics team came up with a solution to use analytics to triage students with mental health issues in university settings. The remote monitoring group presented a solution to use a single lead EKG to monitor patients at risk for health failure. Dr. Mike Krupp, PhD, a Business and Technology Advisor to the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center, moderated the presentations.

Dr. Todd Coleman, PhD, Associate Professor of Bioengineering finished the day off with his talk titled “Three Paintbrushes.” Dr. Coleman spoke about utilizing technology, analytics, and medicine together to make a real-world impact. He focuses on wearable, unobtrusive technologies paired with clever machine learning algorithms as well as direct patient engagement in underserved communities.

Overall, the event had great speaker and participant engagement and fulfilled its goal of sharing different industries’ perspectives on healthcare.

Article by Neil Gandhi

Gordon Center Think Tank: The Future of Digital Health

Every year, the Gordon Engineering Leadership Center packs a room full of innovators to brainstorm the implications and uses of an emerging aspect of engineering. In the past, the Think Tank has drawn academics, innovators, and professionals from all industries to gather and collectively brainstorm on topics such as cyber security, cloud computing, automotive and avionic systems engineering, and the energy crisis. For their sixth annual Think Tank, the Gordon Center presents “The Future of Digital Health” and invites you to learn about how the use of technology can revolutionize healthcare on May 15 and 16.

The event welcomes those who want to participate in an engaging space and explore both the opportunities and the challenges of integrating technology with health care. Some confirmed speakers include Director of Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE Erik Viirre, President/CEO of Cambridge Life Science Strategies Cleland Landolt, Director of Nursing Innovation - Kaiser Permanente Dan Weberg, Senior Manager of Global Technologies and UCSD Alum Wilson To, CEO/Founder of Linked Objects Gioia Messinger, and our very own Bioengineering Associate Professor Todd Coleman.

Gordon Engineering Leadership Center Executive Director
Dr. Ebonee Williams pictured right and Program
Coordinator Kara Fukumoto Bayani pictured left.

“I am beyond thrilled to see the level of innovation, dedication, and creativity of this year’s speakers,” said Gordon Center Executive Director Dr. Ebonee Williams. “and expect innovative solutions from the talented participants.”

Neil Gandhi, Gordon Fellow and Bioengineering Class of 2014 graduate, coordinated this year’s Think Tank on digital health with guidance from Dr. Williams and Gordon Center Program Coordinator Kara Fukumoto Bayani.

Gandhi explained that from improving data analysis to diagnosis, technology will have a sure impact on healthcare. He explained that digital health is about applying what we know how to do with mobile devices, connectivity and big data analytics to improve access to our health care system.

“This Think Tank will be looking at how digital health is a game changer, looking at how it relates bringing healthcare to all communities globally,” said Gandhi. “New wireless devices paired with smart computing is enabling better patient care, but there are still challenges in integrating technology into the clinic and changing the way we already do things.”

A group of participants from 2013's Think Tank
on Cyber Security

And the Think Tank will challenge participants to think of those solutions to translate new technologies into hospitals and medical practice. Participants will be able to share ideas through collaborative activities during the one and a half day event.

“The Think Tank has always been an engaging space for all. It’s an excellent opportunity for people to network, but also get inspired by an interdisciplinary topic with exponential growth potential,” Dr. Williams said.

Find out more information about this year’s Think Tank and registration information here.

Divergent Engineering Wants You to Dive In

Divergent Engineering (divE) is a self-funded UC San Diego student organization with a mission to provide a supportive environment for engineers and scientists and an opportunity to explore different facets of engineering and challenge their creativity.

Students who are ready to dive into engineering projects are encouraged to meet the members of Divergent Engineering at their Spring Quarter Pitch Day on Wednesday, April 8. All students and faculty are invited to attend and hear divE’s team members pitch both their new and current projects at the CMRR Wolf Auditorium from 1pm to 4pm.

"We’re a student-run engineering incubator that aims to provide an encouraging community for students to work together, tinker, challenge, and engineer. Our core values lie at the openness to learn, the drive for innovation, the courage to fail, the friendships that are formed, the willingness to lift others, and most importantly, having fun! We want to nurture these values and allow the students to translate them over to their leadership, communication, and engineering through our workshop and our team environment."

Founded in summer 2014, Divergent Engineering began as an Arduino microcontroller workshop for six students before eventually becoming an incubator and community for students of all majors to pitch ideas and work on projects, as well as a self-funded UC San Diego student organization.
“For our very first workshop, we bought the [microcontroller] parts, got together at Geisel in study room 2 and we programmed and worked,” said Phuong Truong, one of the three Divergent Engineering presidents. After the first Arduino workshop, the six students were then able to teach other students from a local community college about microcontroller programming. In a single month, they produced a working data logger, persistence of a vision wand, a Skittle sorter and a wall-avoiding robot. Divergent Engineering founders and organization presidents Karcher Morris, Alex Phan and Phuong Truong explain that it was the success of the first workshop and the passion of this first group of students that served as their proof of concept– that an interdisciplinary group of students interested in engineering projects would not only be special, but very powerful. “Our projects are a mixture of a variety of fields, they allow students to be creative, appreciate the other majors and have a real opportunity to be a real engineer,” said Phan. “When you’re in your Structural Engineering classes, you forget that in real life, you’re going not just going to be working with other Structural engineers. You’re going to be working with a Bioengineer, Computer Engineer...” explained Truong. “[Divergent Engineering]’s about being exposed to a bigger picture, earlier on."

All students interested in Divergent Engineering are asked to participate in a quarter-long microcontroller workshop where they will have the opportunity to gain a variety of new skills, to be challenged as individuals and to connect with students of similar interests, but in other majors. After completing the workshop, students have the flexibility to either join a divE team or pursue other projects, such as joining a lab or starting their own business. “We’re constantly trying to expose our members to new challenges, new projects and new people,” said Truong. “We’re an open community and we try to expose students to resources by encouraging them to talk to their professors and finding those hidden gems on campus.” The organization that began with six students, now has had over 60 interested applicants and over 30 members that represent every department of the Jacobs School of Engineering. Divergent Engineering has approximately 20 interdisciplinary engineering projects that vary from a glove-remote controlled car to 3D printer made of recycled parts. The organization has grown tremendously in last few months, to which the founders credit their dedicated team members as well as the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, the Gordon Engineering Leadership Center and the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center for guidance and support. “As a self-funded team, we know that it’s the passion of the students that continue to make this work. We have an extremely strong group of members,” said Truong. “They know that their membership fees go toward buying supplies for the workshop and the workshops fund projects. They value their education and want to contribute.” In the beginning of Winter Quarter, Divergent Engineering had 12 students participate in the workshop and new members who joined different projects. Morris, Phan and Truong knew they wanted to continue offering the workshop to more students and looked for resources on campus. “The donation from the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center could not have come at a better time,” Phan explained. “von Liebig allowed us to be ambitious and to pick up new members."

Divergent Engineering highly encourages student involvement from all disciplines and emphasizes that it’s never too early or too late to join. As UC San Diego Mechanical Engineering graduate students, Morris and Phan reflected on their undergraduate experience at UC San Diego and explained that in most major curricula, hands-on work comes in the form of a senior design project in the later years of an undergraduate student’s studies. Morris, Truong and Phan believe that Divergent Engineering is able to provide more hands-on experience as an undergraduate and can help spread out ideas for a senior design project. “If you’re an incoming Engineering student and you’re curious about what other kinds of engineering there is out there, then it’s perfect. The workshop is for figuring out: what do I want to do?” Morris said. “You’ll have milestones, but also an open-ended project. You’ll be able to connect with older students further along in their majors and gain exposure to different disciplines.” For graduating seniors, Divergent Engineering can help knock out a long-time item in their bucket list. “Last quarter, two new seniors in Chemical Engineering approached me about wanting to do an environmental project. They had their pitch ready a week before [last quarter’s] Pitch Day,” explained Truong. “We were happy to see that they reached out to campus resources like TGIF: The Green Initiative Fund and Rodger’s Garden. They asked TGIF for $300 to fund their pitch. They ended up receiving $7600.”

Find more information on Divergent Engineering on their website: divergentengineering.weebly.com

Five Jacobs Students Recognized as University Innovation Fellows

Five students from the Jacobs School of Engineering’s Entrepreneurism and Leadership programs received acceptances into the University Innovation Fellows program run by VentureWell, in partnership with the National Science Foundation and Stanford University.

Students Alex Finch, Deepak Atyam, Joyce Sunday, Uzair Mohammad and Neil Gandhi have been welcomed to a nationwide cohort representing 58 Fellows from 26 campuses that joined the active group of Fellows– bringing in a total of 168 Fellows from 85 schools across the United States.

There are 168 Fellows from 85 schools across the United States. 6 out of the 8 Fellows from the University of California system are UC San Diego students.

The University Innovation Fellows program is a component of a national movement that aims to encourage students to “design, dream and deliver” innovations that can solve real-world problems. The Program provides Fellows with training, mentoring and support to empower them to take on leadership roles in their related fields and communities. Fellows serve as advocates of the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to produce positive social innovation.

We are proud to see five of these Fellowships go to our outstanding students who demonstrate these values through their drive and desire to continue innovating.

Alex Finch and Deepak Atyam of Tri D Dynamics recently took first place in the Tech division of Entrepreneur Challenge, this year.

Alex Finch is a graduating Structural Engineering student and Deepak Atyam is a graduating Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering student. Atyam received the Engineering Leadership Award in 2013 from the Gordon Engineering Leadership Center. Both students are current Scholars at the Gordon Center. Their startup, Tri D Dynamics, part of the Moxie Center Incubator and the team also completed Phase I of the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center’s NSF Innovation Corps Program. The two recently took first place in the Tech Division of Entrepreneur Challenge where they presented Tri D Dynamics’ 3D printing technology to create designs for high performing, lightweight and cost efficient rocket engines.

Joyce Sunday is a graduating senior from the Department of Chemistry who participated in Phase I of the von Liebig Center’s Innovation Corps Program and is now currently participating in the Center’s Phase II program. Her startup in the Moxie Incubator, Wastelights, is converting sewage into electricity and turning kitchen waste into biofuel and biochar.

Uzair Mohammad's Moxie Incubator Team, Saaf Engineering Solutions, is developing a revolutionary water filter.

Bioengineering student Uzair Mohammad is working with his team in the Moxie Incubator on Saaf Engineering Solutions: a revolutionary water filter that can remove all bacterial contaminants in water using a costless method of manufacturing.

Neil Gandhi is a student from the Nanoengineering department and is currently working in the Moxie Incubator on developing a new and simplified method of streaming and sharing music, Audograph.

VentureWell is accepting applications for the University Innovation Fellows program’s Fall 2015 Fellows. The application is due May 11 and you can click here to apply online or contact UC San Diego faculty advisor Dr. Jay Kunin at jskunin@ucsd.edu.

Congratulations to everyone! We look forward to seeing more excellent and inspiring work.

Entrepreneurism & Leadership Program Students Sweep Top Places at E-Challenge Contest

Six students supported by the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering’s Entrepreneurism and Leadership Programs sweep five out of six top positions at the Entrepreneur Challenge Elevator Pitch Contest.

The Entrepreneur Challenge is a UC San Diego student organization focused on connecting science, engineering and business students with local entrepreneurs and professionals in San Diego. EChallenge competitions are excellent opportunities for students to receive early seed funding and publicity for their research and ideas.

Taking first place in the Tech Division were Deepak Atyam and Alex Finch (pictured above). Atyam, a Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering student, and Finch, a Structural Engineering student are the founders a startup on a mission to use 3D printing to create designs for high performing, light weight, cost efficient rocket engines: Tri D Dynamics. The team's accomplishments have made UC San Diego the first university in the world to successfully design, print, and test a metal 3D printed rocket engine. Finch and Atyam started as a Moxie Center Incubator team, where they were provided lab space to develop their product and create working prototypes. The two honed their skills in becoming more effective technical leaders as scholars in the Gordon Engineering Leadership Center and made use of the von Liebig NSF I-Corps program to focus on customer validation of their product.

Bioengineering student Delara Fadavi (pictured below, on the right) won second place in the Tech category for her presentation Meego. Fadavi founded Meego with Bioengineering student Aditi Gupta (pictured below, on the left) to develop a motion-detecting security device for laptops. They’re developing a prototype for students who expressed a need for increased security while they study in public spaces, such as the library or a coffee shop. Both students completed the von Liebig Center’s I-Corps program and are part of Moxie’s incubator program. Fadavi was a 2013 Gordon Scholar and an alum of the mystartupXX program which is a collaborative effort between the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center and the Rady School of Management.

First place in the Bio/Med category went to Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering student Alex Phan for his work in Intraocular. The Intraocular team is working on improving the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma using continuous intraocular pressure measurement. During the von Liebig NSF I-Corps program, Phan worked to develop the team’s business model and validate the idea with potential customers.

Wangzhong Shen – a Mechanical Engineering student – took second place in the Bio/Med category for Nanolipo. The Nanolipo is improving invasive liposuction treatments through the injection of a solution to better dissolve fatty tissue making it easier to extract during liposuction procedures. Shen is an alum of the von Liebig NSF I-Corps program.

Stephanie Allen-Soltero – a post doc in the Department of Medicine – took third place in the Bio/Med category for her Cereus Innovation pitch. The Cereus team has a novel solution for overcoming the growth and maintenance of stem cells in high atmospheric oxygen. Allen-Soltero is currently part of the mystartupXX program which is a collaboration between the Rady School of Management and von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center and is supported by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance. MystartupXX mentors female entrepreneurs with ideas to commercialize.

We would like to offer our students, Deepak Atyam, Alex Finch, Delara Fadavi, Alex Phan, Wangzhong Shen and Stephanie Allen Soltero, each a proud congratulations on their excellent performance and continued success!

Free Lecture: Exploring Health Disparity through Engineering Leadership

Attend this Gordon Engineering Leadership Forum on Thursday October 16, 3:30-4:30 pm at Atkinson Hall Auditorium (Qualcomm Institute).

Forum speaker: Dr. Bert Lubin, President and CEO of Children's Hospital & Research Center in Oakland, CA.

Talk title: “Exploring Health Disparity through Engineering Leadership”

Gordon Engineering Leadership Forums are a great opportunity for the Jacobs School of Engineering community including students, faculty, alumni, staff and local industry professionals, to connect and gain insights on many different aspects of engineering leadership through the experiences of remarkable individuals. 

The program will be followed by networking with refreshments. The Gordon Engineering Leadership Center will provide parking codes to alumni who attend.

For more information, contact the Gordon Engineering Leadership Center at 858-822-5636 and gordoncenter@ucsd.edu

About the Gordon Engineering Leadership Center

The engineering students of today are the technology leaders -- and job-creators -- of tomorrow. As a testament to the value of training and developing these future leaders, the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering has established the Bernard and Sophia Gordon Engineering Leadership Center, which is generously supported with a gift from the Bernard and Sophia Gordon Foundation.

The Gordon Center offers a novel, end-to-end set of leadership and training curricula for students at the high school, undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as for professionals working in the technology fields.

Through its Gordon Scholars and Engineering Leadership Awards, the Center identifies and celebrates talented individuals with leadership potential. In addition, the Center exposes students to the advice, experience and attitudes of proven engineering leaders through training events including workshops, leadership forums, and summer schools.

Triton Entrepreneur Network / Talk by Dr. Robert Akins, Chief Technology Strategist of ASML and Senior Vice President of Cymer Technologies Division

The von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center, Moxie Center, and Gordon Center -- all part of the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering -- are pleased to announce the Triton Entrepreneur Network (TEN). 

TEN will have monthly events to bring in speakers and entrepreneurs to talk about topics that matter to innovatora. 

The first speaker is Dr. Robert Akins, Chief Technology Strategist of ASML and Senior Vice President of Cymer Technologies Division (and a UC San Diego alumnus). Read more about Akins, Richard Sandstrom, Cymer and ASML in this feature in the UC San Diego Triton Magazine.

When: The first TEN event will be on Thursday February 13th from 12 pm - 1:30 pm.

Where: Computer Science & Engineering Building, Room 1202

Register here.

Engineering Superheroes at the Jacobs School

On Saturday June 1, the Jacobs School’s Team Internship Program (TIP) and the Gordon Engineering Leadership Center hosted “Engineering Superheroes” – an event that served as a TIP training day and Gordon Center orientation day for students at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

The overall goal of the event was to prepare students to succeed in their summer internships, their student jobs, and their post-graduation careers. (More information on the event to come.) In the meantime, great photos from the event, which are posted on the Calit2 / Qualcomm Institute Flickr feed.)

The day included a wide range of presentations from industry professionals including: Mentoring, Building Trust & Team Accountability, Advanced Presentation Skills, Personal Brand Management,  When & How to Adjust your Leadership Style, Managing Conflict More Effectively, Project & Task Management, Communications Skills & Report Writing, and a Team Internship Program (TIP) Alumni Panel.