WIC Hosts First Girl's Day Out Outreach Event

The Women in Computing student organization at UC San Diego, better known as WIC@UCSD, hosted its first Girl's Day out outreach event April 20 at the Jacobs School of Engineering.
The goal was to attract more high school girls to the fields of computer science and engineering and information technology. Girls took lab tours, developed an Android app and listened to women who work in industry and academia. More info on the event here.
Some photo highlights from the event below:

When Engineering Meets Couture and Entertainment

Students from WIC @ UCSD, a women in computing organization here at the Jacobs School, got to meet a UC San Diego alumna doing unique work at the intersection of engineering and art April 14 at the init(together) conference at the University of California, Irvine.
Janet Hansen got her Ph.D. in applied mechanics and engineering science as well as bioengineering from UC San Diego. In 1998, she founded Enlighted Designs, Inc., a company that specializes in making custom lighted clothing, mostly for performers, including Britney Speaks, Katy Perry, Pink, Rihanna and Ke$ha. Hansen showed off some of her designs to the WIC students, who snapped pictures. See some examples below and click here for a more complete gallery of Hansen's wares on her company's website.

The WIC @ UCSD members ready to embark on their trip.

Research Expo 2013 Winners

And the winner of the top prize at Research Expo 2013...the Rudee Outstanding Poster Award ...(drum roll)

Poster #182: A BIOMIMETIC NANOSPONGE AGAINST PORE-FORMING TOXINS 
Student: Ronnie Hongbo Fang

Professor: Liangfang Zhang from the Department of NanoEngineering

Abstract
Many threats to public health, including bacterial infections and biological weaponry, often rely on pore-forming toxins for their virulence. Anti-virulence therapy, which targets these toxins, offers a way to detoxify the body and attenuate the effectiveness of the underlying threat. Existing platforms, including anti-sera, monoclonal antibodies, and molecularly imprinted polymers, have all been used effectively for this purpose, but they all require customized synthesis schemes for application against each individual type of toxin. We have developed a biomimetic toxin nanosponge targets the action mechanism of pore-forming toxins, and thus is applicable for the detoxification of a wide array of toxin types without the need for customized synthesis. The nanosponge is made by coating red blood cell membranes onto the surface of polymeric nanoparticle cores, and acts by absorbing membrane-damaging toxins and diverting them away from their intended targets. Using a murine model, it was demonstrated that these nanosponges are able to significantly increase the survival of mice challenged with a lethal dose of staphylococcal alpha-hemolysin (α-toxin). This rationally designed, bioinspired platform has the potential to be used as a treatment against a variety of diseases that employ pore-forming toxins.

Parts of this work were published last week in Nature Nanotechnology. Check out the Jacobs School press release on related work.

Best Posters by Department

Bioengineering Best Poster
#11 ISOLATIONOF DNA FROM BLOOD SAMPLES FOR CANCER DIAGNOSTICS

Avery R. Sonnenberg

(Professor: Michael Heller)


Computer Science best poster
#31 CODESPELLS:LEARNING TO PROGRAM THROUGH IMMERSIVE GAMEPLAY

Sarah Marie Esper

Stephen Foster

(Professors: William G. Griswold, Elizabeth A. Simon) 

Electrical and Computer Engineering Best Poster
#77 PASSIVEACOUSTIC TRACKING OF TOOTHED WHALES WITH VOLUMETRIC SMALL-APERTURE ARRAYS

Martin Gassmann

(Professors: John A. Hildebrand, William S. Hodgkiss, Gert Lanckriet )

Katie Osterday Best Poster
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

#120 HOUR-AHEADMARKET LOAD FORECAST FOR THE CALIFORNIA INDEPENDENT SYSTEM OPERATOR REGION

Amanpreet Kaur

(Professor: Carlos F. Coimbra) 

NanoEngineering Best Poster
#182  A BIOMIMETIC NANOSPONGE AGAINST PORE-FORMING TOXINS
Ronnie Hongbo Fang

(Professor: Liangfang Zhang)

Structural Engineering
#200 CEMENT SEA-WATER BATTERY (C-SWB) POWERED SENSOR NODE FOR MARINE INFRASTRUCTURE MONITORING

Scott Anthony Ouellette

(Professor: Michael D. Todd) 

*New for 2013*
von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center Innovation Awards

von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center

Innovation Award in Information Technology

#46 SOPRA – A PROACTIVE SERVICE ORIENTED SELF-ADAPTIVE FRAMEWORK FOR DATA CENTER RESOURCE OPTIMIZATION
Filippo Seracini

(Professor: Ingolf Krueger)

von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center

Innovation Award in Life Sciences

#183 ANTIMICROBIAL NANOTHERAPEUTICS FOR THE TREATMENT OF H. PYLORI INFECTION

Soracha Thamphiwatana

Victoria Fu

(Professor: Liangfang Zhang)

von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center

Innovation Award in Materials Mechanics or Energy

#118 ADVANCES IN INTRA-DAY SOLAR FORECASTING TECHNOLOGIES

Lukas Nonnenmacher

(Professor: Carlos F. Coimbra)

***

Best Poster Awards: Honorable Mentions by Department

Bioengineering Honorable Mention Posters

#17 REGULATION OF MITOCHONDRIAL METABOLISM BY THE LKB1 TUMOR SUPPRESSOR Student: Seth Jameson Parker

Professor: Christian M. Metallo

#21 QUANTITATIVE TRANSCRIPTOMICS USING DESIGNED PRIMER-BASED AMPLIFICATION

Student: Vipul Bhargava

Professor: Shankar Subramaniam

Computer Science and Engineering Honorable Mention Posters

#28 RECOGNIZING SIGHTS, SMELLS, AND SOUNDS WITH GNOSTIC FIELDS

Student: Christopher Kanan

Professor: Garrison W. Cottrell

#50 HOMESIM: COMPREHENSIVE, SMART, RESIDENTIAL ENERGY SIMULATION AND SCHEDULING

Students: Jagannathan Venkatesh, Alper Akyurek

Professor: Tajana S. Rosing

#51 TEMPERATURE AWARE THREAD BLOCK SCHEDULING FOR GPGPUS

Student: Rajib Kumar Nath

Professor: Tajana S. Rosing

Electrical and Computer Engineering Honorable Mention Posters

#60 HIGH ENERGY DENSITY, HIGH OPERATING FREQUENCY AND ENERGY EFFICIENT ON-CHIP INDUCTORS BASED ON COILED CARBON NANOTUBES (CCNTS)

Student: Hasan Mohammad Faraby

Professor: Prabhakar R. Bandaru

#70 NANOSCALE PLASMONIC DEVICES FOR BIOSENSING APPLICATIONS

Students: Lindsay Michelle Freeman, Lin Pang, Brandon Hong, Alexei Smolyaninov
Professor: Y. Shaya Fainman

#74 WIDE-FIELD OF VIEW FIBER-COUPLED MONOCENTRIC IMAGERS

Student: Igor Stamenov

Professor: Joseph E. Ford

#82 POST-ROUTING LAYOUT OPTIMIZATIONS FOR IMPROVED TIME-DEPENDENT DIELECTRIC BREAKDOWN RELIABILITY IN SUB-20NM ICS

Student: Tuck Boon Chan

Professor: Andrew B. Kahng

#86 NANOPATTERNED MULTILAYER HYPERBOLIC METAMATERIALS FOR SPONTANEOUS LIGHT EMISSION CONTROL

Students: Danyong Lu, Lorenzo Ferrari, Jimmy Kan

Professors: Zhaowei Liu, Eric Fullerton

#97 ASSISTING THE DRIVER DURING CHALLENGING MANEUVERS USING PROBABILISTIC MODELING AND INTEGRATED SENSING

Student: Sayanan Vinoth Sivaraman

Professor: Mohan M. Trivedi

#100 MONITORING HEAD DYNAMICS FOR DRIVER ASSISTANCE SYSTEMS: A MULTI-PERSPECTIVE APPROACH

Student: Sujitha Catherine Martin

Professor: Mohan M. Trivedi

#102 GROWTH WINDOW AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF GAP/GANP CORE/SHELL NANOWIRE ARRAYS

Student: Supanee Sukrittanon

Professor: Charles W. Tu

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Honorable Mention Posters

#111 FAST ELECTRON TRANSPORT AND SPATIAL ENERGY DEPOSITION INTO IMPLODED HIGH DENSITY PLASMAS USING CU-DOPED CD SHELL TARGETS

Student: Leonard C. Jarrott

Professor: Farhat N. Beg

#114 STUDY OF PRE-PLASMA EFFECTS ON FAST ELECTRON GENERATION AND TRANSPORT USING THE 1.5 KJ, 10 PS OMEGA EP LASER WITH BREMSSTRAHLUNG SPECTROMETERS

Student: Jonathan Lee Peebles

Professor: Farhat N. Beg

#123 TEAM-TRIGGERED COORDINATION OF ROBOTIC NETWORKS

Student: Cameron Nowzari

Professor: Jorge Cortes

#128 MECHANO-CHEMICAL MODEL OF CANCER CELL INVASION

Student: Jui-Hsien Wang

Professor: Juan Carlos Del Alamo

#129 PARTICLE TRACKING MICRORHEOLOGY OF VISCOUS NEMATIC GELS

Student: Manuel Gomez-Gonzalez

Professor: Juan Carlos Del Alamo

#130 LAGRANGIAN COHERENT STRUCTURES IN TURBULENT SEPARATED FLOW

Student: Daniel A. Nelson

 Professors: Gustaaf Jacobs, Sutanu Sarkar

#131 SKY IMAGER SOLAR FORECASTING FOR MICROGRID OPTIMIZATION

Students: Benjamin Bernard Kurtz, Bryan Urquhart, Chi Wai Chow, Anders Nottrot, Mohamed Ghonima, Andu Nguyen, Handa Yang, Oytun Babacan

Professor: Jan P. Kleissl

#138 MAGNETIC FREEZE CASTING INSPIRED BY NATURE

Student: Michael Martin Porter

Professors: Joanna M. McKittrick, Marc A. Meyers

NanoEngineering Honorable Mention Posters

#161 BIOCOMPATIBLE COATING FOR IMPROVED IN VIVO PERSISTENCE OF ADENOVIRUSES Student: Gen Yong

Professor: Sadik C. Esener

#174 DESIGN OF A SOLAR THERMOCHEMICAL HYDROGEN PRODUCTION PLANT

Student: Wesley Wai Luc

Professors: Jan B. Talbot, Richard K. Herz

Structural Engineering Honorable Mention Posters

#194 SHAKE TABLE TESTING OF A FULL-SCALE FIVE-STORY BUILDING: SEISMIC PERFORMANCE OF PRECAST CONCRETE CLADDING PANELS

Student: Elide Pantoli

Professor: Tara C. Hutchinson

#201 IMPROVED SENSITIVITY OF CONDITION MONITORING FEATURES VIA HOLDER EXPONENT ANALYSIS

Student: Luke Thomas Robinson

Professors: Michael D. Todd, Charles R. Farrar

S&E Library Best Literature Review Awards

#183 ANTIMICROBIAL NANOTHERAPEUTICS FOR THE TREATMENT OF H. PYLORI INFECTION

Students: Soracha Thamphiwatana, Victoria Fu

Professor: Liangfang Zhang

#195 SHAKE TABLE TESTING OF STIFF MODEL STATUE STRUCTURES CONSIDERING MASS ECCENTRICITY

Student: Christine Wittich

Professor: Tara C. Hutchinson

Students disect hard drives, learn about design

From left: Lauren Cwiklo, another student and Nate Delson, a lecturer in the MAE department, look at a hard drive.

What's in a hard drive? A lot of lessons in good design, it turns out. That's what Nate Delson, a lecturer in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, wanted to teach a group of students who turned out for a "hard-drive dissection" session in the Design Studio at EBU II Thursday, April 18.

"Hard drives are fascinating," Delson said. 

They're probably the most precise devices anyone has in their homes, Delson added. "There's a lot of very precise design and machining that goes into a hard drive," he said. He added he hoped taking apart the hard drives would teach students about good design practices.

Mechanical engineering students weren't the only ones to turn out for the session. Students in environmental engineering, engineering science, cognitive science and bioengineering turned out too. "It's really interesting to see how stuff works," said Priya Bisarya, a bioengineering major. The exercise took her back to a childhood memory, when she and her father took apart the family's VCR.

Chris Cassidy from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering provided power supplies and use of the Design Studio for the session. Earl "Bucky" Reed, from the Office of Engineering Computer, provided the hard drives. The session's student coordinators were Ngoc "Naomi" Diep and Jake Malone.

From left: Kelly Mark, Miranda Bohm and Brian Kim examine a hard drive.

Masato Koizumi uses a screwdriver to open a hard drive.

Elioth Fraijo opens a hard drive.

From left: Tanima Shukla, Priya Bisarya and Fabian Ramirez examine hard drive components.

Pauline Laikijrung poses with a hard drive component.

Nanosponge Video

Below is the nanosponge video that we worked on, to go with the press release.

Nanosponges Soak Up Toxins Released by Bacterial Infections and Venom

This particular project is one of what is likely an ongoing series of projects that highlight the exciting ways that red blood cell membranes can functionalize nanoparticles.

This work follows up on the 2011 research by the same team of nanoengineers. That work was published in PNAS.

At Research Expo this Thursday, two different aspects of this work will be presented at the graduate student poster session. On-site registration for Research Expo is the way to go b/c online registration closed yesterday.

182. A BIOMIMETIC NANOSPONGE AGAINST PORE-FORMING TOXINS

Student(s): Ronnie Hongbo Fang
Professor(s): Liangfang Zhang
Industry Application Area(s): Life Sciences/Medical Devices & Instruments | Materials

184. ERYTHROCYTE MEMBRANE-CLOAKED NANOPARTICLES AS A BIOMIMETIC DELIVERY PLATFORM

Student(s): Brian Tsengchi Luk
Professor(s): Liangfang Zhang
Industry Application Area(s): Materials | Bioengineering | Nanomedicine

 

CodeSpells Creator Sarah Esper is Presenting at Research Expo on April 18

Computer Science PhD student Sarah Esper is one of the creators of CodeSpells, a videogame that teaches kids Java. CodeSpells has gotten a lot of attention recently (press release, CodeSpells blog) . Here's a sample of some of the media coverage it's received so far:

Wired: Experimental Videogame Teaches Kids How to Program in Java

Gizmag: Video game teaches Java programming language to players

Examiner.com: A new game lets you save the world and learn Java at the same time

Esper is one of the 200+ grad students presenting their research projects at Research Expo on April 18, here at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

Register for Research Expo here.
UC San Diego alumni receive half-price admission.
Employees of CAP member companies receive 2-for-1 admission.

The poster title and abstract are below:

31. CODESPELLS: LEARNING TO PROGRAM THROUGH IMMERSIVE GAMEPLAY

Department: Computer Science & Engineering
Faculty Advisor(s): William G. Griswold | Elizabeth A. Simon

Primary Student
Name: Sarah Esper
Student CollaboratorsStephen Foster

Abstract
CodeSpells is a 3D immersive video game designed to teach CS1 level programming concepts to novice students. It is meant to be a stand alone system that guides students through CS1 concepts in a explorative way, encouraging students to engage in pre-defined ?quests? that address particular concepts, but also informally through exploring the 3D world. There have been results to indicate that CodeSpells is a system that is engaging for students ages 9-24 who are complete novice programmers, interested in programming. Early results indicate that little external help is necessary for the students to complete the pre-defined challenges. This study aims to determine what kind of help is necessary as well as how much learning occurs in normal game play.

Related Links:

1. http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/news_releases/release.sfe?id=1347
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TslR9CG6yKI

Audacious Speculations

The Audacious Speculations event at UC San Diego will consist of a series of short, performative presentations on research that is so ambitious people often roll their eyes in disbelief, including activist projects that transform the socio-political landscape, or scientific research and experiments that are particularly poetic or speculative, and more. 

Documenting both existing and speculative work, the presenters include engineers who think like artists; scientists who think like poets; physicists who think like dancers; and artists who think like scientists, hypnotists – even like foxes. 

The evening will include presentations on movies for monkeys; a gestural language of physics; tracking trash in Tijuana; hypnosis; butterflies without borders; beautiful brains; biomimicry; smart underwear; finding your bliss; new silhouettes; and a fashionable approach to science education. 

Click on PRESENTATIONS for program details.

There will also be a live webcast and video archive...so if you stumble upon this post after the April 12 event, you can still enjoy it.