Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Jack Keil Wolf named to National Academy of Sciences


Congratulations to electrical engineering professor Jack K. Wolf. Today, he was elected to join the National Academy of Sciences.

The press release is here. (Update: May 3, 2010: The San Diego Union Tribune ran a short piece on the award.)

Some context from Larry Larson:

“If you think about saving data on a hard disk, the magnetic medium is imperfect. Jack’s innovations have allowed us to read data to and write data from these magnetic devices with near perfect fidelity. This is at the heart of the information revolution,” said Lawrence Larson, Professor and Chair, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

Info on Wolf's research:

Wolf, a professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the Jacobs School of Engineering, is an expert in digital information storage and signal processing for digital recording. He was an early proponent of applying information and communications theory to the construction of ultra-high-density information storage. The research results of Wolf and his students have been incorporated in the design of several storage systems. Wolf leads the Signal Processing Group – dubbed the “WolfPack” – within UCSD’s Center for Magnetic Recording Research (CMRR).

Wolf is the Stephen O. Rice Professor of Magnetics at UCSD. He earned his Ph.D. in 1960 from Princeton University, and later taught at New York University, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Wolf joined the UCSD faculty in 1984.

UCSD Triton RobotiX in Robogames AND Popular Mechanics story

UCSD Triton RobotiX...the group of Jacobs School students who builds robots for battle against other robots competed in Robogames over the weekend. Daniel (not Darren!) Yang, one of the 2010 team leaders is quoted in a Popular Mechanics story about Robogames.

According to the Triton Robotix Web site:


UCSD Triton Robotix managed to pull through and do well in the competition. With 21 entries from colleges and professionals from around the world, our robot Kraken fought its way to 5th place.

Learn more at the UCSD ASME website.

Final Tally:

Kraken vs N/A : win
Kraken vs Poppy: win
Kraken vs Dark Cyde: win
Kraken vs TSA Inspected: loss
Kraken vs Touro: loss

Grudge match challenges:

Kraken vs DracUCLA -> UCLA forfeits (but they’re cool)
Kraken vs Circle Strafe -> Caltech forfeits (but they’re still cool)
Ziggy vs Kraken+DracUCLA+Circle Strafe -> We all forfeit against CM Robotics (lolll)


Sailor Lab research highlighted in a CNN cellphones for biochemical attack sensing story





Professor Michael Sailor and his lab are mentioned in a CNN news blog story about cell phones for sensing biochemical attacks. An excerpt from the story is below:



One of the technologies being examined is a porous silicon “nose” that is based on – amazingly - the beetle shell. Professor Michael Sailor at the University of California San Diego uses silicon to mimic the way a beetle’s complex shell produces iridescence. Sailor uses chemistry to give silicon particles a sponge-like structure. The particles’ pores are designed to recognize and sop up molecules of certain toxins. So these “artificial” noses can potentially detect scores of chemical compounds.

Professor Sailor's primary appointment is in the UCSD Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, but he also holds an appointment in the Department of Bioengineering in the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

Solar Concentrator Video has approx 1,600 views in 6 days

1600 views for the solar concentrator video...not bad for a technial video...have YOU seen it yet?




I'm not sure where the traffic came from...according to YouTube insight, most of the views have no direct referrer link...meaning that the video spread virally.