Video Game Creature Comes to the Library

Sure, people come to the library and play muliplayer networked video games on their computers when they should be studying, but it's not every day that video games wander into the library and set up shop. But that's pretty much what happened recently at UC San Diego's Science and Engineering Library.

A group of UCSD alumni founded Presto Studios and created a video game called Journeyman Project “Legacy of Time.” The group of alumni, Michel Kripalani, Greg Uhler, and Farshid Almassizadeh, donated a life-sized model of one of the creatures from this computer game, Chameleon JumpSuit, to the library.

What's interesting to me is how much video games have changed in the last few years. This game was a CD-Rom game...and today so many of the computer games are multiplayer games distributed across the Web so you can be playing against people from all over the world. It makes me think that the special powers that Chameleon JumpSuit was endowed with might one day make their way to regular folks.

Graphics at UC San Diego

A graphic created by computer science grad student Iman Sadeghi landed on the cover of the January 2009 issue of Optics and Photonics News.

For this image, Sadeghi won the grand prize in the 2007 graphics contest for CSE 168 Rendering Algorithms. What the judges said back in 2007, "Inspiring artistic quality. Portraying nature is very hard, and Iman did a great job at that."

Pulse, the Jacobs School's alumni magazine, featured this image last year. Read the blurb here.

Live Cam from the Englekirk Structural Engineering Center

Live Web cam of a masonry structure...it's cooler than it sounds.


The link above is one of the live Web cams showing construction of a masonry structure that engineers will shake later in the month in order to learn how to devise better seismic retrofit schemes to make buildings safer. A media advisory is in the works...the test is tentatively scheduled for Monday January 26. Let me know if you want more info. Read about the most recent tests on the shaketable here. Video here.




With its one-of-a-kind facilities, the Englekirk Structural Engineering Center at the University of California, San Diego is enabling structural tests that have never been possible before. The Center is equipped with the world's first outdoor shake table adjacent to the country's largest soil-structure interaction facility, allowing researchers to perform dynamic earthquake safety tests on full-scale structural systems. The Center's blast simulator will be used to study the effects of bomb blasts and test new technologies to harden buildings against terrorist bomb attacks. A defining element of the Englekirk Center is strong collaboration with industry, and 45 companies and organizations among southern California's building industry participate on an advisory board and support research at the Englekirk Center.

Sequence Unknown Antibodies Fast

If you are wondering why Santa didn't bring you that fast antibody sequencer you asked for...there is a good reason...UC San Diego researchers and their collaborators are still inventing it.

In a paper in the December issue of Nature Biotechnology, the bioinformatics researchers from UC San Diego and Genentech propose a new shotgun protein sequencing method reduces the time required to sequence an unknown antibody to under 36 hours. This is a “dramatic reduction” compared to the most widely used technique today, which can take weeks or even months.

“Our new approach has the potential to be a disruptive technology for all protein sequencing applications,” said Nuno Bandeira, lead author on the paper and director of the new Center for Computational Mass Spectrometry (CCMS) at UC San Diego. “This project is a collaboration with Genentech, the leader in development of antibody-based drugs, and it illustrates the potential impact that this center and this technology can have on the biotech industry in California and around the world.”

Bandeira’s co-authors on the Nature Biotechnology paper include UC San Diego computer science and engineering professor Pavel Pevzner, director of the Calit2-based Center for Algorithmic and Systems Biology (CASB); and three researchers from the Protein Chemistry Department of San Francisco-based Genentech: Victoria Pham, David Arnott, and Jennie R. Lill.

News Years Thougths from La Jolla Light

Take inspiration in 2009 from those around us

Dec 30, 2008

- La Jolla Light

As we dive into a new year that's certain to be filled with joy and challenge, disappointment and success, we should take inspiration from those people featured in today's paper as those to keep an eye on in the coming year.

These people - some of whose names are well known, others may be less so - are at the forefront of what's made the region a leader in the scientific community for many years. From the halls of our research institutions to the classrooms of UCSD and the labs and offices of local companies, these people are setting the pace for years to come.

Whether it's an entrepreneur like Larry Bock who's pulling together the inaugural San Diego Science Festival or a leader like William Brody who will take over the reins of the Salk Institute this spring, these people represent the dedication that should inspire us to think big.

The list could go on and on, with the likes of UCSD Prof. Joseph Wang, a superstar in the rapidly developing field of nanbioelectronics, or marine ecologist Stuart Sandin of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who is expected to play a role in formulating ways to protect and preserve marine ecosystems.

Within the work of each of these people are hints about what it takes to succeed: dedication to a task, commitment to success, a willingness to carry on in the face of obstacles and an ability share their knowledge.

Next week we'll go beyond the halls of science to find more people who are likely to play a role in our own neighborhoods.

While all of these people, be they leaders in science, politics, sports or education, may have a more public role than many of us, we all have a role to play. For some that role is highly visible, for others it is often behind the scenes.

As we move into another year and the many opportunities ahead, let's seek ways to look to one another for hope and to inspire each other to make our communities better by simply being kinder, more thoughtful and supportive of each other.

Happy New Year.

Taaz.com in the news

A Jacobs School algorithm for gloss removal from images led to the virtual makeover Web startup Taaz.com where anyone can upload their photo and apply makup and try out new hairstyles. The cutting-edge computer vision technologies developed at UC San Diego are at the heart of the technology.

The Rocky Mountain news just wrote about Taaz.com in a story that recently came out of the Colorado Software & Internet Association DEMOGala.

Also, Taaz.com co-founder and Jacobs School computer science professor David Kriegman recently won CONNECT’s Most Innovative New Product (MIP) award for software and information technology.

Watch the Jacobs School virtual makeover video I put together last spring for the Taaz.com launch below:

Citizen Engineer...a new book from Jacobs School alum

Citizen Engineer is a new book, co-written by Greg Papadopoulos, a Jacobs School alum and chief technology officer for Sun Microsystems.

According to a recent story about the book and its authors in the Mercury News, engineering isn't just engineering anymore. In the 21st century, members of the engineering profession must confront issues of environmental sustainability, intellectual property, economics and their own responsibilities as citizens of a global community.

"The book is part primer and part argument. The authors say they wrote it for engineering students, professors and working engineers who, in Papadopolous' words, 'have that idea that maybe they need to think more about what they're doing,'" according to the Mercury News story.

Papadopoulos is the chair of the Jacobs School of Engineering's Council of Advisors.

The Council of Advisors to the Dean of the Jacobs School is comprised of industry leaders who provide: advice and council to help the Jacobs School best serve the San Diego region, the State of California, and the nation; contacts with business, government, and community to advance the mission of the School; help in identifying and acquiring resources in support of the School's goals and programs. Meet the Council of Advisors here

"Citizen Engineer" was co-written by Greg Papadopoulos and David Douglas, both electrical engineers and computer scientists who are, respectively, chief technology officer and chief sustainability officer for Sun. Papadopoulos is responsible for Sun's research and development efforts, while Douglas coordinates environmental programs and heads the company's cloud computing and developer platforms division.