200 fly or rendering algorithms of water?

Is it harder to swim 200 fly or write the C++ code to render algorithms for swimming pool water? That's the question I hope to get answered tomorrow by a computer science senior on the UCSD women's swim team. I'm waiting on the winning images from the CSE 168 rendering algorithms competition for spring 2010.

Laser Looks for Rail Line Cracks

Structural engineering professor Francesco Lanza di Scalea is in the news today. He is leading a project to use lasers and microphones to detect cracks in railroad tracks. Gary Robbins from the San Diego Union Tribune covered the story. Check it out here.

The crack-detecting prototype is out at the UC San Diego Englekirk Structural Engineering Center.

Making Graphics with Rendering Algorithms: Class and Contest

I popped into the final presentations for CSE 168 (Rendering Algorithms) taught by computer science professor Henrik Wann Jensen. I'm waiting for the final results, but in the meantime, here are some of the photos from the class. Above: UC San Diego senior Nick Echols shows off a "behind the scenes" graphic tied to his CSE 168 project.

The C++ computer code in the image (below) highlights the fact that these images are created by computer science students who write and manipulate lines of C++ code. This is not about using software that has already been created. It's much more involved than learning Photoshop, Illustrator and 3D graphics programs.

Photos of Winner of UC San Diego Entrepreneur Challenge

Congratulations to Yu Mike Chi, the electrical engineering PhD student who leads the startup that won the 2009-2010 UC San Diego Entrepreneur Challenge. Below are photos of Chi, Chi and his advisor, bioengineering professor Gert Cauwenberghs, and the wireless sensors (and some wired versions for contrast).

Video from Thursday's Sanyo / UC San Diego Announcement

Below is video and audio from Jan Kleissl's talk at the Sanyo-UC San Diego smart grid / solar / energy management announcement on Thursday. The video is of the UC San Diego sky imager from Jan Kleissl's lab in the MAE Dept here at the Jacobs School.



The San Diego Union Tribune and KPBS and many other news outlets covered this story.

TIES Gets UC San Diego on Presidential Community Service Honor Roll

The Jacobs School's Teams in Engineering Service (TIES) played an important role in getting UC San Diego on the 2009 President's Community Service Honor Roll with distinction.

TIES is an innovative academic program that offers partnerships between engineering students and non-profit organizations in the local community leading them to identify, address and solve engineering problems.

TIES is modeled after the EPICS Program at Purdue University, a program originating in the mid-90s, which has proven to be enormously successful in its efforts to provide its engineering students with the opportunity to work in the real world.

The best way to start to understand TIES is to browse the list of current TIES projects.

Read the full story by Christine Clark here.

Update Monday June 7: The San Diego Union Tribune covered the story.

Mike Chi and Cognionics Team Win First Prize at $80K Entrepreneurship Challenge

And the winner is...Cognionics! Led by Jacobs School electrical engineering graduate student Mike Chi, Cognionics won first prize tonight at the UC San Diego Entrepreneurship Challenge. They get $25K in cash to fund their startup (wireless health monitoring sensors) and $15K in legal services.

Chi left an academic conference in Paris two days early just to present at the entrepreneurship challenge. And the jet lag didn't trip him up. His team not only won the official competition, but they also won the popular vote from the audience (which carries with it an extra thousand bucks).

His demo, in which he put one of the sensors on his chest, and showed the audience how it picked up the ECG must have made a big impression.

I'll update this story tomorrow with some pictures.