UC San Diego's Smart Grid Highlighted by California Energy Commission

The California Energy Commission puts UC San Diego's smart grid in the spotlight in this video. The video explores the benefits of UC San Diego's microgrid system and how it is helping energy researchers at the U.S. Navy to deploy smart grid technologies at military bases. The microgrid was developed partly thanks to research by scientists at the Jacobs School of Engineering.

Biz leaders, researchers, SBA advocate look for solutions to keep entrepreneurism alive and well

Winslow Sargeant, chief counsel for advocacy at the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, was on campus this week for a roundtable discussion with entrepreneurs and researchers about the regulatory and bureaucratic barriers, and funding limitations that can keep good inventions stuck in the laboratory. The discussion was hosted by the von Liebig Center forEntrepreneurism and Technology Advancement and CONNECT. 

“Research is the transformation of money into knowledge. Innovation is the transformation of knowledge into money in the form of companies, products and services,” said Sargeant. “We want you to make it to the other side,” he added, referencing the dreaded valley of death, where many an innovative idea has died due to lack of resources and funding. 

Several challenges were raised during the discussion, including dwindling federal and state funding for research and commercialization via the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program (combined with increased competition for those dollars), mismatched priorities between the kind of research that federal agencies fund and the needs of the medical community, and the funding process by which proposals are reviewed, which several in attendance described as “broken.” 

The uncertainty about funding for research is creating a discouraging environment for undergraduate and graduate students considering whether to pursue a doctorate degree, which several attendees agreed could be “devastating” at the junior faculty level over the long-term. Sargeant said this trend is especially problematic. “If we’re encouraging young people to go into STEM fields, there has to be a pathway. There can’t be a valley of death for the entrepreneur and scientist,” he said.

Solutions were also proposed. Among them: shortening the review cycle for Small Business Innovation Research grants from nine months or more to three to five months; providing more education and training to individuals who review the SBIR funding proposals; a mentoring program to help less experienced entrepreneurs compete for this type of funding; and a pre-proposal process to weed out and provide feedback to researchers whose ideas need more work.  Attendees also recommended changing an SBIR rule that requires the principal investigator on any grant to be primarily employed (more than 50 percent of the time) by the company.  The requirement often means faculty members or researchers need to leave the university – and the health care and other benefits it provides – to pursue a highly risky venture. 

Sargeant is currently traveling around the country visiting with business leaders, inventors and entrepreneurs about the challenges that may be impeding the growth of small businesses. As chief counsel for advocacy at the SBA, Sargeant advocates for policies that support the growth and development of small businesses. The von Liebig Center at UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering provides proof of concept funding and advisory services to accelerate the commercialization of university research throughout Southern California.

Computer Scientists with Ties to Jacobs School Win Prestigious Prize

Christos Papadimitriou and Elias Koutsoupias have won the 2012 Gödel Prize. Papadimitriou is a former computer science faculty member and was Koutsoupias' adviser when he received his Ph.D. in 1994. The Gödel Prize is jointly awarded by the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science and the ACM Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory in recognition of outstanding papers in theoretical computer science.  Koutsoupias and Papadimtriou's "Worst-case Equilibria" paper introduced the "price of anarchy" concept, a measure of the extent to which competition approximates cooperation.

UC San Diego Students Rock Concert at The Loft

FoXXy Chancellor, Marlena and The Wang and SO3, led by computer science professor Serge Belongie, were some of that bands that took over The Loft at the Price Center June 9 for the 2012 edition of the Jacobs School of Rock.

The musical tradition is now in its fifth year. But for some of the bands, made up of senior students, it was the last chance to perform. FoXXy Chancellor brings together three electrical engineering majors, one Ph.D. student in economics and one philosophy major. 

"Performing at The Loft for our final year at UCSD was incredible," said Nicholas Huynh Thien, a double e major from France who plays the keyboard in the band.  "We've been jamming together from the first time we met, our first year at UCSD."

The band decided that JSOR should actually stand for Jacobs School of Rap. So they performed their take on Lil Jon, Juvenile and 2Live Crew. All our friends came out to support us, dance with us, jeer at other bands with us," Thien said. "We definitely ended our time at UCSD on a high note with JSOR."

Check out pictures from the concert on the JSOR's Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/JacobsSchoolOfRock

Ring Ceremony Photos / Jacobs School of Engineering

Congratulations to all the Jacobs School of Engineering students who graduated last year. Check out the photos from our Ring Ceremony on the Jacobs School Facebook page.

A short story highlighting the students individally honored at Ring Ceremony 2012 is on the way. Stay tuned.

Medical Technologies dominate Entrepreneur Challenge

The pitches included technologies to cure cancer, brain computer interfaces for patients without speech, an automated portfolio management system, sensor assisted orthopedic surgery, garbage compactors, and an enhanced dental implant. More than 300 students, faculty, investors, professionals and entrepreneurs were in attendance as an esteemed panel of judges representing San Diego’s business and technology communities decided who would take home $100K in funding and advisory services in the 6^th annual University of California, San Diego Entrepreneur Challenge.

In the end, medical technologies ruled the day.  Kenan Azam, CEO for the Entrepreneur Challenge and a programmer/analyst in the Jacobs School’s Department of Bioengineering, described 2012 as a record year in both number and quality of submissions, which he believes is an indication of growth in San Diego’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. The quality of the participating teams forced planners to expand the number of finalists from five to seven. Teams connected to the Jacobs School took the top two spots.

Nasseo, the first prize winner, with the Entrepreneur Challenge team and judges. Photo courtesy: UC San Diego Entrepreneur Challenge.

First prize, with $57,000 in cash and services went to Nasseo, Inc., a medical device startup that has developed novel technologies to treat dental/orthopedic implant failures.  The technology was primarily developed in the lab of Sungho Jin, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Nasseo is led by Garrett Cale Smith (Co-Founder, CEO), a PhD Candidate in Bioengineering at the Jacobs School.

Second prize with $28,000 in cash and services went to SONRGY, which is aiming to be a leader in localized drug delivery directed to cancer tumors.  SONRGY’s focused ultrasound enabled proprietary nanocarriers improve the effectiveness of cancer therapy by reducing administered dose and toxic side effects through exquisite 3D spatial selectivity.  SONRGY is led by a seasoned team of technology leaders, entrepreneurs, and marketing experts including co-inventors Michael Benchimol and professor Sadik Esener from the NanoEngineering Department and the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.

In its six years of existence, the Entrepreneur Challenge has raised and awarded over $500,000 in prizes to enterprising students and researchers.  Many of these start-ups have continued to grow and have raised significant venture funding.  Challenge VP Rajesh Grover, a scientist at The Scripps Research Institute, and COO Helen Saad, a PhD candidate in bioengineering, honored six San Diego based start-ups that started out by winning the Entrepreneur Challenge. These companies are: NeuroVigil, Biological Dynamics, Cognionics, Cypher Genomics, Lumedyne Technologies and The Nicholas Conor Cancer Institute.
You can read more about the Entrepreneur Challenge and the winning teams here.

UCSD Graduate Students Present at Broadcom Foundation University Research Competition

University of California San Diego graduate students Jayadev Acharya and Nevena Rakuljic presented their research at the inaugural Broadcom Foundation University Research Competition that took place June 6 and 7 in Irvine and was sponsored by Broadcom Foundation.

Acharya and Rakuljic, who both are studying electrical and computer engineering, were among 12 student finalists from 10 universities competing in a poster session at the opening reception of Broadcom’s annual Technical Conference. Rakuljic is a Jacobs Scholar at the Jacobs School of Engineering.

Acharya presented his project “Algorithms and Limits for Competitive Learning,” which helps to design everyday decision algorithms that are more efficient, accurate and need fewer data samples. Rakuljic demonstrated her project “Suppression of Quantization‐Induced Convergence Error in Pipelined ADCs with Digital Calibration,” which furthers the technological advancement in the field of analog‐to‐digital converters that are key components of communication systems and medical instrumentation.

The finalists, who were selected by Broadcom Foundation’s STEM University sub-committee, discussed their projects and how future application of their research would improve lives and contribute to society at large. More than 400 distinguished Broadcom engineers judged the entries on technology, content and presentation with the top three winners being awarded an unrestricted cash prize of $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 respectively.

Broadcom Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded by the Broadcom Corportation. Its mission is to advance education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by funding research, recognizing scholarship and increasing opportunity.

Pictured above: Jacobs School grad student Nevena Rakuljic presenting her research at a poster session at the Broadcom Foundation University Research Competition. From left to right: Broadcom Foundation Head Paula Golden, Rakuljic and Broadcom Executive Vice President of  Global Human Resources Terri Timberman.