Saturday, June 6, 2009

Space Pee in the Union Tribune


The UC San Diego undergrads who are studying fluid streams in zero gravity with the hope of making more comfortable and sanitary urine collection devices for space travel were profiled in the San Diego Union Tribune today.

Read Scott LaFee's story here.

This story in the Union Tribune links back to the video I produced about the Microgravity Project.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

More photos from "space pee" story







Above and below are more photos from the Jacobs School undergraduate students on the Microgravity Team who are studying fluid dynamics in near zero gravity in order to make more sanitary and comfortable space toilets (urine collection devices if you want to be specific).

The Microgravity Project is part of http://aiaa.ucsd.edu/, which is UC San Diego’s student chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The following Jacobs School of Engineering undergraduates participated in the 2009 Microgravity Project at UC San Diego: Timothy Havard, Christie Carlile, Geoffrey Meier, Samina Bhatia, Derek Peterson, Jacqueline Yu, Arvin La Rosa, Colin Sheredy, Jeremy Burke and Brandon Maryatt.
















http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/news_releases/release.sfe?id=852

More photos from NASA Johnson Space Center are here and even more Microgravity University photos are here.

Engineers Throwing Rock Concert this Friday


The Jacobs School of Rock is back. All the info is at the Jacobs School of Rock web site.

Friday June 5, 2009.
Porter's Pub at UC San Diego.
Doors open at 5 PM, the show starts at 6PM.
Seven bands. No cover!!!
Come and see just how much the Jacobs School rocks.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Bioengineering Grad Students Win Entrepreneur Challenge



Congratulations to the bioengineering grad students from the Jacobs School who took first place last night at the UC San Diego Entrepreneur Challenge. The winning students are from a team that bears the same name as their startup company: Biological Dynamics. Raj Krishnan is one of the founders, a bioengineering grad student and no stranger to the winners circle.

I recently wrote a story highlighting the many university research awards he was won this year. Read that story here.

Second Place went to Tritonics, a team that includes UC San Diego bioengineering grad student Saleh Amirriazi.

Third Place went to Radio Fast, which includes Mehmet Parlak, an ECE/Calit2 grad student.

Xconomy San Diego covered this story The first two graphs from that story by Juha-Pekka Tikka are excerpted below...followed by photos taken by Jacobs School alumna Nikki Truitt (Thanks Nikki!)

A biotechnology company aiming to revolutionize early-stage cancer screening last night won the UC San Diego Entrepreneur Challenge. Biological Dynamics, led by bioengineering PhD student and CEO Raj Krishnan and his fellow graduate students David Charlot and Roy Lefkowitz, took home the $40,000 first prize.

Biological Dynamics has developed a screening tool that identifies secondary cancer biomarkers such as free circulating DNA from unnatural cell death. Krishnan’s technology helps to detect signs of early stage tumors with a cost-effective blood test that takes less than 30 minutes and shows signs of almost every cancer type, according to the already much-awarded team.





Fluid Dynamics Research to Make Peeing in Space More Comfortable and Sanitary


Engineering undergrads at UC San Diego are studying the fluid dynamics of water in order to build a more comfortable and sanitary urine collection device for space travel.

The mechanical and aerospace engineering undergraduates from the Jacobs School of Engineering mimicked the behavior of streams of human urine in zero gravity in order to collect the data necessary to make better space urinals for both women and men.

Watch the 3 minute video below and read the full story here. (Embed code for the video is available here or from the tool bar under the video).



Monday, June 1, 2009

San Diego telecom history article in San Diego history journal


“Before Qualcomm: Linkabit and the Origins of the San Diego Telecom Industry,” by Joel West is the lead article of the Winter/Spring issue of The Journal of San Diego History.


The introductory paragraphs are excerpted in the link below at professor Joel West's blog "San Diego Telecom Industry".