“The new master degree program will address an unmet need in San Diego – interdisciplinary graduate-level training for engineers and scientists who are already working in the medical device and diagnostic industries. The curriculum is focused on the interface between traditional disciplines, which is where the most exciting advances in medical device and diagnostic systems engineering are occurring,” said Juan C. Lasheras, a UC San Diego professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), and in the Department of Bioengineering – which the National Research Council (NRC) ranked as first in the country in 2010. Lasheras is also Director of the Center for Medical Devices and Instrumentation – part of the UC San Diego Institute of Engineering in Medicine. "
Two researchers at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego have built swimming devices at the nanoscale that can cruise through liquids when propelled by magnetic fields. These nanoswimmers ultimately could be used to deliver drugs in the human body.
Eric Lauga, from the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Joseph Wang, from the department of nanoengineering, and colleagues made the devices by attaching tails made of silver to heads made of nickel. The nanoswimmers traveled as fast as some natural organisms, including E.Coli, in human serum, according to Chemistry World.
For more information, read the Chemistry World story, or the researchers’ paper in the journal Soft Matter.
Next time you find yourself at the Birch Aquarium, make sure to check out Boundless Energy, a new exhibit which showcases research by Jan Kleissl, a professor of environmental engineering here at the Jacobs School of Engineering.
Kleissl and Ph.D. student Anders Nottrott created a solar map of the state of California, which allows homeowners, photovoltaic installers and utilities to better predict how much power they will get out of their solar-power systems. The map is on display in the courtyard of the aquarium, which has 240 solar panels on its roof, generating 49.2 kilowatts of power.
