UAH senior design students develop new water supply system for Nicaraguan village through Engineers Without Borders

Electrical engineering senior design students at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) recently designed an automated chlorine dispenser to upgrade the water supply for a village in Sabana Larga, Nicaragua.

UAH receives Stage 1 approval for $24.4M Bevill Center renovation to expand cybersecurity education, training and research

The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) received Stage 1 approval from the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees for a $24.4 million Center for Cybersecurity Research, Education and Advanced Training. The 45,000-square-foot renovation project will establish UAH’s Bevill Center as the new home of the existing UAH Center for Cybersecurity Research and Education (CCRE), and it will modify the building to add modern classroom and training spaces, research laboratories and office space, as well as complete upgrades to the main building lobby.

Addressing disparities in Alzheimer’s disease research

Age-related cognitive decline and the escalating prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease are pressing social challenges as the population of those 65 and older continues to expand. Age is the primary risk factor, but research has shown that social and structural determinants of health play significant roles in the higher incidence of Alzheimer’s among marginalized communities.

Susan and Henry Samueli give $50 million to UC Irvine’s engineering school

The creation of three new multidisciplinary research institutes in The Henry Samueli School of Engineering is being made possible by a $50 million gift from Susan and Henry Samueli to the University of California, Irvine. Unified under the banner “Engineering+,” the Engineering+Health Institute, Engineering+Society Institute and Engineering+Environment Institute will allow researchers from diverse disciplines to conduct transformational research addressing the most important issues facing humanity today.

Call for Papers: The 2nd International Conference on Educational System Management Leadership 2023 (ICESML2023)

The Faculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University; Teachers College, Columbia University; Association of Professional Development of Educational Administration (APDEA); and the Research Unit on Transforming Education System for Creating Innovators and Entrepreneurs (TESCIE) are hosting an academic virtual conference entitled “The 2nd International Conference on Educational System Management Leadership 2023 (ICESML2023): Educational Management Design for Global Transformation” on April 28, 2023 from 10.00 A.M.- 4.30 P.M. Bangkok Time (GMT+7).

UCI to launch pre-health program with support from state of California

Irvine, Calif., Feb. 9, 2023 — Increasing underrepresented students’ access to careers in medicine is the focus of a new interdisciplinary, pre-health professional development program at the University of California, Irvine. A five-year, $3.6 million grant from the California Department of Health Care Access and Information will support UC PRIME Pre-Health Pathways, a resource for undergraduates from underserved communities who are interested in pursuing careers in healthcare.

Precision health perspectives

In February, UCI launched the Institute for Precision Health, a campus-wide, interdisciplinary endeavor that merges UCI’s powerhouse health sciences, engineering, machine learning, artificial intelligence, clinical genomics and data science capabilities. The objective is to identify, create and deliver the most effective health and wellness strategy for each individual person and, in doing so, confront the linked challenges of health equity and the high cost of care.

Exploring, Monitoring and Modeling the Deep Ocean

The NSF is funding a team led by the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences at UT Austin to implement a Deep-Ocean Observing Strategy (iDOOS), bringing together U.S. and international networks engaged in deep-ocean observing, mapping, exploration, modeling, research and sustainable management.

Advanced practice nurse and philosopher Mark Lazenby named dean of UCI nursing school

Irvine, Calif., July 27, 2021 – Mark Lazenby, advanced practice nurse and philosopher, has been appointed dean of the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing at the University of California, Irvine, following a nationwide search. He will assume his new role on Jan. 1, 2022. Lazenby is currently a professor of nursing and associate dean for faculty and student affairs in the School of Nursing at the University of Connecticut, where he’s also an affiliate professor of philosophy.

Jon Gould is named dean of UCI’s School of Social Ecology

Irvine, Calif., July 13, 2021 — Jon Gould, a distinguished scholar in justice policy, social change and government reform who has held key positions in the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Science Foundation, will become the new dean of the School of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine, following a nationwide search.

Efforts to treat COVID-19 patients chronicled in UC Health medications data

Irvine, Calif., May 21, 2021 – A record of medicine utilization patterns assembled by an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of California, Irvine and the UC San Diego School of Medicine reveals the thought, care and scientific rigor clinicians at UC Health medical centers applied in their treatment of patients with COVID-19 in 2020.

Montana State’s Gregory Young Selected as the 2021 CUR-Arts and Humanities Faculty Mentor Awardee

Gregory Young, professor in the School of Music at Montana State University in Bozeman, has been selected as the 2021 CUR-Arts and Humanities Faculty Mentor Awardee. The award consists of a plaque and $1,000 for the recipient’s work with undergraduate researchers.

Cost-Effective, Easily Manufactured Ventilators for COVID-19 Patients

Particle physicists are at the forefront for pioneering low-cost, mass-producible ventilators to help address the worldwide shortage. An international, interdisciplinary team spearheaded one such effort and presents the design in Physics of Fluids. The ventilator consists of a gas inlet valve and a gas outlet valve, with controls and alarms to ensure proper monitoring and customizability from patient to patient. The design is built from readily available parts and is presented under an open license.

UCI researchers eavesdrop on cellular conversations

Irvine, Calif., Feb. 17, 2020 — An interdisciplinary team of biologists and mathematicians at the University of California, Irvine has developed a new tool to help decipher the language cells use to communicate with one another. In a paper published today in Nature Communications, the researchers introduce CellChat, a computational platform that enables the decoding of signaling molecules that transmit information and commands between the cells that come together to form biological tissues and even entire organs.

UCI researchers use deep learning to identify gene regulation at single-cell level

Irvine, Calif., Jan. 5, 2021 — Scientists at the University of California, Irvine have developed a new deep-learning framework that predicts gene regulation at the single-cell level. Deep learning, a family of machine-learning methods based on artificial neural networks, has revolutionized applications such as image interpretation, natural language processing and autonomous driving.

UCI researchers develop rapid antibody generation technology

Irvine, Calif., Dec. 7, 2020 — Using the same strain of yeast that ferments wine and makes dough rise, a team led by University of California, Irvine and Harvard Medical School researchers has developed an in vitro technology that can rapidly hypermutate antibodies. The new technology generates antibodies faster than animal immune systems and better than current synthetic methods, giving researchers the tools for evolving exceptionally potent agents, including therapeutic candidates that target SARS-CoV-2.

UCI materials scientists discover design secrets of nearly indestructible insect

Irvine, Calif., Oct. 21, 2020 – With one of the more awe-inspiring names in the animal kingdom, the diabolical ironclad beetle is one formidable insect. Birds, lizards and rodents frequently try to make a meal of it but seldom succeed. Run over it with a car, and the critter lives on. The beetle’s survival depends on two key factors: its ability to convincingly play dead and an exoskeleton that’s one of the toughest, most crush-resistant structures known to exist in the biological world.

Responding to the response: Anthropologist conducting survey to gauge Americans’ feelings on the country’s response to COVID-19

Medical anthropologist Lisa Hardy knows a complex global problem like the coronavirus pandemic requires interdisciplinary solutions, so she put her experience in measuring community engagement and resilience to use collecting real-time data into what Americans are thinking. The nature of her work means that the results can be used in the country’s ongoing response to the pandemic. She, faculty member Leah Mundell and grad students Kayla Torres and Kevin Shaw also are the U.S. partners in an international research project looking at these questions worldwide.

National institute awards $20 million in renewed funding to forensic science center

Irvine, Calif., May 18, 2020 – The National Institute of Standards and Technology has awarded $20 million in renewed funding to the Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence, an interdisciplinary group of more than 60 participants at the University of California, Irvine and five other U.S. institutions of higher education.

Microorganisms in parched regions extract needed water from colonized rocks

Irvine, Calif., May 4, 2020 – In Northern Chile’s Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth, microorganisms are able to eke out an existence by extracting water from the very rocks they colonize. Through work in the field and laboratory experiments, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, as well as Johns Hopkins University and UC Riverside, gained an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms by which some cyanobacteria survive in harsh surroundings.

UCI’s Oladele Ogunseitan joins executive team of USAID-funded global health project

A University of California, Irvine public health professor hailed for his international research achievements is part of an $85 million effort to detect and respond to the threat of infectious diseases on a global scale. UC Presidential Chair Oladele “Dele” Ogunseitan has joined the executive team of the One Health Workforce – Next Generation project, which is based at UC Davis’ One Health Institute and supported by the U.