Undergraduate Research Opportunities

UCLA LEADS Scholars Program

The UC LEADS (Leadership Excellence through Advanced Degrees) program is a prestigious two-year, UC systemwide program for promising sophomores and transfer students interested in pursuing graduate degrees and research careers in the science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) fields.

UC LEADS Scholars receive substantial financial support and engage in research under the supervision of a faculty mentor during the academic years and summers. They also participate in seminars to assist them in identifying and applying to graduate programs, financing their graduate education, seeking extramural fellowships, preparing and presenting poster sessions, etc. The scholars also attend and present their work at national professional society meetings. UC LEADS alums have begun graduate studies at UCLA, UCB, UCD, UCSD, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Caltech, etc.

Eligible students are those in an undergraduate degree program in the physical, life, or computer sciences; engineering; mathematics; physical and biological anthropology, archaeology, geography, linguistics, or experimental psychology.

UCLA Undergraduate Research Center

The Undergraduate Research Center for Sciences, Engineering, and Mathematics, and the Center for Academic and Research Excellence, work collaboratively to serve UCLA's undergraduate science population. Through various programs, the URC/CARE recruits, develops, and celebrates students involved in research. Its mission is to support and increase the retention of science majors in all disciplines, with some programs focused on students who face economic, familial, educational, social or other challenges.

UCLA Center for Excellence in Engineering and Diversity (CEED)

The Center for Excellence in Engineering and Diversity (CEED) engages over 200 underrepresented and disadvantaged undergraduate engineering students in an academic learning community designed to increase retention and develop students who can successfully transition into industry or advanced studies. CEED is regularly looking for candidates to participate in its Research Intensive Series in Engineering for Underrepresented Populations (RISE-UP) program. Under this program, CEED students will have an opportunity to conduct research with a UCLA faculty member and receive a $1,000 stipend.

Undergraduate Research Opportunities in EE

During the undergraduate advising week, students are welcome to inquire with the Electrical Engineering faculty about research opportunities.  Becoming engaged in research is a unique experience that enriches your academic life in special ways.  Take advantage of this opportunity.  The following is a select list of faculty with available opportunities. Inquire with the other faculty about additional opportunities during your meetings.

Prof. M.C. Frank Chang Project One: On-chip Antenna Design for Future 60GHz Systems The goal of this project is to design and measure a simple 60GHz on-chip antenna.  Students will work closely with graduate student(s) and will learn essential skills in electromagnetics.   Note: We prefer an EM-track student. Courses to be completed prior to research: EE 115A: Analog Electronic Circuits I EE 101:  Engineering Electromagnetics EE 161:  Electromagnetic Waves GPA necessary: 3.5 or above plus willingness to go to graduate school Number of openings available: 1 Project Two: MM-wave (30GHz or above) CMOS Circuit Design The goal of this project is to design mm-wave CMOS circuit designs.  Students will first learn basic EM siumulations on passive devices such as inductors, transformes, and capacitors.  After mastering passive device design skills, students will begin to design a simple mm-wave circuit such as VCOs, LNAs, and mixers.  Students will work closely with graduate students and learn essential skills in mm-wave CMOS circuit design. Note: We prefer a strong background in both circuts and electromagnetics Classes to be completed prior to research: EE 115A: Analog Electronic Circuits I EE 115B: Analog Electronic Circuits II EE 115C: Digital Electronic Circuits EE 101:  Engineering Electromagnetics EE 161:  Electromagnetic Waves GPA necessary: 3.5 or above plus willingness to go to graduate school. Number of openings available: 1-2 Project Three: Mixed Signal CMOS Circuit and FPGA Design The goal of this project is to design mixed signal CMOS circuits. Students will have a chance to learn digital integrated ASIC design, ADC and FPGA. Students will work close with graduate students and learn essential skills in mixed-signal CMOS circuit design. Classes to be completed prior to research: For ADC and ASIC projects:   EE 115A: Analog Electronic Circuits I EE 115B: Analog Electronic Circuits II EE 115C: Digital Electronic Circuits GPA necessary: 3.5 or above plus willingness to go to graduate school. Number of openings available: 1-2. Note: We prefer a strong background in both circuits and signals and systems.     For FPGA project:   EE 132A: Introduction to Communication Systems EE 113:  Digital Signal Processing EE 115A:  Analog Electronic Circuits I EEM 116C: Computer Systems Architecture GPA necessary: 3.5 or above and willingness to go to graduate school. Number of openings available: 1 Note: We prefer as strong background in both computer science and electrical engineering.

Prof. Puneet Gupta Project One: Searching for Parallelism in Design Automation Algorithms Number of openings available: 1-2 Project Two: Deterministically Estimating StandbyPower of Circuits in Presence of Statistical Variations Number of openings available: 1

Prof. Lei He FPGA Emulator for Multimedia over Wireless Network Requirement: Knowledge of programming FPGA projects Number of openings available: 2 Funding: Available for summer 2008, depending on student qualification

Prof. Diana Huffaker Project One: Monolithically Integrated III-Sb Microdevices on SI Project Two: High-speed III-Sb Channels on Si Project Three: Nonopillar Characterization

Prof. Jia-Ming Liu  "I would be happy to talk to any interested undergraduate students personally, on possible research subjects."

Prof. Aydogan Ozcan "I have a few smaller scale projects that can easily result in a journal publication within half a year.  These projects will be give to determined undergraduate students (preferably seniors) who are seriously considering graduate school.  These projects require good mathemtical skills together with Matlab programming experience.  In some cases, the project can also involve doing relatively simple photonics experiements to verify our theoretical predictions. "Some of the topics these 'half-cooked' projects involve:        1.  nonlinear optics        2.  photonic bandgap fibers        3.  optical coherence tomography"

Prof. Izhak Rubin Projects are in the area of computer communictions and data communications networks, including networking for mobile wireless networks.  Positions are available in spring quarter 2008 and the summer period 2008 (to 8/31/2008) to students that have taken EE 132B (Data Communications and Telecommunication Networks).  NSF REU scholarships are available to students who are US citizens or permanent residents, and who satisfy undergraduate student status. Contact: Prof. Rubin or Choo Chin Jeffrey Tan

Prof. Majid Sarrafzadeh Some of the ongoing undergraduate research projects on wireless telehealth in the Embedded and Reconfigurable Computing Lab include: Project One: Medical Software Development      a) for mobile devices      b) for lightweight embedded systems Project Two: Collaborative Signal Processing      a) in sensor networks      b) in physiological signal classification Project Three: Hardware Development      a) for signal conditioning architecture and circuits      b) sensor boards All interested students in the areas of Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering are encouraged to participate.

Prof. Ali H. Sayed Project One: Simulation of Adaptive Networks Project Two: Interactive GUI for Adaptive Systems

Undergraduate Advising Week Announcement