News | December 16, 2024
IEEE 2025 Newly Elevated Fellow: Dr Adrian J Tang
IEEE elevated Dr Adrian J Tang to IEEE Fellow for his contributions to Millimeter-Wave Systems-on-Chip Instruments for space science. Congratulations Dr Tang!
IEEE 2025 Newly Elevated Fellow: Dr Ali Mosleh
IEEE elevated Dr Ali Mosleh to IEEE Fellow for his contributions to innovative advancements in Bayesian models for risk and reliability analysis. Congratulations Dr Mosleh!
UCLA Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Named A Recipient of CHIPS for America Program Research Grant
The Department of ECE at UCLA is one of the recipients of the CHIPS for America funding to enhance US semiconductor packaging capabilities. Professor C.K. Ken Yang served as the Principal Investigator, with Applied Materials in Santa Clara as the lead institution. The US Department of Commerce is investing up to $300 million in advanced packaging research projects across Georgia, California, and Arizona. The grant aims to accelerate domestic research and development efforts in advanced substrates for semiconductors. These advanced substrates enable multiple semiconductor chips to be assembled seamlessly, facilitate high-bandwidth communication between the chips, efficiently deliver power, and dissipate unwanted heat.
Professor Yang received this grant along with Professor Puneet Gupta, Mark Goorsky (Material Science), and Boris Vaisband (UCI).
Please see the official announcement from the US Department of Commerce.
Professor Sergio Carbajo’s Publication Featured on the Cover of High Power Laser Science & Engineering
On the cover: an artist’s rendition of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) (LCLS-II) Photoinjector, the front-end of the brightest X-ray laser in the world!
Assistant Professor Liz Izhikevich was named on the Forbes 30 under 30 North America 2025 – Science List
Candidates for the List of 30 under 30 North America 2025 are evaluated by Forbes staff and a panel of independent, expert judges on a variety of factors. “Liz Izhikevich focuses on improving the internet’s performance and security – on this world and in space. Her work has changed how researchers and industry search for performance faults and security threats on the Internet, and identified previously-unknown threats. Netflix is improving video delivery for over one million satellite broadband users thanks to her work.” (Source: Forbes)
Ozcan Lab’s Research on Diffractive Optical Information Processing Highlighted in Nature Photonics and Wiley
Please see Nature Photonics and Wiley Industry News.
Awards
Professor Sergio Carbajo received the 2024 Nature Light Science & Applications, Rising Star Award
Congratulations to Professor Sergio Carbajo for being recognized as one of the 2024 Nature Light Science & Applications Rising Star Awardees!
Please see the list of 2024 Rising Stars of Light Final Winners.
Hao Zhang Wins Student Paper Award at Advanced Solid State Lasers Conference 2024
We are thrilled to announce that Hao Zhang, a Ph.D. student in the Quantum Light-Matter Cooperative (lead by Professor Sergio Carbajo), has been recognized as the winner in the Student Paper Competition at the 2024 Advanced Solid State Lasers Conference (ASSL). This award highlights exceptional research contributions, presentation skills, and value to the technical community.
Hao’s award-winning paper, titled “Simultaneous Upconversion and Spectral Phase Control in Gas-Filled Fibers,” was presented during the Laser Applications session and showcased innovative advancements in nonlinear optics and spectral phase control techniques. This work, conducted in collaboration with SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, underscores the potential of gas-filled fiber systems in advancing optical upconversion technologies for high-power lasers and precision spectroscopy.
Hao’s Oral Talk “The Photoinjector Laser System at LCLS-II” (AM4A.2), was also recognized for its significant contribution to Laser Applications Conference (LAC). This dual recognition underscores Hao’s dedication to advancing optical science and technology.
The competition featured 14 finalists selected through a rigorous review process by the Technical Program Committee, with winners chosen based on content quality, technical impact, and presentation excellence.
Congratulations to Hao Zhang on this outstanding achievement!
Please see the news release.
Events/Seminars
1/6
ECE 297 Seminar
Speaker: Nanpeng Yu
Time: 12-2pm
Room: Shannon Room
1/16
Keysight Lunch and Learn Event
Time: 11am-2pm
Room: Keysight IoT Room
2/3
Undergraduate Internship and Research Programs – CIA Info Session
Time: 4:30-7:30pm
Room: Tesla Room
2/4
Undergraduate Internship and Research Programs – CIA 1 to 1 Chat Session
Time: 4:30-7:30pm
Room: FaradayRoom
Job Opportunities
Design Verification Engineer at Apple
Do you have a passion for invention and self-challenge? This position gives you an opportunity to be a part of one of the most cutting edge and key projects that Apple’s Silicon Engineering Group has embarked upon to-date. As a Design Verification Engineer on their team, you’ll be at the center of the verification effort within our silicon design group responsible for crafting and productizing state-of-the-art Cellular SoCs!
You will have the opportunity to contribute to the verification effort of a set of complex SOCs delivering the Cellular solution. You will integrate multiple sophisticated IP level DV environments, craft highly reusable best-in-class UVM based test bench, implement effective coverage driven and directed test suites, deploy new tools and methodologies to deliver chips that are right-first-time. By collaborating with other product development groups across Apple, you can push the industry boundaries of what cellular systems can do and improve the product experience for our customers across the world!
Through this experience, you will learn all aspects of a large scale SOC design, Complex verification test benches, different types of SOC architectures, multiple high speed protocols, industry-standard low power architecture, best in class DV methodology, verification on accelerated platforms, knowledge on Cellular protocol, FW-HW interactions, complexities of multi-chip SOC debug architecture, etc.
Key Qualifications:
MS in EE or CS. Coursework in Digital Design, Computer Architecture, Object Oriented Programming, Networking Protocol. Programming experience in SystemVerilog or Python or C++ or Java.
Must be graduating by Dec ’24.
Please send your resume to j_lou@apple.com.
Electronics/PCB Development Undergraduate Internship Opportunity
Employment Period: Year-round
Location: On-campus
Approximate hours per week: 5+ hours
Duration: 6-24 months
Salary / Pay rate / Stipend: $20/hour
Relevant Website: https://www.edroplets.org/
Job description
Digital microfluidics is a technology that enables programmable control over individual droplets using electrical signals on a chip, which has been transforming wet labs towards the era of lab-on-a-chip. You will develop electronic control circuits for operating digital microfluidics chips. This is a highly engineering-oriented project, which requires independent schematic design, PCB layout design, PCB manufacturing, and assembly outsourcing for various circuits and electronic systems. You will also work with the mechanical design and software development team guided by graduate students to create multiple products. These products will be used by numerous digital microfluidics researchers and startups around the world through an open-source platform (edroplets.org).
For domestic students (US Citizen or Permanent Resident), the payment may be a stipend from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program.
For international students, the payment will be through a regular research fund.
For those who prefer research credits over stipends, SRP 99 or MAE 199 is also possible.
What you will get:
(1) You will experience creating a real-world electronic product for a transformative technology, which will be used by lots of real users!
(2) You will get hands-on experience and training in schematic/PCB/electronics design and development
(3) You will learn the basic knowledge and industry status of digital microfluidics, and participate in translating ground-breaking research into real-world products
(4) You may become a co-author of resulting journal and conference publications
Quality & skill desired:
(1) A strong and genuine interest in electronics is essential. If you are a DIYer who loves working with electronics and wants to build something impactful, this is a perfect project for you.
(2) Enjoy working in a team with different expertise is essential. The ability to articulate your work to non-technical team members is essential.
(3) Experience with Altium Designer, KiCAD or other PCB design software is a plus. Experience with LabView is a plus. Experience in making a PCB from design to manufacturing is a huge plus.
(4) No experience or knowledge of digital microfluidics is required
Interested? Please send your resume to Professor CJ Kim (cjkim@ucla.edu) and Leo Wang (wangqining265@gmail.com). If there’s a good match, you will be invited to an interview.
Newsletter Submissions
To be included in future newsletters, please send the latest news, awards, publications and any upcoming PhD oral defenses to the Chair’s assistant, Winda Mak, at wmak@seas.ucla.edu. Please include “newsletter submission” in the subject line. The ECE newsletters will be sent bimonthly on the first and third Mondays of the month. Please ensure all submissions are received by the Wednesday before distribution to be included in the newsletter.