News  |  March 2, 2026

Associate Professor Sergio Carbajo Publishes Paper on Mode-Locked X-ray Free-Electron Laser

Associate Professor Sergio Carbajo, along with colleagues at the Paul Scherrer Institute, has achieved a first-of-its-kind mode-locked X-ray free-electron laser, producing equally spaced, ultrafast pulses of coherent X-ray light — analogous to an optical frequency comb, but in the X-ray regime. This advance opens the door to new, precise tools for probing matter on attosecond time scales, with potential impact across physics, chemistry, biology, and materials science. The study is a brilliant demonstration of how adapting Nobel Prize-winning optics concepts to X-rays can expand the capabilities of XFELs and push the frontier of ultrafast science. 

Please see the paper. 

Distinguished Adjunct Professor Asad Madni Publishes Paper on Peace Engineering in PNAS Nexus

Distinguished Adjunct Professor Asad Madni’s much anticipated paper “Can Peace be Engineered?”, co-authored with Guru Madhavan (National Academy of Engineering) and Nicholas Donofrio (Formerly with IBM), has been published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Nexus. 

Please see the paper. 

Awards

Distinguished Professor M.C. Frank Chang Receives John Fritz Medal for Chip Innovations

Mau-Chung Frank Chang, a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and holder of the Wintek Chair in Electrical Engineering, was awarded the John Fritz Medal at the 2026 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco.

The annual award recognizes major scientific or industrial achievement in any field of pure or applied science. Chang was honored for “pioneering contributions and innovations in the development of heterojunction technology and system-on-chip technologies with unprecedented functionality, bandwidth and re-configurability.”

Since 1997, Chang has led the High Speed Electronics Lab at UCLA, which focuses on integrated circuits for high-frequency system-on-chip applications. Before joining UCLA, Chang led research and development of integrated-circuit technologies at Rockwell International.

Please see the full news release.

Professor Aydin Babakhani Selected to Join National Academy of Invertors (NAI) Class of 2026 Senior Members

Professor Aydin Babakhani was selected to join the NAI Class of 2026 Senior Members. Professor Babakhani was nominated by Professor Asad Madni to receive this honor. 

Babakhani;s research centers on integrated systems and sensor chips. His research group, the UCLA Integrated Sensors Laboratory, develops millimeter-wave and terahertz systems, miniature low-power implantable and wearable devices, including cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators, neurostimulation devices and various biosensors for monitoring vital signs and improving patient diagnostics and care.

Babakhani is among the 230 individuals from 82 institutions named to the academy’s 2026 class of senior members. They will be formally inducted into the Academy at its annual conference in June in Los Angeles. Collectively, the academy’s 945 senior members hold more than 11,000 U.S. patents.

Please see the news release.

Associate Professor Sergio Carbajo Receives Optica’s Adolph Lomb Medal

Professor Sergio Carbajo has been selected as the 2026 recipient of the Adolph Lomb Medal. Carbajo is honored in recognition of the development of first-principles methodologies and seminal contributions to controlling ultrafast photonic and electronic wavepackets and drive processes in quantum matter with unprecedented space-time precision at elementary scales.

Carbajo holds joint appointments as an Associate Professor in the Electrical & Computer Engineering and Physics & Astronomy Departments at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and is a Visiting Professor at Stanford University’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. He is the Founder and Director of the Quantum Light-Matter Cooperative, a multi-institutional research consortium dedicated to advancing light-driven science and technology.

His research is focused on pioneering new methods to understand and control light-matter interactions at ultrafast and quantum scales. His work includes the development of novel approaches to visualizing quantum dynamics—often termed “quantum filmmaking”—and the creation of compact, high-brightness sources across the spectrum. These contributions have advanced fundamental science and enabled applications in quantum information, molecular imaging, and energy research. He also leads initiatives in adaptive quantum sensing and scalable photonic quantum architectures.

Established in 1940, the Lomb Medal is presented to an individual who has made a noteworthy contribution to optics at an early career stage. Contributions from any area of optics, fundamental or applied, are considered. The medal honors Adolph Lomb, the Society’s first treasurer, for his devotion to the Society and the advancement of optics.

Please see the news release. 

Parnian Ghapandar Kashani Receives Optica Women Scholars Fellowship

ECE undergraduate student and researcher Ms. Parnian Ghapandar Kashani has received an Optica Women Scholars Fellowship from the Optical Society, Optica. Parnian has been conducting research at Ozcan Lab on optical computing and imaging.

Please see the news release. 

UCLA Alumni Receive Award at ISSCC 2026

UCLA ECE Alumni working at Mediatek in Irvine, CA received the Anantha P. Chandrakasan Award for Distinguished-Technical Paper at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) 2026
for their presentation at ISSCC 2025, “A 212.5Gb/s DSP-Based PAM-4 Transceiver with 50dB Loss Compensation for Large AI System Interconnects in 4nm FinFET”. The Anantha P. Chandrakasan Award is awarded to the single most outstanding technical paper presented at ISSCC each year.

Events/Seminars

Upcoming PHD Defenses

Scholarships

Laura Bassi Scholarship

The Laura Bassi Scholarship was established in 2018 with the aim of providing editorial assistance to postgraduates and junior academics whose research focuses on neglected topics of study, broadly construed. The scholarships are open to every discipline and the next round of funding will be awarded in Spring 2026:

Application deadline: 8 March 2026
Results: 20 March 2026

All currently enrolled master’s and doctoral candidates are eligible to apply, as are academics in the first five years of full-time employment. Applicants are required to submit a completed application form along with their CV through the application portal by the relevant deadline. Further details, including previous winners, and the application portal can be found here. 

Wireless History Foundation Scholarship

The Wireless History Foundation is now accepting applications for its Scholarship Program, which supports graduate students pursuing careers in the wireless industry. Through the generous support of our sponsors, the program provides $7,500 awards to outstanding students enrolled in graduate-level study across disciplines such as technology, engineering, law, policy, and communications.

As part of its mission to preserve the legacy of wireless innovation while investing in the future, the Wireless History Foundation created this scholarship to help cultivate the next generation of industry leaders. Scholarship recipients are selected based on academic excellence, leadership potential, and a demonstrated interest in advancing the wireless ecosystem. Graduate students who are passionate about shaping the future of connectivity are encouraged to apply.

Please see the website and application. 

Summer School Opportunities

Brown Systems Week: Summer 2026

The 2026 Brown Systems Week is a five-day summer school on the principles and practice of software systems. Its goal is to prepare selected undergraduate and graduate students for cutting-edge research in systems and its interface with computer security, networks, programming languages, machine learning, formal methods, and computer architecture. Student costs are offset by support from NSF, Google,  Amazon, and Brown University.

The deadline to apply is April 1, 2026.

Please see the website.

Student Organizations

Invitation to Mentor: Connect with the Next Generation of UCLA ECE Students

The UCLA chapter of Eta Kappa Nu (HKN) is launching its Winter Mentorship Program and is looking for alumni to help bridge the gap between academic life and industry reality.

We are seeking former UCLA engineering graduates to:

• Provide 1:1 advice to current students.
• Share insights on current industry trends.
• Help students understand what it takes to thrive in the field today.

We are also planning an in-person get-together for mentors and mentees in the Spring (food provided!) to help build community and connect face-to-face.

Whether you are working in hardware, software, or research, your experience is invaluable to the next generation of Bruins.

How to Join:
If you are willing to mentor a student this Winter Quarter, please fill out this brief form.

Workshops

LEED Green Associate Certification Workshops

Leading Green is offering new sustainability workshops in 2026 to help students pass the LEED Green Associate credential and boost their professional profiles before May 2026, when the LEED exam is set to become more challenging. While LEED itself is a scorecard to rate Green Buildings, students and professionals can also become LEED accredited demonstrating their expertise in sustainability.

Register for a live online seminar or start today with our on-demand recorded workshop completed anytime at your own pace here – https://leadinggreen.com/online

Cost: $200 with the coupon code ‘green’ for $100 off! (Non-students $300)

Job Opportunities

Solidigm Internship Opportunity

Solidigm, a leading SSD company advancing cutting-edge AI technologies, is currently opening an internship position for senior graduate students. This internship has the potential to convert to a full-time offer upon strong performance.

Internship Requirements:

• Master’s or Ph.D. students, graduating this year or next year (Ph.D. candidates preferred)
• Availability for at least a 6-month internship
• Strong software coding skills
• Solid background in AI, including unsupervised learning, Large Language Models (LLMs) and Reinforcement Learning
• Knowledge of SSD/storage systems is a plus

Can be remote. 
Please email Lei Chen at Lei.Chen@solidigm.com if you are interested in this internship opportunity. 

Faculty Positions: Electrical Engineering ITAM (Mexico City)

The Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at ITAM (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México) invites applications for Tenure-track Assistant Professors, postdoctoral fellows, and Visiting Professors in the following areas:

• Electronics & Electrical Power Systems
• Mechanical Systems and (Cyber-) Physical System Dynamics  
• Control Systems
• Signal Processing
• Telecommunications Networks and IoT

Requirements

• Ph.D. (or near completion) from a top-tier university in electrical or mechanical engineering.
• A proven record of high-quality research and peer-reviewed publications.
• A commitment to excellence in teaching and institutional service.
• No Spanish proficiency is required (classes can be taught in English).

Application Instructions
Review of applications begins immediately. Please submit the following documents to enlaceadministrativodai@itam.mx:

• Cover Letter: Stating desired rank, research vision, and teaching philosophy.
• Curriculum Vitae: Including a complete publication record.

California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) Hiring for Assistant Professor Positions

The Department of Computer Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) at California State University, Long Beach invites applications for three tenure-track Assistant Professor positions in Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Cybersecurity, or closely related areas, beginning August 17, 2026.

Application Submission and Deadline
For full position descriptions and the application portal, please visit:

• Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity
• Assistant Professor of Computer Engineering
• Assistant Professor of Software Engineering

Review of applications will begin January 20, 2026, and the position will remain open until filled or recruitment is canceled.

Cellular SOC Design Verification Engineer – Entry Level 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 our 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!

Minimum Qualifications:
BS in EE or CS is required
Object Oriented Programming
Coursework in Digital Design

Preferred Qualifications:
MS in EE or CS
Coursework in Computer Architecture, Networking Protocol
Should be a great teammate with excellent communication and problem-solving skills and the
desire to seek diverse challenges.
Programming experience in SystemVerilog, Python, C++

Application details:

1. Candidates must be graduating this December
2. Please include your current GPA with your resume
3. Please send resume directly to Junhui Lou at j_lou@apple.com

Carnegie Mellon University – ECE Faulty Position

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University invites applications for tenure-track, research-track, and teaching-track faculty positions at all ranks on our Pittsburgh campus. Although we welcome applicants in all areas of ECE, this year we are particularly interested in candidates whose research focuses on machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Our top-ranked department offers a highly collaborative environment, world-class research infrastructure, and strong support for interdisciplinary scholarship. Applicants should hold a PhD in a relevant field. Application review will begin shortly and will continue until the positions are filled.

Faculty application link: https://apply.interfolio.com/174597
When applying, please also email Andrea Zanette at zanette@cmu.edu

Hiring PhD Interns/FTE for Training and Inference of Foundation Models in AWS Neuron Science

From Amazon Web Services Neuron Science:

Our team in AWS AI Research is looking for a couple of PhD FTE/interns passionate about advancing fundamental research in foundation models. Our algorithm team focuses on developing innovative solutions in the topic of Algorithm-System for LLMs (efficient model design, training, inference) LLM-for-System (LLMs and agents that write optimized kernels). These efforts require both a strong theoretical foundation and a practical understanding of topics such as foundation modeling, distributed optimization, model compression, and machine learning systems. We work closely with system researchers to ensure our algorithmic solutions are compatible with system and hardware constraints, training and testing end2end in accuracy and speed. At the same time, the algorithmic innovation we bring can contribute improving systems and future hardware feature to incorporate.

Basic Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with large language models (LLMs), including:
  • Model architecture, datasets, evaluation metrics, and pre-/post-training techniques
  • Distributed training techniques, such as parallelism, mixed-precision methods, optimizers, stochastic rounding, and IO-aware training
  • Compression and inference strategies, including pruning, quantization, and speculative decoding
  • Post-training of SFT and RL to enhance reasoning capability
  • Leveraging LLM to improve ML system and kernel programming 
• Eager to learn effective system kernel implementation if needed
• Enrolled PhD student in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field
• First authored papers in top venues like NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong theoretical background, such as distributed optimization, compression, or RL 
• Strong hands-on experience on pre-training (e.g., low-precision training) or post-training (e.g., SFT, RLHF, GRPO)
• Proven experience with foundation models, including LLMs, multi-modal models 
• Experience in establishing scaling laws for training and inference time-scaling
• Knowledge of distributed systems and experience developing low-level, high-performant kernels 

Selected Publications

This year, our team has published multiple papers that bridge the gap between theory and practice in LLM research. We also actively collaborate with system and hardware engineers across the AWS organization to deliver tutorials. Below is a list of recent publications:

• [Under review] MuonBP: Faster Muon via Block-Periodic Orthogonalization Arxiv
• [Under review] Scaling Laws Meet Model Architecture: Toward Inference-Efficient LLMs Arxiv
• [Under review] TritonRL: Training LLMs to Think and Code Triton Without Cheating Arxiv
• [Under review] Demystifying Transition Matching: When and Why It Can Beat Flow Matching Arxiv
• [Under review] Not-a-Bandit: Provably No-Regret Drafter Selection in Speculative Decoding for LLMs Arxiv
• [IJCAI 2025] Tutorial: Scaling LLM Training: Efficient Pre-training & Fine-tuning on AI Accelerators
• [AISTATS 2025] Training LLMs with MXFP4 Paper
• [AISTATS 2025] Stochastic Rounding for LLM Training: Theory and Practice Paper
• [ICML 2025] ProxSparse – Regularized Learning of Semi-Structured Sparsity Masks for Pretrained LLMs Paper
• [ICML 2025] RoSTE – An Efficient Quantization-Aware Supervised Fine-Tuning Approach Paper
• [ICML 2025] WaveletToken – Enhancing Foundation Models for Time Series Forecasting via Wavelet-based Tokenization Paper
• [ICML 2024] Collage: Light-Weight Low-Precision Strategy for LLM Training Paper
• [ICML 2024] Variance-reduced Zeroth-Order Methods for Fine-Tuning Language Models Paper
• [ICML 2024] MADA: Meta-Adaptive Optimizers through Hyper-gradient Descent Paper
• [ICML 2024] EMC^2: Efficient MCMC Negative Sampling for Contrastive Learning with Global Convergence Paper
• [NeurIPS 2024] Posterior Sampling with a Diffusion Prior for Online Learning Paper
• [IEEE BigData 2024] HLAT: High-quality Large Language Model Pre-trained on AWS Trainium Paper
• [KDD 2024] Survey: Inference Optimization of Foundation Models on AI Accelerators Paper
• [KDD 2024] Tutorial: Inference Optimization of Foundation Models for AI Accelerators
• [KDD 2023] Tutorial: Training Large-scale Foundation Models on Emerging AI Chips

We also collaborate more system-oriented topics like publications below 

• [MLSys 2025] Marconi: Prefix Caching for the Era of Hybrid LLM Paper
• [MLSys 2025] ScaleFusion: Scalable Inference of Spatial-Temporal Diffusion Transformers for High-Resolution Long Video Generation Paper
• [MLSys 2025] FastTree: Optimizing Attention Kernel and Runtime for Tree-Structured LLM Inference Paper

If you are excited to push the boundaries of foundation model research and make impactful contributions, we would love to hear from you! We also constantly hire full-time PhDs. Please send your CV to Youngsuk Park pyoungsu@amazon.com |  youngsuk@cs.stanford.edu (cc Kaan Ozkara kaanozka@amazon.com) with a short paragraph of your interest.

TSMC Global Summer Internship Program

Researcher II/III: EMT Modeling, Simulation and Analysis for Large-Scale Power Systems

Please see this link for more information regarding this position.

Part time Project with Professor Pirouz Kavehpour

We’re seeking an expert developer for a project‑based engagement (not hourly) to build and optimize scalable applications, deploy on Azure Cloud, and integrate GPU‑accelerated embedding software. This role requires deep technical expertise, independence, and the ability to deliver high‑quality solutions within defined project milestones.

What You’ll Work On

• GPU Embedding Service (Containerized)—FastAPI (Python), ML/embeddings, Docker + NVIDIA Container Toolkit, Azure GPU (VM/AKS/ACI), CI/CD with Azure Container Registry (ACR).
• Triage Pipeline with DB & Integrations—Node.js/TypeScript (workers/cron), PostgreSQL (SQL, locks), REST API integration, Azure services (Blob, AI Search, Webhooks).
• Website Integration & Admin UI—Next.js 15 (App Router, API routes, Server Actions), TypeScript + React, PostgreSQL queries, UI/UX for job tables & status.

Requirements

• Expertise in Next.js 15, Node.js, TypeScript, React, and PostgreSQL.
• Hands‑on experience deploying to Azure (preferably using ACR, AKS/ACI, Web Apps, andmanaged services).
• Proficiency with containerized GPU workflows (Docker, NVIDIA Container Toolkit).
• Strong understanding of REST APIs, background workers/cron, SQL performance (indexes,
  locks), and secure auth patterns.
• Track record of independently delivering production‑grade solutions on schedule and tospec.

Nice to Have

• FastAPI and Python ML/embeddings experience.
• Azure AI Search, Blob, and Webhooks integrations.
• CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions or Azure DevOps).
• Admin UI/Design System experience for operational dashboards.

How We Work
Project‑based milestones, clear acceptance criteria, frequent check‑ins, and code reviews.
We value pragmatic engineering, performance, and maintainability.

Send your information to: Prof. Pirouz Kavehpour—Pirouz@seas.ucla.edu

The University of Alabama is in search of Professors

If you are completing your PhD this year (or who have recently graduated) that are interested in opportunities to continue your research careers on the tenure track, the University of Alabama is in search of an assistant professor.

Electrical and Computer Engineering – Assistant Professor – 527587 – Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States

The search is currently active and they’ll begin reviewing applications received through the online submission system in the next few weeks.

They are also recruiting at the Associate and Full Professor levels. Those links with further details are below:

Electrical and Computer Engineering – Associate Professor – 527631 – Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States

Electrical and Computer Engineering – Professor – 527632 – Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States

Electrical/Computer Engineering Intern at Sophia Space

A well-funded deep-tech startup in Pasadena is seeking Electrical/Computer Engineering Interns to help develop its AI-powered product prototypes. The interns are expected to blend electronics hardware and embedded software to build groundbreaking AI infrastructure in space. Roles are available full-time or part-time starting immediately, with the option to continue part-time (~10–15 hrs/week) during the academic year.

Please see this link for more information regarding this position.

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.