ECE Newsletter – October 21, 2024

News  |  October 7, 2024

Innovative Minds in Biology, Chemistry, and Medicine Convene at Optica Headquarters

Optica's LinkedIn Post

Photo extracted from Optica’s LinkedIn posting

Experts across chemical, biological, and medical applications of frequency combs met at Optica Headquarters in DC last week to formulate a roadmap for quantumsensing technologies for human and ecosystem health.

The broad representation from academic, foundation, national laboratory, government, and industry participants is critical to uplift the interests of the public at large. This vision will be shared across multiple dissemination forms. Stay tuned!


Distinguished Professor Rahmat-Samii was the Keynote Speaker at 2024 IEEE AP-S CAMA Conference, Da Nang, Vietnam

Cama Conference

Distinguished Professor Yahya Rahmat-Samii delivered a keynote address titled Innovative Antenna Designs for Next-Generation CubeSats: Conceptualization to Mission Realization at the 2024 IEEE Conference on Antenna Measurements and Applications (CAMA), sponsored by the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society, in Da Nang, Vietnam, from October 6–9, 2024. The keynote focused on the unique challenges and opportunities that CubeSats present to antenna engineers, emphasizing the need for innovative conceptualizations and advancements. As the vision of affordable space

missions and global connectivity becomes a reality, the talk explored the evolving landscape of antenna engineering and the future prospects for increasingly sophisticated space missions.

Representative designs included advanced antenna concepts such as symmetric and offset mesh deployable reflector antennas, 3D-printed lens antennas, and deployable reflectarrays, all designed for applications in remote sensing, deep space exploration, and the Internet of Space (IoS). The image shows a novel 3-D printed light weight Risley Prism Antenna (RPA) for CubeSat scanned beam applications.


Ozcan Lab published a new article in ACS Nano on the development of a new paper-based sensor for rapid cardiac diagnostics in 15 minutes

ACS Nano article

Please see the full articlepress release, and UCLA Samueli ECE website.


Pictor Labs, a pioneering UCLA spin-off from the Ozcan Lab, has announced the successful closing of its $30 million Series B funding round

Pictor Labs Logo

Please see the TDG news release.


Goutham Ezilarasu joins UCLA CHIPS as Deputy Director

Goutham Ezilarasu

We are pleased to welcome Goutham to UCLA CHIPS, where he will lead a project focused on developing a high-speed connector and protocols for data communication exceeding 200TB/s to a wafer-scale system (Si-IF). With extensive experience from his role as a Senior Project Associate at IIT-Madras, India, working on Optical Packaging for Quantum Photonics, and his five years as a Graduate Research Assistant at CHIPS, UCLA, Goutham brings a wealth of knowledge.

The project, led by Goutham, will explore RF, millimeter-wave, and optical communication techniques, with a strong focus on optical methods. It involves developing a flexible connector made from organic polymer materials to interface

electromagnetic or optical signals with the wafer’s electrical system, integrating antennas, embedded fibers, and RF/Photonic Integrated Circuits. Goutham will also create an optical packaging system to enable low-loss fiber optic coupling to Photonic Integrated Circuits and wafer-scale systems. This 1-2 year project will enhance UCLA’s leadership in optical and high-speed data communication.


Awards


UCLA CHIPS PhD Student Jui-Han Liu Receives Prestigious Fellowship

Jui-Han Liu

Congratulations to Jui-Han Liu, a PhD student in the UCLA CHIPS program, for being awarded the 2024-2025 Living Rocks Electrical Engineering Fellowship. Jui-Han was selected for this prestigious honor based on his outstanding academic achievements. This fellowship not only recognizes his academic excellence but also comes with the responsibility of representing the university and maintaining strong relationships with donors through the Office of External Affairs. We extend our best wishes to Jui-Han for continued success in his research and academic endeavors.


Upcoming PhD Oral Defenses


11/1

Ph.D. Student: Chenkai Ling

Time: 10-11:30am

Room: Elliott Room

11/13

Ph.D. Student: Jialin Dong

Time: 11am-1pm

Room: Faraday Room

11/21

Ph.D. Student: Shuo Hwai

Time: 12-2pm

Room: Maxwell Room

12/2

Ph.D. Student: Elvis Nunez

Time: 4-5pm

Room: Maxwell Room


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.