News Archive
2016 News Releases
Engineers Receive $2.9 Million to Transform Power Distribution on the Grid
October 26, 2016
A team of researchers from the University of California San Diego and the University of Illinois has been awarded a $2.88 million grant by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), a government agency that advances high-potential, high-impact energy technologies that are too early for private-sector investment. The researchers, led by Professor Sonia Martinez from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UC San Diego, will develop methods that are poised to transform the way electric power is distributed on the grid. Full Story
Getting to a Zero Carbon Future
October 13, 2016
Avoiding the worst consequences of climate change by reducing global carbon emissions to as close to zero as possible is one of humanity’s most pressing challenges. The University of California San Diego has launched the Deep Decarbonization Initiative to do just that. And they plan to do so in the real world—where costs matter. The initiative is a collaborative effort of UC San Diego faculty from across campus working at the intersection of science, technology and policy. It embeds the study of modern societies—economics, politics and social organization—within expert technical research on energy systems. The goal is to understand not just how energy systems function, but also how policy and social movements can transform energy and protect the planet. Full Story
Nanoengineer honored for fundamental research on battery materials
October 7, 2016
UC San Diego nanoengineering professor Shirley Meng is being honored for her work to advance our fundamental understanding of battery materials at the atomic level and at the interfaces. Better batteries are crucial for a wide range of transportation, utility grid, and wearable-health applications. Full Story
UC San Diego's First Solar Car
September 29, 2016
During the summer of his third year at the University of California San Diego, electrical engineering major Ari Chatterji was taking classes and felt the need to get experience doing something more hands-on before his senior year. Full Story
UC San Diego Names Computer Engineer to Fratamico Endowed Chair
September 20, 2016
Tajana Rosing has been named the John J. and Susan M. Fratamico Endowed Chair in the Jacobs School of Engineering. Her wide-ranging work includes use of drones to detect areas of higher air pollution collaboratively and dynamically, and to provide this feedback in real time in emergencies (e.g., forest fires), and in normal daily life (such as air pollution due to recent fertilization of nearby fields, or due to higher than normal and localized smog conditions). Full Story
Researchers build world's largest database of crystal surfaces and shapes
September 13, 2016
Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego, in collaboration with the Materials Project at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), have created the world’s largest database of elemental crystal surfaces and shapes to date. Dubbed Crystalium, this new open-source database can help researchers design new materials for technologies in which surfaces and interfaces play an important role, such as fuel cells, catalytic converters in cars, computer microchips, nanomaterials and solid-state batteries. Full Story
UC San Diego part of new DOE consortium to revolutionize electric car battery performance
August 3, 2016
Researchers at the University of California San Diego are part of the new Battery500 consortium led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) aiming to almost triple the energy packed in electric car batteries and make them smaller, lighter and less expensive. This would allow manufacturers to make more affordable electric vehicles that can travel two to three times farther. Full Story
Researchers improve performance of cathode material by controlling oxygen activity
July 6, 2016
An international team of researchers has demonstrated a new way to increase the robustness and energy storage capability of a particular class of “lithium-rich” cathode materials—by using a carbon dioxide-based gas mixture to create oxygen vacancies at the material’s surface. Researchers said the treatment improved the energy density—the amount of energy stored per unit mass—of the cathode material by up to 30 to 40 percent. Full Story
Insights from UC San Diego Sustainable Power and Energy Center Research Summit
April 20, 2016
The Sustainable Power and Energy Center (SPEC) at the University of California San Diego recently held a Research Summit for interested industry partners. Attendees from a variety of industry sectors gathered at UC San Diego to interact with faculty and graduate students, tour the UC San Diego microgrid and attend the Jacobs School’s Research Expo in the afternoon. Full Story
Lipomi Lab is Stretching the Limits of Wearable Devices
April 7, 2016
UC San Diego NanoEngineering professor Darren Lipomi is stretching the limits of wearable devices for a wide range of health- and wellness- monitoring applications and beyond. Lipomi is a key member of both the Center for Wearable Sensors and the Sustainable Power and Energy Center. Full Story
Electric Grid Monitoring Laboratory Opens at UC San Diego
March 30, 2016
Engineers from academia and industry will harness the power of control theory to help improve the way electric power grids are operated in San Diego and beyond in a new research laboratory that opened this month on the University of California, San Diego campus. Called SyGMA – for ‘Synchrophasor Grid Monitoring and Automation’ – the new industry-sponsored facility is located at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC). More information about the project can be found on the SyGMA website. Full Story
NanoEngineering Professor Wins ONR Grant from U.S. Office of Naval Research to Study Materials Interfaces
March 23, 2016
Assistant Professor of Nanoengineering Shyue Ping Ong, a faculty member in the University of California, San Diego’s Sustainable Power and Energy Center, has been awarded a Young Investigator Award from the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR). Full Story