News

  • Aug 17
    2022
    A deep dive into the relationship between cohesion and erosion By James Badham Tuesday, August 2, 2022 - 06:00 Santa Barbara, CA Comparisons_Grains.jpg The polymer-covered spherical glass beads used in the experiments. The grains at the top have a very thin coating and no cohesion; those at the bottom have a much thicker coating and are cohesive... read more »
  • Jul 15
    2022
    Tumors are generally stiffer than the healthy tissue that surrounds them, and research shows that a stiffer tumor can contribute to the cancer’s progression. But exactly how a stiff tumor affects a cancer cell’s epigenome, the set of chemical modifications on a cell’s DNA that regulate expression of genes, remains unknown. Ryan Stowers, an assistant professor of... read more »
  • Jul 13
    2022
    The Microfluidics Lab (MFL) at UC Santa Barbara is one of the few campus labs where relatively little research is conducted. It is, rather, an enabling lab, where researchers and lab staff fabricate tools required for their experiments. Established in its current location in Elings Hall ten years ago, the lab began life closely aligned with semiconductor research,... read more »
  • Jul 13
    2022
    In 2020, to address lab-access challenges presented by COVID, Microfluidics Lab (MFL) manager, Dave Bothman, began training a group of undergraduate engineering students he called the Workshop Wizards, to train lab users on equipment and do maintenance in the lab. “At that time, the height of the pandemic, a lot of people couldn’t come to the lab, so they would send... read more »
  • Jul 7
    2022
    We are excited to announce that three ME graduate students have won prestigious fellowships in 2022 Gabriela Villalpando Torres has been awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.  Gabriela is advised by Beth Pruitt. Heart tissue experiences prestress which is linked to disease states... read more »
  • Jun 17
    2022
    There will be plenty to celebrate when UC Santa Barbara’s College of Engineering hosts its first in-person Commencement on Saturday, June 11 from 3-4 p.m. on Commencement Green. During the 2021-’22 academic year, 402 engineering bachelor’s degrees have been awarded, including 76 degrees in mechanical engineering. Read about some of the end-of-the-year awards given to and... read more »
  • Jun 9
    2022
    by James Badham For decades now, field-effect transistors enabled by silicon-based semiconductors have powered the electronics revolution. But in recent years, manufacturers have come up against hard physical limits to further size reductions and efficiency gains of silicon chips. That has scientists and engineers looking for alternatives to conventional metal-oxide... read more »
  • Jun 8
    2022
    UC Santa Barbara College of Engineering faculty receive many of the most prestigious awards and honors bestowed by academic and professional societies in recognition of their leading-edge research and contributions to their fields. Here is a snapshot of the ME faculty recognized by their peers between June 2021 and May 2022, based on a list provided by the individual... read more »
  • Jun 8
    2022
    Graduating seniors in the Mechanical Engineering Department selected Tyler Susko for the 2022 Outstanding Faculty of the Year Award. An assistant teaching professor, he has received the honor five times in the past seven years.  “It is such an honor to be selected by my students,” said Susko, who is the capstone instructor for mechanical engineering. “Personally, it means... read more »
  • Apr 27
    2022
    Hitting New Heights A device developed in the Hawkes Lab achieves the tallest height of any known jumper, engineered or biological By Sonia Fernandez Wednesday, April 27, 2022 - 10:45 Santa Barbara, CA The Elliot Hawkes Lab's jumping robot Elliot Hawkes 1107cropped.jpg Elliot Hawkes Photo Credit:  MATT PERKO Download... read more »
  • Apr 7
    2022
    A Granular Understanding Engineers describe how fluid suspensions exhibit different behaviors at different scales By Harrison Tasoff Thursday, April 7, 2022 - 05:00 Santa Barbara, CA Manuka-honey.jpg The fine sugar crystals suspended in manuka honey lend it a thicker quality than a more filtered honey. Photo Credit:  ISTOCK... read more »
  • Dec 8
    2021
    Fragmentation of viscous compound liquid ligaments A postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Alban Sauret, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has won the prestigious Milton van Dyke award for best video in the Annual Gallery of Fluid Motion, presented by the Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) at the 74th annual meeting of the American Physical... read more »
  • Oct 5
    2021
    Megan Valentine(link is external), a professor of mechanical engineering and co-director of the California NanoSystems Institute at UC Santa Barbara, has been awarded a $1.8 million collaborative grant by the National Science Foundation to design and create next-generation materials inspired and empowered by biological cells. Valentine will be working alongside a team of... read more »
  • Sep 23
    2021
    Three projects that take innovative approaches to solving critical energy-efficiency challenges have been awarded seed funding from UC Santa Barbara’s Institute for Energy Efficiency (IEE), an interdisciplinary research institute committed to improving energy efficiency. The selected projects align with at least one of the institute’s three key interdisciplinary thrusts:... read more »