The National Academy of Inventors has named two University of California, Irvine researchers as fellows. Guann-Pyng (G.P.) Li, a pioneer in the development of microelectronics for advanced health and sustainable energy applications, and David Reinkensmeyer, who combines robotics and neuroscience to create devices to help people with movement rehabilitation after neurological injury, are among 162 academic inventors made fellows by the NAI this year.

UC Irvine has opened its new Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building, introducing a novel approach to research. Colleges traditionally organize buildings by discipline, while UCI is bringing disciplines together to address grand challenges, such as those involving health, energy and the environment. Read More

With a $50-million gift from the couple [Henry and Susan Samueli] that UC Irvine’s engineering school was named for, three new multidisciplinary research institutes will be established under its roof to better foster collaboration across engineering and three other sectors: public health, society and the environment. These institutes will run under the banner of Engineering+ and will be within the Henry Samueli School of Engineering ….

A team of UC Irvine engineering students will go head to head this weekend with some 120 teams from around the world as it presents its sleek, frictionless version of a high-speed train that would travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco in a matter of minutes. UCI students, competing in the first-ever SpaceX Hyperloop Competition, have built a scale model of their HyperXite pod (pronounced Hyper Excite). The concept uses compressed air to levitate and glide the pod along a track.