2022 Media Watch Archives

[Tasha Higgins] earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 1993 from the University of California, Irvine …. [She says:] "I began my career at the University of California, Irvine. ... During freshman orientation, we heard from civil, mechanical and electrical engineering professors. The civil engineering professor floored the entire room. He did this speech, “Have you ever been on [Interstate] 405 and traffic comes to a screeching halt, then in a couple minutes it opens up?” Everyone was like, “Yes!” “Do you want to know why it happens? Take my class to find out.” I changed my major that week. I knew I wanted to be a transportation engineer. The rest is history.” Read More

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a novel self-powered, wristwatch-style health monitor that can wirelessly interact with a nearby smartphone or tablet and measure a wearer’s pulse without needing a battery or an additional power source. … Imagine you’re out working in a remote location—anywhere, the desert on a mission, in mountains hiking or even a space station, for example—and you need to keep track of your health information on demand, or there’s an incident, and you need to monitor someone’s vital signs urgently and accurately said Rahim Esfandyar-Pour, Study Senior Co-Author and Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine. Read More

University officials in Irvine announced earlier this month that researchers have received a $675,000 grant from NASA that will be divided between both universities. Approximately $350,000 will go to the Irvine campus for what is expected to be a three-year project to support graduate students, researchers and the cost of some of the equipment used in the study. UCI professor of civil and environmental engineering Brett Sanders said the project aims to use satellites to examine the distribution — height, width and volume — of sand on local beaches. [Subscription required, you can request an electronic copy of the article by sending an email to communications@uci.edu.] Read More

The concept of smart roads is not new. It includes efforts like traffic lights that automatically adjust their timing based on sensor data and streetlights that automatically adjust their brightness to reduce energy consumption. PerceptIn, of which coauthor [Shaoshan] Liu is founder and CEO, has demonstrated at its own test track, in Beijing, that streetlight control can make traffic 40 percent more efficient. (Liu and coauthor [Jean-Luc] Gaudiot, Liu’s former doctoral advisor [and current engineering professor] at the University of California, Irvine, often collaborate on autonomous driving projects.) Read More