Media Watch Archives
UC Irvine Teams Earn High Rankings In Orange County Sustainability Decathlon Results
India Education Diary -
“We were already excited to see our luminOCity house become a reality, but to place so well in the Orange County Sustainability Decathlon is definitely the icing on the cake,” said TeamMADE project manager Jennifer Wilkens, director of special projects in the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UCI. “We were especially proud to place first in engineering & construction and in market potential, which reassures us that we were on the right track with our ideas and concepts.” Read More
Stacey Nicholas Gifts $5M to UCI STEM Program
Orange County Business Journal -
University of California, Irvine Foundation trustee Stacey Nicholas has gifted $5 million to a diversity program in the Henry Samueli School of Engineering. The donation will rename the school’s Office of Access and Inclusion to the Stacey Nicholas Office of Outreach, Access and Inclusion. Nicholas’ donation will also create the Women in Engineering Program, which will support women pursuing the field with leadership training and professional development mentorship. Read More
In Space, No One Can Smell Your Many, Many Farts
Jalopnik -
A new story from the New York Times exhaustedly points out that living in space comes with all sorts of “bodily indignities” which should give even the most eager potential space explorer pause. … “This is a report that came out last year from the authors Ronke Olabisi, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at the University of California, Irvine, and Mae Jemison, a retired NASA astronaut. Sometimes the bladder fills but doesn’t empty, and astronauts need to catheterize themselves." Read More
The Bodily Indignities of the Space Life
The New York Times Magazine -
“The bladder may reach maximum capacity before an urge is felt, at which point urination may happen suddenly and spontaneously,” according to “A Review of Challenges & Opportunities: Variable and Partial Gravity for Human Habitats in L.E.O.,” or low Earth orbit. This is a report that came out last year from the authors Ronke Olabisi, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at the University of California, Irvine, and Mae Jemison, a retired NASA astronaut. Read More
Scientific meetings catalyse research success
Physics World -
At a meeting I can really pay attention to the presentations and think about the new work that is being reported,” says [associate professor] Iryna Zenyuk, who leads a group developing fuel-cell and hydrogen technologies at the University of California, Irvine. … Zenyuk has found the meetings particularly useful for establishing new connections with industrial partners. “Several of our industrial collaborations have started through ECS [The Electrochemical Society] meetings, since someone from the company might have seen my presentation and discovered that we have a capability that could be useful to them,” she says. … The ECS also provides plenty of incentives for students to get involved. Read More
O.C. Sustainability Decathlon provides a sneak peek at a zero-net future, created by youth
Daily Pilot -
The UCI/OCC team specially designed “luminOCity” for Placentia nonprofit Homeless Intervention Services of Orange County, measuring out a plot of land where the structure will serve as transitional housing for men ages 18 to 24. … Another modular entry was the LUCID home designed by a team of UCI civil and environmental engineering graduate and undergrad students. … “This house actually absorbs carbon dioxide,” explained engineering professor and team adviser Ayman S. Mosallam. “Usually people say net-zero — but this is negative.” Read More
Multi-objective Assessment of Flood Adaptation Options in Los Angeles County
National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science -
This work will identify the benefits and costs of flood risk adaptation alternatives, including nature-based solutions (NBS), for the region. Further, the work will reveal the potential to simultaneously achieve social, economic, and ecological benefits and equity in the distribution of benefits across geographies and indicators of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic disadvantage. … This project is led by Dr. Brett Sanders [professor of civil & environmental engineering] at the University of California, Irvine, in collaboration with Dr. Katharine Mach at the University of Miami, and is funded through the NCCOS Effects of Sea Level Rise (ESLR) Program. Read More
Biden-Harris Administration awards $6.7 million for sea level rise and coastal resilience research
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -
NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) is announcing $6.7 million in fiscal year 2023 funding that will be spent on 18 coastal resilience research projects across the nation. ... (IRA-funded) University of California, Irvine and University of Miami received nearly $500,000 to evaluate how nature-based solutions can empower more equitable flood risk management in Los Angeles County, California. Read More
The hope and hype of hydrogen
The New York Times -
“Over time, as the infrastructure gets built out everywhere, we will see a huge private investment in the production of hydrogen and the delivery of hydrogen in these cheaper ways,” said Jack Brouwer, a professor of engineering at the University of California, Irvine, and the director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center [advanced power and energy program]. … “Someday, renewable, clean hydrogen will be cheaper than what we are paying today for gasoline,” Brouwer said. “It’s inevitable.” Read More
The Compost: Sustainable homes, jobs, wine and more at free event
The Orange County Register -
Would you live in a hexagon-shaped home if it was climate-friendly? What about a dome? Those are some of the designs chosen by student homebuilders from across Southern California and beyond who are competing in the inaugural Orange County Sustainability Decathlon at the OC Fair & Event Center. … The free event is now halfway over, but there’s plenty of time to catch the second half! During the first half of the decathlon, which ran Oct. 5 through Oct. 8, visitors got student-guided tours of the homes built by teams from UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach, Cal Poly Pomona, UC Riverside and more. [Subscription required, campus-wide access provided by UCI Libraries. Sign-up here: https://guides.lib.uci.edu/news/ocregister] Read More