Media Watch
UCI professor breaking ground in wireless tech
Orange County Register -
UC Irvine's professor Syed Jafar, 39, of Irvine is one of three winners of the Blavatnik Family Foundation's annual national young scientist award for his work on wireless technology.
With one-third of largest aquifers highly stressed, it's time to explore and assess the planet's groundwater
National Geographic -
“In most cases, we do not know how much groundwater exists in storage,” write the authors of a study published last month in Water Resources Research (WRR), a journal of the American Geophysical Union. ... One-third of the world’s 37 largest aquifers are highly stressed to over-stressed, according to a companion study published in the same issue of WRR. ... Scientists at the University of California, Irvine led both studies, with doctoral student Alexandra Richey serving as lead author.
UC Irvine professor receives national science award
Orange County Register -
Three University of California researchers are the winners of a national young scientist award that carry a cash prize of $250,000 each. The awards are given annually by the Blavatnik Family Foundation … The winners are … Syed A. Jafar, a 39-year-old professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Irvine.
Many of the world's water basins are being depleted studies find
Los Angeles Times -
"We know we're taking more than we're putting back in – how long do we have before we can't do that anymore?" said Alexandra Richey, who conducted the studies as a graduate student at UC Irvine. "We don't know, but we keep pumping. Which to me is terrifying." … Jay Famiglietti, senior water scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a UC Irvine professor, said that aquifers should be studied and valued the same way as precious oil reserves.
Study: A third of world's major aquifers threatened
USA Today -
In two new studies, a team of researchers led by hydrologists from the University of California, Irvine assessed the depletion of groundwater on a global scale using readings from NASA satellites. ... "If we continue to use groundwater the way it's being used, then there's a high chance that it could be depleted to the point that we can no longer use it in my lifetime in certain areas," said Alexandra Richey, the lead author of the studies.
UC Irvine looks to revitalize ocean research center in Newport Beach
Orange County Register -
UCI associate professor Kristen Davis said Kerckhoff’s close access to the ocean will help researchers get data quickly during events like last year’s unseasonably warm ocean waters .... Davis said the OCEANS Initiative could also tackle difficult coastal issues, like sea level rise, that will need a comprehensive look from several scientific disciplines before real answers emerge.
Engineering a future
Orange County Register -
Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli ... told a crowd of UC Irvine graduates Friday…. “Don’t make career choices on short-term financial gain. Job satisfaction and career enjoyment are far more important,” he said. “Long-term career aspirations encompass emotional and intellectual impact of work on society.”
The biggest billion-dollar energy unicorn left standing
CNBC -
The growth of the fuel-cell industry has been helped by the overall reduction in the cost of fuel-cell technology, said Scott Samuelsen, director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California, Irvine. ... Samuelsen said, "The market is beginning to recognize fuel cells as being a viable option."
Great advances being made in assistive technology
Toronto Star -
“I think we’re in the middle of a revolution in technology for people with impairments,” says David Reinkensmeyer, a biorobotics researcher at the University of California, Irvine. ... Music Glove ... The system coaxes stroke survivors to use the kind of hand movements that will help them regain dexterity. It was created by Nizan Friedman, a former graduate student in the lab of University of California, Irvine’s David Reinkensmeyer.
What Australia can teach the world about surviving drought
Scientific American -
“Documenting what happened in Melbourne during the Millennium Drought was a real eye-opener,” said paper co-author Stanley Grant, a civil and environmental engineer at the University of California, Irvine. “It’s like looking into what the future could be for California if we got our act together.”