UCLA Electrical Engineering

Congratulations to Krutikesh Sahoo from Professor Subramanian “Subu” Iyer’s research group for being selected as a finalist for the 2026–27 ECE Distinguished Ph.D. Dissertation Research Award. Sahoo presented his research at the inaugural ECE Graduate Student Research Symposium, highlighting impactful work in advanced fine-pitch assembly technologies.

The paper by Professor Cong and his former student Deming Chen (now the Abel Bliss professor at UIUC) entitled DAOmap: a depth-optimal area optimization mapping algorithm for FPGA designs was inducted into the FPGA and Reconfigurable Computing Hall of Fame on May 15, 2026 at the IEEE FCCM’2026 Conference. The paper was originally published in 2004 at the International Conference on Computer-Aided Design (ICCAD). This is the sixth paper co-authored by Cong that has been inducted into the FPGA and Reconfigurable Computing Hall of Fame.

Please see the paper: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/ICCAD.2004.1382677

Professor Subramanian Iyer was featured as an invited speaker at the 2026 Berkeley Emerging Technologies Research (BETR) Symposium held at University of California, Berkeley as part of the Field Effect Transistor 100-Year Celebration. Iyer participated in the Heterogeneous Integration & Packaging session, joining leading experts from academia and industry to discuss advances in semiconductor packaging and AI hardware technologies.

UCLA CHIPS and the Thermal Science Lab showcased research at the 2026 IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC) in Orlando, Florida. Presentations featured advances in Cu-Cu 3D integration, liquid metal probe technologies, photonic connectors, and microchannel thermal management.

Featured presentations included:
INTERCEPT™ – A Nondestructive Known Good Die Testing Probe – Samuel Wang
Fine Pitch Cu-Cu TCB for 3D Integration – Vineeth Harish
Flash Boiling of Methanol in Silicon Microchannel Thermal Dissipation Unit for Thermal Management – Naarendharan Meenakshi Sundaram
Photonic Dielet Integration into Electrically Active Flextrate for High Bandwidth Connectors – Alexis Samoylov

A research team led by Professors Aydogan Ozcan and Mona Jarrahi have developed a new image projection system that delivers super-resolution images over an extended depth of field. By combining a neural network-based digital encoder with a passive all-optical diffractive decoder, the system drastically compresses image data for efficient transmission of image information. This platform operates without extra power at the decoding stage, promising advancements for next-generation virtual and augmented reality displays.

Please see the news release: https://www.ee.ucla.edu/super-resolution-image-projection-over-an-extended-depth-using-an-optical-processor/

We are thrilled to announce that 6 UCLA Samueli PhD students have won the highly selective 2026 Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship!

Among the fellowship recipients are our ECE students Sujoy Ghosh (advised by Professor Subu Iyer), Daniel McGovern (advised by Benjamin Williams), George Karfakis (advised by Professor Puneet Gupta), and Samyak Chakrabarty (advised by Professor Sudhakar Pamarti).

Congratulations to all our outstanding researchers!

Congratulations to Professor Sergio Carbajo on being named a recipient of the prestigious X-C Zhang Award.

The 2025 awardees were announced at the 13th International Symposium on Ultrafast Phenomena and THz Waves (ISUPTW 2026), held in Hangzhou, China.

Named in honor of pioneering THz scientist Xi-Cheng Zhang, the award recognizes exceptional researchers whose work has made outstanding contributions to the science, technology, and applications of terahertz waves. Carbajo’s recognition highlights the growing impact of his work at the intersection of ultrafast photonics, structured light, and advanced light–matter interactions.

Please see the LinkedIn post:

#science #technology #applications | The Quantum Light-Matter Cooperative Congratulations to Sergio Carbajo of UCLA and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory on being named a recipient of the prestigious X-C Zhang Award. 🏆 The 2025 awardees were announced at the 13th International Symposium on Ultrafast Phenomena and THz Waves (ISUPTW 2026), held in Hangzhou, China. Nam...

Technology from Professor Sam Emaminejad's lab was recently featured in a dedicated Research Highlights article in Nature Reviews Nephrology, a highly respected journal in the clinical field. The article focused specifically on their wearable biosensor and its potential for real-time assessment of kidney and liver drug clearance and dysfunction. This coverage underscores the interdisciplinary impact of the work emerging from Emaminejad's lab, as well as the department and school.

Please see the paper:

Wearable biosensor can detect impaired kidney drug clearance - Nature Reviews Nephrology Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the si...

Prof. Subramanian Iyer was recently featured in IEEE Spectrum article titled, "Are U.S. Engineering Ph.D. Programs Losing Students?" According to Iyer, departments across UC Los Angeles, including engineering, plan to scale back Ph.D. admissions this year. “The fear is that at some point, all this government money will be taken away,” Iyer says. “Lowering the admissions rate is just a way to prepare for that reality.”

Please see the full article:

U.S. Universities Brace for Shrinking Engineering Ph.D. Cohorts Some electrical engineering Ph.D. programs are seeing declining enrollment amid funding cuts and visa uncertainty.

The UCLA Integrated Sensors Laboratory, directed by Professor Aydin Babakhani, has been selected to participate in a major $8.1 million U.S. Space Force initiative led by Rice University under the Strategic Technology Institute 4 (SSTI-4) program.

As part of the Center for Advanced Space Sensing Technologies (CASST), a multi-institutional consortium, the UCLA team will lead the development of advanced millimeter-wave and terahertz (mm-wave/THz) sensing technologies aimed at next-generation space domain awareness.

The effort focuses on creating highly integrated, low-power sensing systems capable of operating in complex orbital environments, enabling improved detection, monitoring, and characterization of objects in space. Leveraging UCLA’s strengths in high-frequency integrated circuits, sensor miniaturization, and intelligent signal processing, the Integrated Sensors Laboratory will play a key role in translating cutting-edge research into deployable sensing platforms aligned with U.S. Space Force mission needs.