Kyle Lewis - The Technology Management Program The Technology Management Program at UC Santa Barbara is pleased to announce that Kyle Lewis, Professor of Technology Management, has been appointed as the Chair of the program, effective July 1, 2017. Prof. Lewis joined the program in 2014 as a new member of the TMP faculty. She has worked with program faculty to roll out the professional Master of Technology Management (MTM) degree program in Fall of 2015 as well as the new Ph.D. degree in Technology Management, with the first cohort joining Fall of 2017. Lewis succeeds Bob York, Professor of Technology Management and of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). 

The Technology Management Program at UC Santa Barbara is dedicated to the development of business and innovation in an increasingly technology-based global economy. TMP offers a Ph.D. in Technology Management, a professional Master of Technology Management degree, as well as UC-recognized certificates to current undergraduate and graduate students.

Matthew Turk - Computer Science Prior to joining the Department of Computer Science in 2000, Professor Turk was a researcher at Microsoft Research in Redmond, WA. His PhD is from the MIT Media Lab, and his areas of expertise are in computer vision and pattern recognition, augmented reality, human-computer interaction, and machine learning. He also has an appointment in the Media Arts and Technology Graduate Program, which he chaired from 2005 to 2010.

 

Computer Science is a discipline that impacts just about every aspect of life and has become a critical partner to every other academic pursuit. CS enrollments have been growing rapidly in recent years throughout the world, and there is high demand for CS graduates at all levels. At UCSB, we have a world-class CS faculty engaged in teaching and research, advancing the state-of-the-art in many areas of computing, providing leadership to their research communities, and educating and mentoring UCSB students through classes, seminars, and research. It’s an exciting time to be part of the computing field.

Michael Chabinyc - Materials Professor Michael Chabinyc has taken the role of chair of the Materials Department as of July 1, 2017. He is excited about his new role and is particularly looking forward to working with the Department’s newest faculty members. In addition to this new appointment, Prof. Stephen Wilson has been appointed Associate Chair of the Department. 

The Materials Department prides itself on sustaining a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary research environment. Most of the faculty have joint appointments with other departments in the College of Engineering, including Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Electrical and Computer Engineering, or the College of Letters and Science including Chemistry, Physics, and the intercollege Biomolecular Science and Engineering Program. Researchers working in our major areas of research have the opportunity of interacting not only with the Departmental faculty and students, but also with a broader community of faculty and their groups doing materials-related research at UCSB. These interactions are fostered by the numerous materials-related research centers at UCSB.

Frederic Gibou - Mechanical Engineering Frederic Gibou is the new Chair of Mechanical Engineering since July 1st 2017. The Department of Mechanical Engineering has grown quite significantly in terms of prestige and number of faculty members in the past decade and a half and is now poised to embark in the next growth. Planed activities are the creation of academic programs, new vigorous research initiatives, and new relations with industrial partners.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering focuses on six areas of research, each with their own specialization and cross-pollinating each others: bioengineering and systems biology, computational science and engineering, dynamical system and controls, micro and nano technology, solid mechanics, materials and structures, and fluid and thermal science.

Marko Peljhan - Media Arts and Technology The Media Arts and Technology (MAT) program is a unique transdisciplinary research venture spanning the Colleges of Engineering and Humanities/Fine Arts, which is currently in a major growth spur. During the current academic year, MAT will be recruiting a new faculty member, complementing their diverse research directions, and will be even more present and active on the national and international engineering/arts/science/design circuit. MAT will be presenting the program and its achievements at next year’s Ars Electronica in Linz as one of the featured media arts and technology leading schools collectively and at most of the major conferences in their field individually.

Together with their colleagues in the whole UC system, MAT will be working in advancing and encouraging transdisciplinary research and building our lab and facilities infrastructure in the CNSI building. The CNSI building currently includes four unique labs (Re-touch, Experimental Visualization, Translab, Systemics), the shared Four Eyes Lab with the CS Dept and the Allosphere Research Facility. MAT also manages the Center for Research in Electronic Art Technology (CREATE) in the Department of Music. MAT will continue working at the edges of discovery, integrating industrial invention and creativity with conceptual frameworks that are defining the future directions of the complex relationship of humankind, machines and the environment.

Nadir Dagli - Electrical and Computer Engineering This year ECE had a leadership change and Joao Hespanha stepped down as the department chair after four years of excellent service in managing and guiding the department. Professor Dagli was appointed as department chair as of July 1st. He views this leadership appointment as a privilege to serve the department he has been a member of for over 30 years. He is also pleased to announce that Clint Schow accepted to be the vice chair and graduate program director and Luke Theogarajan agreed to be the vice chair and undergraduate program director.

Overall, the ECE department continues to do very well. The national and international rankings are high. ECE ranked at 22nd in the nation (13th among public universities) by U.S. News & World Report's 2018 "Best Graduate Schools". The ECE faculty keep getting recognitions for their significant contributions, applications to the graduate program has been over 1200 for many years, GPA of incoming freshman holds very high. But ECE also faces challenges to maintain their strengths and continue growing. ECE needs to maintain and grow their areas of strength by attracting top talent both as faculty and students. The department also needs to improve their undergraduate and graduate programs and continue to offer a world class education. Prof. Dagli believes that "we are in this all together" and he welcomes your advice, suggestions, comments and participation to continue improving our reputation.