Winter 2021
Jack Brouwer, director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center at UCI, discusses how hydrogen can help solve climate change on this episode of the UCI Podcast. Steve Zylius/UCI
Chair's Message
As I write this message, Orange County is entering the less restrictive red tier outlined in California's Blueprint for a Safer Economy, and UC Irvine's educators and staff are now eligible for vaccination. The campus is already planning for a mostly in-person delivery of instruction in the fall. In this newsletter, we highlight an effort led by Distinguished Professor Tryphon Georgiou who is using fractional exponents to more accurately predict how contagions propagate. Professor Jack Brouwer discusses how hydrogen can contribute to solving climate change in a recent UCI Podcast. Associate Professor Haithem Taha's research on unsteady flight dynamics sheds some light into the mechanisms of insect flying, demonstrating how flapping wing insects are able to stabilize hovering. MAE Assistant Professor of Teaching Natascha Buswell received UCI's Distinguished Early-Career Faculty Award, and Distinguished
Adjunct Professor Bob Liebeck retired from Boeing after a long and distinguished career. We also highlight great achievements by three of our female students.

Best regards,
Roger H. Rangel
Professor and Chair
RESEARCH
UCI-LED STUDY OFFERS NEW APPROACH FOR MORE ACCURATE EPIDEMIC MODELING

A new class of epidemiological models based on alternative thinking about how contagions propagate, particularly in the early phases of a pandemic, provide a blueprint for more accurate epidemic modeling and improved disease spread predictions and responses.
NEWS
RESEARCH INDICATES HIDDEN STABILIZATION MECHANISM IN INSECT FLIGHT

For years, research into the dynamics of flight has indicated that flying insects are inherently unstable as they hover. UC Irvine’s Haithem Taha recently proved otherwise.
ACCOLADE
RECENT GRADUATE RECOGNIZED FOR INNOVATION IN NAVIGATION

The Institute of Navigation has awarded UC Irvine engineering alumna Kimia Shamaei the 2020 Bradford Parkinson Award for her doctoral dissertation, “Exploiting cellular signals for navigation: 4G to 5G.”
SHOUTOUT
BUSWELL TO RECEIVE UCI DISTINGUISHED EARLY-CAREER FACULTY AWARD

The UC Irvine Academic Senate has selected Natascha Buswell, assistant professor of teaching in mechanical and aerospace engineering, for the 2020-2021 Distinguished Early-Career Faculty Award for Teaching. 
HIGHLIGHT
LIEBECK RETIRES FROM BOEING

Robert Liebeck, Samueli School distinguished adjunct professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and faculty adviser for the UC Irvine Design/Build/Fly team, announced his retirement from his position as senior fellow at the Boeing Co.
SCHOLARSHIP
NATIONAL WOMEN IN AEROSPACE SCHOLARSHIP GOES TO MAE STUDENT

Amy Huynh, a Samueli School senior double majoring in aerospace engineering and mechanical engineering, has won one of only four 2020-21 Women in Aerospace Foundation (WIA) scholarships awarded nationally this year.
FEATURE
SENSE OF WONDER DRAWS MEGAN YANG TO MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Women's golfer Megan Yang watches movies a little differently than the average viewer.
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