Computational Tools Fuel Reconstruction of New and Improved Bird Family Tree

April 1, 2024

Using cutting-edge computational methods and supercomputing infrastructure at UC San Diego, researchers have built the largest and most detailed bird family tree to date—an intricate chart delineating 93 million years of evolutionary relationships between 363 bird species, representing 92% of all bird families. The updated tree reveals sharp increases in effective population size, substitution rates and relative brain size in early birds in the aftermath of the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. And by closely examining one of the branches of this tree, researchers found that flamingos and doves are more distantly related than previous genome-wide analyses had shown. Full Story

Bringing a Bird's-Eye View to You

February 20, 2024

From the campus that brought you GoPro (Nick Woodman ‘97) comes the latest in drone videography: Epic Drone Tours. The company, founded by two UC San Diego student-athlete alumni, uses GoPro cameras mounted to small, customized drones to capture immersive, first-person view tours of indoor spaces, from luxury hotels to commercial real estate buildings.  Full Story

New Cafe Brings Food and Community to UC San Diego's Franklin Antonio Hall

February 15, 2024

UC San Diego’s newest cafe is now open in Franklin Antonio Hall. Crafted @ Minerva’s Cafe brings coffee, boba tea and fresh, organic food with a focus on sustainability to the new Franklin Antonio Hall.  Full Story

Engineering Students Aim to Take 3D-Printed AUV to the Arctic

February 7, 2023

Undergraduate engineering students in the Yonder Deep student organization have found a way to sharpen their marine robotics skills while working toward solutions to the climate crisis. Full Story

2022 Research Highlights

December 20, 2022

From tools to track the origin and spread of COVID-19, to making homes safer in earthquakes, to using smartphones as diagnostic tools, researchers at the Jacobs School of Engineering pioneered important work in 2022. A few highlights of our outstanding research this year are here. Full Story

Alumni startup aims to make 3D-printed prostheses accessible and affordable.

November 4, 2022

By using a combination of personalized scans as well as digital designs and 3D printing on a large scale, the LIMBER team believes it could reduce the cost of a prosthesis by anywhere from 50% to 90%, delivering prosthetics much faster to those who need them. Full Story

IROS 2022: Bioinspired Robots, Better Algorithms for Self-driving Cars, and More

October 10, 2022

From robots inspired by animals and even amoeba, to better algorithms for self-driving cars and robotic surgery, researchers at the University of California San Diego will be presenting a wide range of papers at IROS 2022, which returns in a hybrid format Oct. 23 to 27, 2022.    Full Story

Franklin Antonio Hall opens its doors

September 29, 2022

The UC San Diego campus community turned out in big numbers last Friday to celebrate the opening of the sleek and soaring Franklin Antonio Hall. The 186,000 square foot building is not only innovative in its architecture, it’s also ground-breaking in how research teams are organized within the building. Full Story

San Diego Union-Tribune previews opening of Franklin Antonio Hall

September 9, 2022

Just weeks before the grand opening on Sept. 23, the San Diego Union-Tribune published an extensive story about Franklin Antonio Hall, the latest building at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. The sleek and soaring structure is located across the street from to Atkinson Hall, near the campus’ Warren College neighborhood.    Full Story

The physics of walking is simpler than we thought

September 5, 2022

The physics of walking for multi-legged animals and robots is simpler than previously thought. That is the finding described by a team of roboticists, physicists and biologists in the Sept. 5 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in a paper titled “Walking is like slithering: a unifying, data-driven view of locomotion.”    Full Story