College of Engineering Content

Assessing the Real Climate Costs of Manufacturing

Andy Fell — October 24, 2024 - 11:42am

Producing materials such as steel, plastics and cement in the United States alone inflicts $79 billion a year in climate-related damage around the world, according to a new study by engineers and economists at the University of California, Davis. Accounting for these costs in market prices could encourage progress toward climate-friendly alternatives.

Video Series Aims at Improving Indoor Air Quality

Andy Fell — October 16, 2024 - 2:29pm

Improving indoor air quality is the goal of a new video series developed by experts at the University of California, Davis in collaboration with the California Department of Public Health. Aimed at building and facility managers, the videos distill the science of air quality into steps building and facility managers can take to remove pollutants, including viruses, from the place we spend most of our time -- indoors.

Laser Purified Silica

Andy Fell — October 14, 2024 - 11:51am

Materials science and engineering researchers at the University of California, Davis, and materials company Homerun Resources, Inc., have developed a groundbreaking one-step laser-pulse technique to purify raw silica sand to over 99.99% purity. The method is the first phase in a collaborative effort to create a pathway to a carbon-neutral process of deriving silicon from silica sand.

Charging, Not Range, is Becoming a Top Concern For Electric Car Drivers

Andy Fell — October 10, 2024 - 9:16am

The Biden administration is using tax credits, regulations and federal investments to shift drivers toward electric vehicles.

New Microscope Offers Faster, High-Resolution Brain Imaging

Andy Fell — August 15, 2024 - 3:33pm

Researchers at �ٺ��Ƶ have developed a new microscope to capture high-speed images of brain cell activity with less harm to brain tissue. The new approach could be used in research with mice to provide a clearer view of how neurons communicate in real time, leading to new insights into brain function and neurological diseases.

Can Autonomous Vehicles Dream of Electric Traffic?

Andy Fell — August 08, 2024 - 2:10pm

An engineering professor at the University of California, Davis, is striving to make autonomous vehicles, or AVs, safer by changing how researchers train them.

According to Professor Junshan Zhang of the �ٺ��Ƶ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, AVs struggle when confronted with unforeseen events, such as a car driving on the wrong side of the road.

Lake Tahoe Clarity Report Shows Highs and Lows of 2023

Katherine E Kerlin — July 30, 2024 - 10:07am

The clarity of Lake Tahoe’s famed blue waters in 2023 continued its years-long trend of improving during the winter and deteriorating during the summer. The annual clarity report, released today by the University of California, Davis – Tahoe Environmental Research Center, found that winter lake conditions were the clearest observed since 1983, with visibility of 91.9 feet under the surface, compared with 72.2 feet in 2022.

�ٺ��Ƶ Coffee Center Opens

Andy Fell — May 07, 2024 - 2:39pm

The Coffee Center at the University of California, Davis, officially opened Friday, May 3. The Coffee Center is a center of excellence in the �ٺ��Ƶ College of Engineering and the first academic research and teaching facility in the U.S. entirely dedicated to the study of coffee.

Boosting Research for the Brain and Planet

Cody Kitaura — April 30, 2024 - 12:27pm

Donors are advancing the College of Engineering’s Next Level strategic vision to create a better world for all through socially responsible engineering, inspiring education and transformative research.

Alum Susan Ellis ’78 and her husband, Mark Linton, have given $1 million to the college to create graduate student fellowships at the Center for Neuroengineering and Medicine and for �ٺ��Ƶ’ Sustainable Cities, Sustainable Campuses initiative.

How Autocrats Control Internet Traffic Out of Sight

Andy Fell — April 10, 2024 - 12:00pm

Authoritarian regimes exert control over the internet through transit networks that operate largely out of public view, according to a recent study by researchers in the U.S. and Germany. The work, published in PNAS Nexus, also shows how more sophisticated authoritarian regimes extend their influence by providing network access in poorer but politically similar countries.