Our new Artificial Intelligence major prepares computer science students to build the next generation of AI systems, improve the foundations of the AI systems currently in use, and operate with awareness of AI’s ethical impacts on society. The major resides within the UC San Diego Department of Computer Science and Engineering, with connections across the entire campus, including other academic departments within the Jacobs School of Engineering and connections in partnership with the School of Computing, Information and Data Science (SCIDS).

We have doubled our bioengineering instructional lab capacity in the Shu Chien-Gene Lay Department of Bioengineering. The new Bioengineering Instructional Lab consists of two complementary facilities that bring together different aspects of hands-on bioengineering education. The Instructional Biotech Core Laboratory serves as the home base for core undergraduate lab courses and includes tissue culture facilities. Next door, The BioElectronics and Innovation Laboratory is a workshop-style space for building and testing bioengineering senior capstone design projects. This project was made possible with resources from across campus, as well as the generous support of UC San Diego alumni — including bioengineering alumni — and friends of the department. Thank you!

For the 3rd year running, UC San Diego has been named the country’s sixth best public university by U.S. News & World Report in its annual Best Colleges rankings. In addition, 11 undergraduate programs at the Jacobs School of Engineering were ranked top 10 among public schools. And four of these were also in the top 10 among all schools in the nation. 

Engineers at UC San Diego have launched an NSF-funded pilot initiative aimed at growing the number of skilled U.S. workers going into the domestic semiconductor industry. The program provides free access to technical courses in semiconductors through SEMI University, hands-on semiconductor fabrication training in advanced cleanroom labs at UC San Diego, and direct connections to job opportunities within the U.S. semiconductor ecosystem. Engineering and computer science students from UC San Diego and other colleges in the region are invited to apply.  

UC San Diego engineers landed a $5 million center award from the National Nuclear Security Administration, part of the Department of Energy, to develop a new class of impact-resistant materials. These materials will have unique internal geometries that give them nonlinear properties. Such impact-resistant materials have direct applications in the space and defense sectors.

UC San Diego computer scientists found that cybersecurity training programs as implemented today by most large organizations do little to reduce the risk that employees will fall for phishing scams. Phishing scams involve malicious emails posing as legitimate to get victims to share sensitive information. The researchers recommend that organizations refocus their efforts to combat phishing on technical countermeasures such as two-factor authentication for hardware and applications, and password managers that only work on correct domains.

Remember the 10-story building that researchers shook this summer on the world’s largest outdoor shaketable here at UC San Diego? After the earthquake tests, researchers set fire to two of the building’s floors. Their goal is to learn how to prevent fires from igniting inside buildings that have gone through an earthquake. Researchers are also trying to better understand how buildings can withstand the blazes that can occur after a quake. Sustained support from the NSF and industry and government partners has been critical for these efforts to make structures safer for all of us.

A new hydrogel applied directly to vaginal tissues may help alleviate the negative impacts of menopause, according to a new study from bioengineers and physicians at UC San Diego. The results could pave the way for a hormone-free treatment that alleviates vaginal dryness and pain caused by genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM), which negatively impacts quality of life for millions of women.

Five Jacobs School graduate students have been selected as 2026 Siebel Scholars in recognition of their outstanding academic performance and leadership. These students are advancing engineering to improve lives through breakthroughs in wearable ultrasound; cancer immunotherapy; broad-spectrum antivirals; intelligent in-cell electrophysiology; and understanding sex differences in the progression of heart disease.

Three UC San Diego research teams have each been awarded 1.2 petabytes of data storage from Western Digital to advance fusion energy; further spatial genomics; and preserve cultural heritage sites in 3D. These Western Digital Petabyte Innovation Quest (Peak) awards, each more than a million gigabytes of data storage, go to interdisciplinary research teams pursuing innovative data storage projects.

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