2010-2011 Externally Funded Research Centers and Institutes

Center for Cell Control

National Institutes of Health Nanomedicine Development Center

Chih-Ming Ho, Ph.D. (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering), Director; http://www.centerforcellcontrol.org

A cell consists of millions of intracellular molecules, which serve as building blocks for its structure and functions. Interactions among these building blocks display the property of self organization, which serves as the foundation of signaling networks and regulatory pathways. Through these interconnected networks, a cell—the basic unit of life—senses, responds, and adapts to its environment. These three characteristics are commonly observed in all complex systems. The goal of the Center for Cell Control (CCC) at UCLA is to apply an unprecedented approach toward efficiently searching for a potent drug cocktail for guiding biological systems to a directed phenotype. Nanoscale modalities and molecular sensors are used to understand the signal pathway responses under the influence of the drugs. This introduces engineering systems that can be applied toward regulation of a spectrum of cellular functions, such as cancer eradication, viral infection onset control, and stem cell differentiation.

This highly interdisciplinary approach demands strong synergetic collaboration between engineers, biologists, and clinical doctors at UCLA and UC Berkeley. Projects important to the goals of the NIH nanomedicine program are development of a smart petri dish platform with advanced nanoscale modalities, capable of studying signal pathways at the network interaction level; and demonstration of the unique capability to determine optimal multiple drug combinations and apply the resulting drug cocktail as potential therapeutics in pathogenic diseases and cancer.

Three biological systems—stem cell, cancer, and viral infection—have been proposed. Because stem cells have interesting features closely mirroring circuit reprogramming, they are used as the first system for monitoring and interrogating reactions in the network of pathways. Viral infection and cancer cells will be used in drug combinatory studies. As the program becomes more mature, networks of all three systems will be interrogated by nano tools under the potent drug cocktails.

Center for Domain-Specific Computing

National Science Foundation Expedition in Computing Program

Jason Cong, PhD. (Computer Science), Director; http://www.cdsc.ucla.edu

To meet ever-increasing computing needs and overcome power density limitations, the computing industry has entered the era of parallelization, with tens to hundreds of computing cores integrated into a single processor and hundreds to thousands of computing servers connected in warehouse-scale data centers. However, such highly parallel, general-purpose computing systems still face serious challenges in terms of performance, energy, heat dissipation, space, and cost. The Center for Domain-Specific Computing (CDSC) looks beyond parallelization and focuses on domain-specific customization as the next disruptive technology to bring orders-of-magnitude power-performance efficiency improvement to important application domains.

CDSC develops a general methodology for creating novel customizable architecture platforms and the associated compilation tools and runtime management environment to support domain-specific computing. The proposed domain-specific customizable computing platform includes a wide range of customizable computing elements, from heterogeneous fixed cores to coarse-grain customizable cores and fine-grain field-programmable circuit fabrics; customizable high-performance radio frequency interconnects; highly automated compilation tools and runtime management software systems for application development; and a general, reusable methodology for customizable computing applicable across different domains. By combining these critical capabilities, the goal is to deliver a supercomputer-in-a-box that is customized to a particular application domain to enable disruptive innovations in that domain. This approach will be demonstrated in several important application domains in healthcare.

The CDSC research will be carried out as a collaborative effort between four universities: UCLA (lead institution), Rice University, UC Santa Barbara, and Ohio State University. The research team consists of a group of highly accomplished researchers with diversified backgrounds, including computer science and engineering, electrical engineering, medicine, and applied mathematics. CDSC offers many research opportunities for graduate students, and also provides summer research fellowship programs for high school and undergraduate students. The core funding for CDSC is provided by the National Science Foundation with a $10 million award from the 2009 Expedition in Computing Program. This program, established in 2008 by the NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), provides the CISE research and education community with the opportunity to pursue ambitious, fundamental research agenda that promise to define the future of computing and information and to render great benefit to society.

Center for Embedded Networked Sensing

National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center

Deborah Estrin, Ph.D. (Computer Science), Director; http://www.cens.ucla.edu

The Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS) is a major research enterprise focused on developing wireless sensing systems and applying this revolutionary technology to critical scientific and societal pursuits. In the same way that development of the Internet transformed our ability to communicate, the ever-decreasing size and cost of computing components sets the stage for detection, processing, and communication technology to be embedded throughout the physical world and, thereby, fostering a deeper understanding of the natural and built environment and, ultimately, enhancing our ability to design and control these complex systems.

By investigating fundamental properties of embedded networked sensing systems, developing new technologies, and exploring novel scientific and educational applications, CENS is a world leader in unleashing the tremendous potential these systems hold.

The center is a multidisciplinary collaboration among faculty, staff, and students from a wide spectrum of fields, including computer science, electrical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, biology, statistics, education and information sciences, urban planning, and theater, film, and television. CENS was established in 2002 as a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center and is a partnership of UCLA, UC Riverside, UC Merced, USC, and Caltech.

The center's current research portfolio encompasses projects across nine technology and applications areas, examples of which include

Molecularly Engineered Energy Materials Energy Frontier Research Center

U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences

Vidvuds Ozolins, Ph.D. (Materials Science and Engineering), Director

The interdisciplinary Molecularly Engineered Energy Materials (MEEM) Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) was established in 2009 and brings together several faculty across the UCLA campus in close collaboration with scientists and faculty at the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Eastern Washington University, the University of Kansas, and UC Berkeley.

MEEM has active research programs on organic solar cells, electrochemical supercapacitors, and materials for carbon capture. MEEM focuses on materials that are inherently inexpensive (such as polymers, oxides, and metal-organic frameworks), can be easily assembled from intelligently designed building blocks (molecules, nanoparticles, and polymers), and have the potential to deliver transformative economic benefits in comparison with current crystalline- and polycrystalline-based energy technologies.

A great deal of the center's research is aimed at understanding the basic science issues in energy-related materials phenomena. These advances will enable rational design, efficient synthesis, and effective deployment of novel materials for energy applications. As global energy demands continue, the center’s work will be essential in helping to make alternative and renewable energy a viable resource for the 21st century.

Center on Functional Engineered Nano Architectonics

Microelectronic Advanced Research Corporation Focus Center

Kang L. Wang, Ph.D. (Electrical Engineering), Director; Bruce S. Dunn, Ph.D. (Materials Science and Engineering), Co-Director; http://www.fena.org

Dramatic advances in nanotechnology, molecular electronics, and quantum computing are creating the potential for significant expansion of current semiconductor technologies. Researchers at UCLA make pioneering contributions to these fields through the Functional Engineered Nano Architectonics Focus Center (FENA) funded by the Semiconductor Research Association and the Department of Defense.

The term “architectonics” is derived from a Greek word meaning master builder—an apt description of the center’s researchers as they build a new generation of nano-scale materials, structures, and devices for the electronics industry.

The FENA team explores the challenges facing the semiconductor industry as the electronic devices and circuits that power today’s computers grow ever smaller. With more and more transistors and other components squeezed onto a single chip, manufacturers are rapidly approaching the physical limits posed by current chip-making processes. Researchers seek to resolve a number of issues related to post-CMOS technologies that allow them to extend semiconductor technology further into the realm of the nanoscale.

Western Institute of Nanoelectronics

A Nanoelectronics Research Initiative National Institute of Excellence

Kang L. Wang, Ph.D. (Electrical Engineering), Director; http://win-nano.org

The Western Institute of Nanoelectronics (WIN), one of the world’s largest joint research programs focusing on spintronics, brings together nearly 30 eminent researchers to explore critically-needed innovations in semiconductor technology.

A National Institute of Excellence, WIN leverages what are considered the best interdisciplinary nanoelectronics talents in the world to explore and develop advanced research devices, circuits, and nanosystems with performance beyond conventional CMOS devices. The pioneering new technology of spintronics relies on the spin of an electron to carry information, and holds promise in minimizing power consumption for next-generation electronics.

As rapid progress in the miniaturization of semiconductor electronic devices leads toward chip features smaller than 100 nanometers in size, researchers have had to begin exploring new ways to make electronics more efficient. Today’s devices, based on CMOS standards, cannot get much smaller and still function effectively.

Information-processing technology has so far relied on charge-based devices, ranging from vacuum tubes to million-transistor microchips. Conventional electronic devices simply move these electric charges around, ignoring the spin on each electron. Spintronics aims to put that extra spin action to work—effectively corralling electrons into one smooth chain of motion.