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David Lindeman, executive director of the CITRIS Health research initiative, has been elected the new chair of the California Commission on Aging (CCoA). As ED of CITRIS Health, Lindeman helps to lead the institution’s efforts to explores technology innovations to improve health outcomes and access, and to shorten the pipeline between world-class health technology and its translation into everyday practice.

Read the full press release from the CCoA:

David Lindeman Elected Chair, Dana Toppel Elected Vice Chair, California Commission on Aging

October 30, 2024
SACRAMENTO — The California Commission on Aging (CCoA) has elected David Lindeman, PhD, as its new Chair, with Dana Toppel, LCSW, MBA, stepping into the role of Vice Chair, effective following the October 21, 2024, General Meeting in San Bernardino. Chair Lindeman, who has served as Vice Chair for two years, will take over from outgoing Chair Cheryl Brown. Chair Lindeman and Vice Chair Toppel bring a wealth of experience, leadership, and commitment to advance CCoA’s mission to support California’s older adult population.

“As California’s older adult population grows rapidly, we are seeing important shifts in diversity and encountering new challenges for healthy aging,” said Chair Lindeman. “The California Commission on Aging is dedicated to working with state government and stakeholders to position California as a national leader in empowering older adults and addressing their challenges. I am excited to take on the role of Commission Chair and continue the excellent work of our immediate past Chair, Cheryl Brown.”

Chair Lindeman, a gerontologist with nearly 40 years of experience in healthcare, long-term care, and research, has served on the CCoA for four years. His expertise spans healthcare solutions, policy, and research in aging. Chair Lindeman serves as Executive Director of CITRIS Health, Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS), UC Berkeley, and Director of the Center for Technology and Aging. His work advances innovative and emerging models in California and nationally. As Chair, Lindeman will focus on policies that address disparity and promote empowerment and inclusivity for older adults across the state.

Dana Toppel, the newly elected Vice Chair, has been a dedicated member of the Commission since 2021. She is the Chief Operating Officer and new CEO Designate of Jewish Family Service of San Diego, leading efforts to enhance and promote community resilience, health, and equity. A champion of social justice, Vice Chair Toppel brings a strong commitment to equity, innovation, and closing the gender wage gap, recognizing its profound impact on the economic stability of women, families, and communities of color.

As the state’s principal advocacy body for older adults, the CCoA advises state leaders, legislators, and governmental agencies on policies and programs that impact the lives of older Californians and supports programs and services that promote equity, inclusion, autonomy, choice, access, respect, integrity, collaboration, and partnership.

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The National Science Foundation has announced the funding of a new Engineering Research Center (ERC) to explore producing natural rubber in the United States. Currently, more than 90 percent of the plants necessary to create the coveted material are located in a small area of Southeast Asia. The center, to be called the Transformation of American Rubber through Domestic Innovation for Supply Security (TARDISS), will be headquartered at the Ohio State University and will include a significant presence at UC Merced.

The UC Merced team expects to work closely with students, farmers, processors and manufacturers to understand how plants produce rubber, develop new crop variants, disseminate smart crop production practices and much more. Aided by the ERC, the new domestic industry is projected to create an estimated 2 million jobs in the United States.

CITRIS-affiliated researchers involved in the new center include the ERC’s co-principal investigator, Kara McCloskey, as well as Erin Hestir, campus director of CITRIS at UC Merced; Josué Medellín-Azuara, professor of environmental engineering; Colleen Naughton, professor of civil and environmental engineering; and former campus Director Joshua Viers.

Read more from the UC Merced Newsroom.

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In a new paper in Science Robotics, CITRIS researcher Ken Goldberg suggests that an “Augmented Dexterity” approach that pairs experienced surgeons with specialized robotic systems could lead to better patient outcomes.

Augmented Dexterity, enabled by advancements in generative artificial intelligence and other areas, would consist of a human-robot team: The robot would develop and place digital images of planned maneuvers on top of a live image of the surgical field, and the human surgeon would closely oversee and give the final approval for the robot to perform the procedure. Tasks that require dexterity and that carry greater risk to patients with small errors, such as suturing and debridement, could benefit from this new method. The technology may also expand the possibilities of remote surgery assistance.

“Augmented Dexterity has potential to elevate good surgeons to the level of the best surgeons, which could support faster and more reliable surgery,” said Goldberg.

Read more from the UC Berkeley College of Computing, Data Science, and Society.

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The third cohort of the University of California summer internship program embraced the tech-centered challenges posed by their host organizations and showcased both professional and personal growth.

How can you adjust a machine learning algorithm to better detect diseases in biological samples? How do you write a program that can make sense of diverse data sources? What do you do if there’s a regional shortage of an important chemical you need for your experiments this week?

These questions, and dozens more, helped to guide the summer experiences of the most recent cohort of the CITRIS Workforce Innovation Program, a workforce development effort funded by the state of California and led by the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS), one of four California Institutes for Science & Innovation at the University of California (UC).

CITRIS Workforce Innovation places students from the four CITRIS campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Merced and Santa Cruz with industry, academic and nonprofit hosts for eight-week paid internships in emerging areas of technology innovation. The program especially encourages those from underrepresented groups in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, including people who identify as women, first-generation college students, and Pell Grant-eligible and undocumented students, to participate.

Now in its third year, CITRIS Workforce Innovation matched 76 students — including, for the first time, two graduate students — with 45 participating host organizations this summer. Areas of interest included aviation, climate and energy, digital health, semiconductors, and two new pathways for 2024: cybersecurity, and data and AI for social impact.

To set the stage for success, the students attended workshops designed to build communication and leadership skills before even beginning their formal internships, learning from guest speakers and networking with industry professionals and peers.

The interns reported to their placements ready to roll up their sleeves, and this year’s projects generated ample inspiration for students already eager to address real-world problems.

Staying flexible when facing the unexpected

With a longstanding interest in the semiconductor industry, Vansh Agarwal, a third-year UC Berkeley undergraduate student double-majoring in materials science and business administration, was excited to apply to the CITRIS Workforce Innovation Program’s semiconductor track. 

Vansh Agarwal.

He received a WIISER NanoLab fellowship, which includes a full-time summer internship and part-time work during the academic year at the Berkeley Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory at CITRIS, and he was immersed in the field’s design technology from the outset. 

Agarwal’s primary task this summer was to help develop a standardized process for external researchers using the lab’s sputter machine, a tool that deposits very thin coatings of performance-enhancing materials onto semiconductor wafers, a foundational component of microelectronic devices. When he wasn’t streamlining the sputter’s operation, he was running tests and collecting data on other tools to ensure the lab was in good working condition. 

Experimental research often entails confronting the unexpected, as Agarwal discovered when the NanoLab was affected by a shortage of liquid nitrogen in the Bay Area several weeks into his internship. 

 “I saw how closely my supervisor worked on a solution to that problem, and that helped me understand how unpredictable these kinds of things can be,” he said. “Learning from an experience like this prepares me for a career in industry.” 

For cybersecurity intern Shipra Ithal, the most rewarding part of the process was watching something she created come to life. 

Shipra Ithal.

“At Joby Aviation, the projects I worked on were being used and actually made an impact,” she said. “Being part of that, and solving complex problems, was super fulfilling.”

Ithal is graduating from UC Santa Cruz this fall with a degree in computer engineering. Over the summer, she developed both a network intrusion detection system and a web proxy server for Joby Aviation, a company that develops low-noise electric aircraft. 

Although she didn’t have previous experience in cybersecurity, her academic concentration in computer networking provided a strong access point, and she especially enjoyed gaining expertise in web proxy configuration. Progressive accomplishments, along with positive reinforcement, motivated her past the steep learning curve of the first month.

“I was scared I was asking too many questions to my manager, but he was incredibly helpful,” said Ithal. “Taking on two projects was daunting, but I was able to finish both of them.”

Thoughtful inquiry was also an important part of the learning process for Efosa Omorogieva, a third-year computer science and engineering major at UC Merced. Omorogieva interned at Takachar, a technology startup working to transform waste biomass, such as the stalks and husks left over after a harvest, into usable products for rural communities. Her goal was to detect and remove irregularities in the output data of various machines used for processing biomass. 

Efosa Omorogieva.

Although her career goals lie in machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), she was excited to grapple with intense data analysis this summer instead. 

“To me, engineering is all about solving a problem that you don’t understand 100 percent, and I like the challenge of figuring it out and the reward of finding an answer,” she said.

Facing many unfamiliar concepts, Omorogieva found it important to speak up to her supervisor on both the difficulties she experienced and her areas of strength, especially as the project became increasingly complex.

“This internship helped me grow both professionally and personally,” she said. “I’ve learned the importance of putting yourself out there, whether you’re scared or excited.”

Turning passion into expertise

Across the diverse host organizations, CITRIS Workforce Innovation Program mentors spoke of the dual privilege and responsibility inherent to working with interns: the rare opportunity to turn nascent passions into true expertise. 

At Okta, an IT security company, staff members viewed providing students with the proper framework to grow as just as high a priority as maximizing their contributions.

“With adequate support and access to sufficient resources, interns can quickly learn complex material and almost immediately bring value to a team,” said Joaquin Campos, Okta’s nonprofit success program manager.

“It’s a win-win for students and companies.”

Jacqueline Espinoza, Beyond the Arc

One such vital resource is interdisciplinary expertise, according to Napoleon Paxton, vice president of federal technology at AI Squared, a data and AI integration company based in Washington, D.C.

“I think it is very important to put a strong team in place to support them,” he said. “Having members from different departments available was very valuable and provided a rich experience for the interns.”

For Beyond the Arc, a Bay Area business strategy and consulting firm, the students’ ambition and demonstrated development in soft skills and technical acumen were standout qualities.

“We appreciated their hard work and attention to detail,” said Jacqueline Espinoza, consulting practice leader at Beyond the Arc. “It’s a win-win for students and companies.”

Rita Deal, a second-year environmental systems science major at UC Merced with a passion for sustainability, saw her internship as a chance to incorporate technology into her arsenal of skills. She worked with Sarah Kurtz, a professor in the UC Merced School of Engineering, to gather temperature data for an agrivoltaics initiative at UC Merced’s Experimental Smart Farm, which is installing solar panels alongside its crop fields.

Rita Deal.

At the beginning of the project, Deal had limited experience using the devices it required: electrical sensors, jumper wires, resistors, a breadboard. 

“I felt a bit of imposter syndrome,” she said.

But still she forged ahead, eager to pick up tips from her mentor and peers. 

“I knew that one way or another I’d have to learn, and it would benefit me to ask, so I did. It really helped me to understand the material and get on with my daily tasks,” she said. “It also helped me feel more confident using this technology for future work.”

For Joanne Liu, a third-year UC Davis student majoring in statistics and minoring in public health, persistence was the key to success in her internship with bioinformatics startup Probius. Liu was asked to devise an algorithm to improve the classification accuracy of the company’s machine learning model, which processes electrochemical data for signs of diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The job required advanced coding proficiency, and Liu was up to the challenge. 

Joanne Liu.

“Within the first two weeks of the internship, I dedicated myself to mastering Python, so I would be able to finish all of my projects within the timeline,” she said.

To improve classification accuracy, Liu had to remove background noise from the data without compromising the integrity of the samples. She had to test several methods before reaching a fruitful result, but her hard work paid off. Her final algorithm improved predictive accuracy by 10 percent from Probius’s previous model.

“Most of research and development is trial and error, but keep persevering, trying new things and researching new methods, and eventually you’ll get the results you need,” said Liu.

The end is just the beginning

For a few lucky interns, the end of their time with the CITRIS Workforce Innovation Program marked the beginning of a new career path. 

Jackie Brown, a recent UC Berkeley graduate with a bachelor’s degree in political economy, was placed with DiamondStream Partners, a venture capital (VC) company, for her internship. Her objective for the summer was to streamline the monitoring process for DiamondStream’s nine portfolio companies, which focus on next-generation aircraft management and development. 

Jackie Brown.

The role was Brown’s first endeavor into the VC world, and she found herself fascinated by the ins and outs of the transportation industry. 

“There’s a lot of innovation and research on emerging technologies, and aviation also has a policy and regulatory aspect,” she said. “I think it’s a really good encompassment of my studies.”

Brown plans to stay on with DiamondStream until December 2024, and perhaps longer. 

“It’s a testament to CITRIS,” she said, “because I was not actively thinking about the VC world or aviation until things went well with the matching interviews.”

The third cohort of the CITRIS Workforce Innovation Program rounded out the summer with a showcase symposium on Sept. 19, during which each intern had the opportunity to present their project to mentors, friends and family, and to reflect on their growth. 

“We enjoy closing out the program with a showcase of the students’ admirable achievements — in their own words,” said program manager Nicole-Marie Cotton. “Each year, I am so impressed with their development.”

CITRIS Workforce Innovation expects to match and fund interns through summer 2025, and the program will continue to monitor graduates to measure the influence of their internships on their long-term career journeys. 

“We are grateful that the governor’s office and the state maintained its investment in this transformational program, even in the face of budget constraints,” said Camille Crittenden, CITRIS’s executive director. “The students gained unparalleled experience to put their classroom work into action for the benefit of all Californians.”

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The UC Santa Cruz CITRIS Initiative for Drone Education and Research (CIDER) is seeking a full-time education coordinator to work as a part of the CIDER team on drone education program development. The position will work under the supervision of the CIDER director, Becca Fenwick.  

Duties include:

  • Developing pertinent drone education and curriculum 
  • Serving as lead facilitator for the extracurricular Pilot Training Program
  • Training undergraduates in workforce-oriented drone skills 
  • Writing grants 
  • Participating in drone field work

Qualifications include a master’s degree or higher in a relevant field, two or more years of program management experience, background in education programming and curriculum development, and experience working with or training undergraduates. The selected candidate will also be required to provide evidence they possess FAA Part 107 remote pilot certification before the start of employment. 

Apply now on the UC Santa Cruz job site.

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With climate change leading to more frequent and devastating wildfires in the western U.S., an ancient technology may soon see new life.

Research by Michele Barbato, director of CITRIS Climate and professor of structural engineering at UC Davis, and his team shows that compressed earth blocks, historically used to build earthen structures, could prove to be a safer and more energy-efficient material for homes in fire-prone regions, with a lower carbon footprint compared to wood-frame buildings.

Barbato and his lab conducted a series of tests on earth blocks under extreme heat conditions, demonstrating their ability to resist fire and even become stronger with exposure to flames. Barbato is further working with a team to set building standards for earth structures that will help reduce their cost below those of wooden homes.

Once people are familiarized with the material, Barbato says it will be “relatively easy to convince the public this is a great solution.”

Read more from BBC.

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The Interdisciplinary Innovation Program (I2P), led by CITRIS at UC Santa Cruz, has announced support for three projects aimed at developing information technology solutions to significant societal challenges. The 2024 recipients address three areas of focus: responsible and ethical technology, education technology, and art and technology.

Alvaro Cardenas, professor of computer science and engineering, will lead a project to address emerging ethical dilemmas in using artificial intelligence (AI) agents for cyber defense. Additionally, the team will develop guiding principles to help people understand ethical questions posed by these systems, which function autonomously to perform human-defined goals, and how to best resolve them. Cardenas will work in collaboration with Lauren Lyons, a professor of philosophy. 

Mohammed Mostajo-Radji, an assistant research scientist in genomics, seeks to leverage cloud-based technologies to provide culturally informed science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education to Latinx communities in California and Peru. He will collaborate with Kristian Lopez-Vargaz, associate professor of economics, on the project. 

Professor of art Jennifer Parker will develop fog catchers, fine mesh nets that capture and collect fog condensation as freshwater, as a combination of public art and sustainable technology in order to address the environmental and sociopolitical challenges presented by climate change. Peter Weiss, professor of microbiology and environmental toxicology, is her collaborator on the project. 

Read more from the UC Santa Cruz Newscenter.

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The core climate research program of California’s Fifth Climate Change Assessment, administered by the California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE) in partnership with California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), has announced 15 projects receiving more than $5 million total in funding. These efforts will fill demonstrable gaps in the scientific literature related to understanding and adapting to climate impacts in California.

One of the selected projects, which aims to use a multisector approach to assess climate change adaptations in California agriculture and communities, will be led by CITRIS-affiliated researcher and UC Merced professor Josué Medellín-Azuara.

Read the list of recipients.

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Brandie Nonnecke, director of the CITRIS Policy Lab, has received a 2024 San Francisco Business Times Inspire Award for women leaders in artificial intelligence (AI). Nonnecke and others awardees were recognized at a gala on Oct. 10.

A renowned tech policy expert, Nonnecke has focused recently on how to best regulate artificial intelligence technologies. She has briefed members of Congress and co-chaired the University of California working group that created UC’s responsible AI principles, one of the country’s first such guidelines for a higher education institution.

Read more from the San Francisco Business Times.

Watch Nonnecke’s acceptance speech.

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Roberto Manduchi, a professor of computer science and engineering at UC Santa Cruz, and his team have recently published a paper presenting two smartphone-based applications that enable blind people to navigate inside buildings more safely, based on work from a 2015 CITRIS Seed Award.

The apps will allow users to determine their location and orientation inside a building, navigate to a specific point, and trace back a past route for safe return. Minimal audio cues provide direction signals to users, freeing their hands and allowing them to focus on safety as opposed to a handheld device.

Previous navigation tools have used sensors installed in buildings or GPS to assist users, but these methods suffer from location specificity and distorted indoor satellite signal, respectively. Manduchi’s lab takes advantage of the smartphone’s internal sensors and built-in accessibility features to create a scalable technology that sources from the user, rather than relying on prebuilt infrastructure that is not always guaranteed.

“I’m very grateful to the blind community in Santa Cruz, who gave me fantastic advice. [As engineers creating technology for the blind community], you have to be very, very careful and very humble, and start from the person who will use the technology, rather than from the technology itself,” Manduchi said.

Read more from UC Santa Cruz.

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