The UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science celebrated the achievements of students, faculty and alumni at its annual awards dinner held during National Engineers Week.
As director of the Flexible Research Group and assistant professor in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department, Jonathan Hopkins received the Northrop Grumman Excellence in Teaching Award. His research involves the design and fabrication of flexible structures, mechanisms and materials. Hopkins was recently honored by then-President Barack Obama at the White House for his research in these areas with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. He also received the UCLA Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department’s Teaching Award for his commitment to improved engineering education.
For her significant contributions to the development of ultrafast electronics, optoelectronic devices and integrated systems for terahertz and millimeter-wave sensing, and other achievements, associate professor and vice chair in the UCLA Department of Electrical Engineering Mona Jarrahi received the Watanabe Excellence in Research Award. Her achievements have been recognized with several awards, including the U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the Moore Inventor Fellowship from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Breakthrough Award from Popular Mechanics magazine and the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Jarrahi is currently the director of the Terahertz Electronics Laboratory.
Daniel Kamei, professor in the UCLA Department of Bioengineering, received the Lockheed Martin Excellence in Teaching Award. Kamei’s laboratory has significantly contributed to the field of paper-based diagnostics. His research group has also impacted the area of drug delivery by combining mathematical modeling with quantitative experimentation. He has won numerous faculty awards, including the UCLA Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award, the Northrop Grumman Excellence in Teaching Award, the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation Early Career Award and the Sidney Kimmel Scholar Award.
Currently a distinguished professor in the UCLA Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Ajit Mal received the University Service Award. Mal has made major research contributions in noninvasive detection of defects in metallic and composite aircraft and aerospace structures. His honors and awards include a senior Fulbright Fellowship to Germany, election to fellow status of the American Academy of Mechanics, American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the International Society of Optical Engineers. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society of Optical Engineers and the Founder’s Award of the Non-Destructive Examination Division from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.