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College of Engineering News

UCSB professors Daniel Oropeza and Yangying Zhu stand side-by-side in a lab on the UCSB campus.

Sep 14, 2026
Beating the Heat of Re-Entry

UCSB engineering team receives inaugural award to design reusable systems for spacecraft returning to Earth.

UCSB professor Michael Gordon, wearing a top hat and dark suit, stands next to a podium as he receives an honorary doctorate at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Sep 12, 2026
Chemical Engineering Chair Receives Honorary Doctoral Degree in Sweden

Chalmers University of Technology honors Michael Gordon for his contributions to bio-inspired functional materials.

A group of 15 of Bridge to Doctorate Fellows, peer mentors, and PIs gathered on the grass with a stand of bamboo behind them.

Sep 04, 2026
NSF-Funded Program Provides Critical Support for STEM Graduate Students

UCSB’s long-term Bridge to the Doctorate program promotes engineering and science success.

A person wearing a hardhat and bright vest in front of hydrogen storage tanks

Sep 03, 2026
New Process Boosts Clean Hydrogen Production

Chemical engineering professor Eric McFarland co-authors Science paper outlining a highly efficient, low-emission approach to producing hydrogen.

Source: Stanford Report
A side-by-side image comparison of a pixelated art studio on the left and a visually sharp scene of the same art studio on the right

Sep 01, 2026
UCSB Researchers Turn Noise into Clarity

Foundational 2015 paper wins award for shaping computer-generated imagery in movies, gaming and more.

Scanning electron microscope image of anaerobic fungi, showing rounded fungal structures surrounded by a dense network of branching filaments.

Aug 27, 2026
Microbial Teamwork Could Turn Plant Waste into Useful Chemicals

UCSB researchers are taking cues from microbes to explore more sustainable ways to make fuels, materials, and other products. 

Rep. Salud Carbajal speaks with researchers inside a laboratory during a tour of the UC Santa Barbara OASIS facility.

Aug 23, 2026
Rep. Salud Carbajal Commends $20M Federal Grant to Create Cloud Laboratory for Advanced Materials at UCSB

The four-year grant will fund an AI-programmable cloud laboratory at the UCSB facility that can be accessed remotely by any researcher in the country.

Source: Santa Barbara News-Press
Headshot of Kevin Plaxco

Aug 13, 2026
The Endless (and Maddening) Quest to Make a Good Biosensor

Professor Kevin Plaxco's "breakthrough" work in biosensors is featured in leading medical news publication.

Source: Medscape
A researcher wearing a lab coat, hair protection, and eye protection works at a machine inside the Protofab lab, while another researcher works in the background.

Aug 10, 2026
New Prototyping Facility Expands Innovation

Protofab fills the packaging gap in microchip development.

A hand holding a pair of sunglasses, representing a model of a visual prosthesis for the vision-impaired, with a logo of the bionic vision lab

Aug 07, 2026
AI Brings Bionic Eye Research into Focus

Deep learning improves how a visual cortical prosthesis communicates with the brain.

Illustration showing carbon dioxide and methane molecules moving past a catalyst particle above a graph of reaction rates over time. Colored lines represent differing experimental results, which feed into a network symbolizing a machine-learning model.

Aug 03, 2026
Round-Robin Catalysis

Collaboration involving four laboratories from across the country establishes protocol that recognizes the variability of results involving machine learning models.

A group of students sits around a table and works on their laptops in a communal space at Playa House.

Jul 30, 2026
Student-Run Founder House Sparks Success

Playa House’s residents build startups and community. 

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