College of Engineering Content

Tackling Nuclear Waste Challenges One Atom at a Time

Andy Fell — June 09, 2025 - 3:29pm

Nuclear energy is having a bit of a moment, with recent interest from big tech companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta, which are pursuing nuclear energy as a sustainable and reliable source of power for their growing data centers.

EV Battery Recycling Key to Future Lithium Supplies

Andy Fell — May 29, 2025 - 9:02am

Lightweight, powerful lithium-ion batteries are crucial for the transition to electric vehicles, and global demand for lithium is set to grow rapidly over the next 25 years. A new analysis from the University of California, Davis, published May 29 in Nature Sustainability, looks at how new mining operations and battery recycling could meet that demand. Recycling could play a big role in easing supply constraints, the researchers found.

New Two-photon Microscopy System Aims to See Into 'Impossible' Spaces

Andy Fell — April 28, 2025 - 3:20pm

Researchers at �鶹app�� have developed a fast and cost-effective two-photon microscopy system capable of imaging depths previously impossible to reach in scattering tissues, such as bone and the brain.

Combining Signals Could Make for Better Control of Prosthetics

Andy Fell — April 23, 2025 - 2:17pm

Combining two different kinds of signals could help engineers build prosthetic limbs that better reproduce natural movements, according to a new study from the University of California, Davis. The work, published April 10 in PLOS One, shows that a combination of electromyography and force myography is more accurate at predicting hand movements than either method by itself.

Veterinary Medicine Leads Rankings for Graduate, Professional Programs

Julia Ann Easley — April 07, 2025 - 6:46pm

The School of Veterinary Medicine brought home the campus’s top placement in U.S. News & World Report’s most recent rankings of professional and graduate programs, published Monday (April 7).

Holographic 3D Printing With Soundwaves

Andy Fell — March 26, 2025 - 2:50pm

In an operating room, doctors and technicians work on repairing a broken bone. There are no scalpels, no incisions — the skin is not broken.

No, this is not science fiction, but a potential application of a groundbreaking 3D printing method developed by Mohsen Habibi, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of California, Davis.

Outside-In Signaling Shows a Route Into Cancer Cells

Andy Fell — February 04, 2025 - 9:08am

A new study shows how an anticancer drug triggers an “outside in” signal that gets it sucked into a cancer cell. The work, published Jan. 29 in Nature Communications, reveals a new signaling mechanism that could be exploited for delivering other drugs.

Many malignant cancers overexpress a protein called P-cadherin, which is embedded in the cell membrane. Because cancer cells have a lot of P-cadherin sticking out of their surface, the protein has been targeted for drug development.

Long-Term Study on Health Impacts of Los Angeles Wildfires Launched

Katherine E Kerlin — January 31, 2025 - 12:10pm

In an unprecedented collective scientific effort to understand the short- and long-term health impacts of wildfires, researchers from four universities have launched a 10-year study of the Los Angeles fires. The wildfires that began in early January 2025 killed 29 people, destroyed more than 16,000 structures, and exposed millions to toxic smoke.

The research aims to evaluate which pollutants are present, at what levels, and where, and to assess the respiratory, neurological, cardiovascular, reproductive, and immune system impacts of the wildfires.

Creating Nanoislands for Better Platinum Catalysts

Andy Fell — January 28, 2025 - 4:27pm

Noble metals such as platinum can make useful catalysts to accelerate chemical reactions, particularly hydrogenation (adding hydrogen atoms to a molecule). The research team led by Professor Bruce Gates at the �鶹app�� Department of Chemical Engineering is interested in making platinum catalysts that are highly efficient and stable during chemical reactions.

New Angle Etching Technique for Making Quantum Devices

Andy Fell — January 24, 2025 - 4:40pm

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have demonstrated an angle etching method for fabricating quantum photonic devices at the wafer scale in silicon carbide.

Color centers are the essential hub for photons (particles of light) in quantum devices. They are the components that emit and maintain photons, functioning as a quantum memory bank. However, they are challenging to fabricate, particularly for the industrial development of quantum technology.