College of Engineering Content

Hawk Study Shows Potential Lessons of Bird Flight

Andy Fell — March 04, 2026 - 10:58am

Birds have an ability to fly through obstacles by shifting their shape in flight, which is difficult to reproduce in uncrewed aerial vehicles, commonly known as UAVs or drones.

Egghead’s Weekend Basket for February 27

Andy Fell — February 27, 2026 - 3:55pm

Busy week? Here's a round up of research stories from UC Davis to get you caught up.

Incredibubbles: Researchers Cracking the Code of Body's Message System

Andy Fell — February 20, 2026 - 11:45am

Biomedical engineers at the University of California, Davis, are cracking the code of the body’s message system.

Sloan Fellowship for Quantum Sciences Research

Andy Fell — February 17, 2026 - 1:00pm

Isaac Kim, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, has been named as a 2026 Sloan Research Fellow by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Kim is among 126 new fellows announced today (Feb. 17). Fellows receive a two-year, $75,000 award to further their work.

Kim’s research is in quantum entanglement, a necessary step to developing quantum computers and information systems.

EPA Removal of Vehicle Emissions Limits Won’t Stop the Shift to EVs

Katherine E Kerlin — February 13, 2026 - 1:18pm

The U.S. government is in full retreat from its efforts to make vehicles more fuel-efficient, which it had been prioritizing, along with state governments, since the 1970s.

Smartphone App Could Change How Stroke Recovery is Assessed

Andy Fell — February 11, 2026 - 3:32pm

What if a smartphone could see what the human eye misses? A new UC Davis-designed app uses machine learning to track subtle hand movements during stroke rehabilitation, giving clinicians more specific data to assess recovery and tailor patient care.

Spectrometer on a Chip is a Revolution in Sensing Technology

Andy Fell — January 23, 2026 - 2:00pm

Engineers at UC Davis have developed a tiny "spectrometer on a chip" that could miniaturize devices for medical, agricultural and environmental sensing with visible and infrared light.

A spectrometer analyzes chemical mixtures based on the spectrum of light (including infrared light) they reflect. Spectral sensing can be used, for example, to diagnose disease, assess the health of crops in a field, or measure soil quality.

Expedition to Antarctica: UC Davis Tracks Melting Glaciers

Katherine E Kerlin — January 23, 2026 - 1:31pm

UC Davis scientists are in Antarctica to deploy Gull, an autonomous underwater vehicle known as a glider, that will help us understand how fast one of the world’s biggest and most important glaciers — Thwaites — is melting. Thwaites Glacier and neighboring Pine Island Glacier are potential glacial flow from the West Antarctic ice sheets. If this system collapses, it could raise sea levels across the world.

Biologists and Engineers Follow Goopy Clues to Plant-Wilting Bacteria

Andy Fell — January 23, 2026 - 11:02am

Slippery, drippy goop makes Ralstonia bacteria devastating killers of plants, causing rapid wilting in tomato, potato and a wide range of other crops, according to new research. The work, published Jan. 22 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, comes from an unusual collaboration between plant pathologists and engineers at the University of California, Davis.

Renowned Wireless Communications Expert Wins UC Davis Teaching Prize

Cody Kitaura — December 16, 2025 - 10:50am

On Monday, Dec. 1, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Zhi Ding entered Wellman Hall like any other day, navigating to a near-capacity classroom on the bottom floor to begin his “Signal Analysis and Communications” lecture at the University of California, Davis. As he started teaching, however, he and his students were interrupted by a group of special guests led by Chancellor Gary S. May.