University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, Los Angeles

University and Department Summary

The Department had clearly gone through a major change, with some faculty forced out though early retirements and incentives and a number of new appointments. Our impression in this brief visit was that the Department had been through a difficult period but was now moving forwards and has a positive atmosphere and a number of strong groups.

The department was formed in 1971, and accredited in 1983. It has 12 Faculty members, a few senior but mostly young (under 45). They graduate 60 BS per year and ca 12 PhDs. As a state university the fees are low, $5k for in-state students, $17k for out of state (and a 1 year residency requirement for US citizens).

Faculty

Recruitment

Very few jobs available in Biochemistry so decided to move into chemical engineering.

Climate of industrial research was not good – no control over his future.

Tenure:

Standard seven year tenure track at the end of which 8 to 10 letters of reference are sought, which need to say that the candidate is doing something unique, is breaking ground

‘The tenure system encourages people to focus narrowly…. And there is a risk that good people with diverse interests can slip through the net.’

Motivation:

"Want to get closer to industry in future to identify these ‘important’ problems, to obtain more funding and to measure the impact of my research"

‘In the US we can afford to do blue skies research (in chemical engineering) because of the sheer number of departments.’

Research

Research Fields:

The Department has developed an emphasis on microelectronic applications associated with the strong microelectronic industry in California. Other interests include:

Biochemical Engineering (Drug design, Biological membranes, Bio-sensors, Biocatalysis)

Process Systems Engineering; Aiming to be the best process systems research centre on the west coast.

Environmental Chemical Engineering (Air pollution, combustion, pollution prevention)

Microelectronics (chemical vapour deposition, modelling and control, plasma processes, electrochemical processes)

Inter-disciplinary Research

The University does not encourage interdisciplinary work, indeed joint appointments are apparently discouraged. In spite of this, there is some interdisciplinary activity, particularly in the environmental field.

Environmental Chemical Engineering: 2 centres:

The Center for Clean Technology (industrial and government funding) research in air pollution and combustion technology

The Center for Environmental Risk Reduction (University of California supported)

Pollution Prevention Fellowship program (NSF, D. of Education, ARCO and UCLA funding) supports good undergraduates on summer research projects.

Funding:

Teaching assistantships provides funds for around 20% of students. Grant funding is very competitive, yet one member averages about 60-70% success rate, aiming for high quality proposals with the best chance of success.

‘A constant struggle to raise funds for students’

Travel:

The amount varied from "2-3 US conferences per year" through "5-6 conferences per year. Mainly US, one overseas. " to "once a month usually for a 2-3 day meeting."

Perception of UK:

"US more biology/medically oriented than UK"

One academic works with several UK companies who have commented that, with a few exceptions, UK academics are not very imaginative. He was aware of strong Universities notably Cambridge, Imperial College and Oxford.

Interviewees included

Selim Senkan Chair, Panagiotis Christofides, Harold Monbouquette, Vasilios Manousiouthakis, Yoram Cohen, James Liao