ENGenuity Issue 6: Spring 2024
For over three decades, Professor Yaser Abu-Mostafa (PhD '83) has been a pioneer in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Currently, Professor Abu-Mostafa's focus is on applying ML techniques to enable medical applications, such as using AI-enabled ultrasound technology to obtain real-time diagnostic measurements of the heart. In 1987, Abu-Mostafa cofounded the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), the top international conference in Artificial Intelligence. Abu-Mostafa's online Machine Learning course, originally broadcast live in 2012, is free on YouTube and has amassed over 8 million views. As recognition of his teaching impact, Abu-Mostafa was awarded the Richard P. Feynman Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 1996. You can learn more about Abu-Mostafa's work by viewing his 2023 Watson Lecture on "Artificial Intelligence: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly."
Dear EAS Community, Alumni, and Friends,
March 2024 has been a month of milestones in the Division. We commemorated the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Kavli Nanoscience Institute (KNI) at Caltech and the 10th anniversary of the Andrew and Peggy Cherng Department of Medical Engineering. These events underscore our pivotal role in advancing nanofabrication and medical engineering research, while also highlighting promising avenues for future exploration. You can delve deeper into these milestones through our previous ENGenuity feature articles.
The top story of this newsletter, "Charting the Course for Invention at Caltech," synthesizes key themes from our previous features, particularly focusing on the realm of medical engineering and the intricacies of the invention process. The story profiles three current EAS postdoctoral researchers, all EAS alumni, and their journeys of patenting ideas stemming from their research endeavors. Their experiences, along with the challenges they faced, resonate with many of us who have navigated the patenting process, and I hope their stories serve as inspiration for you to pursue your own inventive ideas.
Speaking of EAS postdocs, I want to note with congratulations the appointment of EAS and Applied Physics postdoc alumna Anna Fontcuberta i Morral, who has recently been named the next president of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland – well done, Anna!
Harry Atwater
Otis Booth Leadership Chair, Division of Engineering and Applied Science
From a sea of scientific ingenuity and biomedical possibilities, an invention emerges. This new intellectual property can represent non-invasive methods for measuring blood and eye pressure, an innovative use for ultrasound imaging, and more. ENGenuity spoke with three current Caltech innovators and postdocs to dive deeper into the invention process, charting the progression of research performed in the lab into a discovery suitable for a patent.
Launch the story.
Lori McDowell (MS '88, Environmental Engineering) has navigated through diverse roles in her career, from research and development to business development, but she has recently embarked on a new path. McDowell's new focus lies in helping people recognize and overcome obstacles that hinder their progress, promoting what she terms a "Reinvention Mindset," which is also the title of her forthcoming book.
Read more.
Dave Kaufman (MS '90, PhD '95, Mechanical Engineering) is a testament to the power of saying "yes" to unexpected opportunities. Kaufman began his career as a thermal engineer, but his willingness to go "off script" has led him to his current role as President of the Space & Mission Systems sector at BAE Systems, Inc. Along with his three-decade industry career, Kaufman has been awarded two patents for his research and development work and is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Read more.
For John Kitching (MS '92, PhD '95, Applied Physics), keeping time is not just a necessity for daily life; it's his passion and career focus. Kitching holds several patents in the areas of spectroscopy and quantum systems, and his ground-breaking inventions of the chip-scale atomic clock and chip-scale atomic magnetometer earned him recognition as a 2022 Fellow of both the National Academy of Inventors and IEEE.
Read more.
Steven Schkolne (MS '99, PhD '04, Computer Science) has been fascinated by computers long before they became mainstream. His early experiences with programming and video games have fueled a career that successfully integrates art, design, and mathematics. As the founder and CEO of MightyMeld, a visualization and creation platform for web applications, Schkolne's pioneering work has solidified his reputation as a leading figure at the intersection of technology and creativity.
Read more.