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Then and Now: UCLA Transformed

Strategic partnering, strong faculty drive research enterprise

During Chancellor Albert Carnesale's nine-year tenure, UCLA has risen to greater prominence as a research university, as a residential community of scholars and as a focal point in the cultural and artistic life of Los Angeles. This is the first in a series of stories that will look at some of these major changes and some of the forward-thinking people at UCLA who made them happen.

BY AJAY SINGH
Today Staff Writer

Courtesy of UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science Electrical Engineering Professor Kang Wang, director of the new interdisciplinary Western Institute of Nanoelectronics, in his lab.

A decade ago, Fraser Stoddart left the University of Birmingham in Britain to join UCLA’s faculty, becoming the latest in a long line of outstanding chemists who have made the College’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry one of the world’s finest.

A renowned organic chemist, Stoddart had tried unsuccessfully to interest scientists in Europe to work on the next generation of molecular-powered computers. But it wasn’t until he came to UCLA that Stoddart’s dream turned into reality, and in 2003 Chancellor Albert Carnesale appointed him director of California NanoSystems Insti- tute (CNSI).

Stoddart’s innovation as a chemist underscores why UCLA’s vast and growing research enterprise has come to be regarded as exceptional. The National Science Foundation (NSF) ranked UCLA second among 599 institutions nationwide in the amount of money competitively awarded for research in 2002, and third for the number of full-time graduate students in science, engineering and health. Indeed, over the past eight years, UCLA has nearly doubled its external research funding, from $410 million to $821 million, bringing in more than it receives in state funds.

How did the university accomplish this? Through long-term investment in the best and brightest faculty and research teams, campus leaders said.

“One of our highest priorities remains recruiting and retaining top faculty and graduate students and providing the resources they need to achieve new heights of excellence,” said Chancellor Albert Carnesale, who came to UCLA in 1997. “We work every day to remain competitive with other leading universities, most of which have far more resources than UCLA.”

To tell the story of how a university with fewer resources significantly expanded its research enterprise is to chronicle a cumulative process that essentially begins with UCLA’s ability to attract and retain top-notch faculty with strong credentials that help win federal and other grants.

Courtesy of California Nanosystems Institute Fraser Stoddart's group created these Borromean rings in a feat of nanoengineering.

It’s also a story about the tremendous growth in research, education and infrastructure at the David Geffen School of Medicine. In fiscal 1996, the School of Medicine’s funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was $93.8 million. By fiscal 2004, that had more than tripled to $285.8 million.

That was partly because the NIH’s own budget had doubled, and the institute was emphasizing interdisciplinary research, clinical/translational studies and nanotechnology, said Leonard H. Rome, senior associate dean of research at the medical school. “UCLA, with its history of collaborative, interdisciplinary research, as well as our leadership in translating laboratory findings into the clinic, was well-positioned to take advantage of these new NIH directions,” Rome said.

Another reason for the medical school’s success in research was the establishment in 1998 of the Department of Human Genetics, the first new discipline in the School of Medicine to gain departmental status in more than two decades. Its launch was overwhelmingly due to the efforts of Gerald S. Levey, dean of the School of Medicine and vice chancellor of medical sciences, who spent $10 million to start up the department, said Dion Baybridge, director for research at the School of Medicine.

How do campus leaders have the foresight to know what research to invest in? It’s a complicated, never-ending process, said Roberto Peccei, vice chancellor of research, who was dean of the physical sciences when he helped hire Stoddart.

Stoddart came aboard the UCLA ship only after he was assured that he could bring along with him a large team of his students who had worked with him back home in England. At that time, “nanotechnology” was years from becoming a buzzword, and CNSI didn’t even exist. Stoddart’s work on large molecular motors found applications in molecular electronics, making him “very instrumental in CNSI — but it wasn’t planned that way,” Peccei said.

What was an essential part of the plan for the campus was identified early on by Chancellor Carnesale: building UCLA’s multidisciplinary strengths would be a key strategy for achieving greatness, he said. “Crossing academic boundaries is an arena in which UCLA has a comparative advantage, especially given its comprehensiveness and the geographic proximity of its general and medical campuses,” heÊsaid in the early years of his tenure.

Courtesy of UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science A "treebot" gathers ecological data in a California forest.

One example of how well this strategy has worked is the 2002 formation of the Center for Embedded Network Sensing (CENS), which brings together 12 different research units, including engineering, computer science, biology, earth sciences, education and public health.

Computer Science Professor Deborah Estrin, CENS’ director, joined UCLA in 2000 at a time when the nation’s engineering schools were working on projects to provide real-time information on just about every aspect of the natural and man-made world.

Within two years, Estrin played a pivotal role in obtaining a competitive 10-year contract worth $40 million from the NSF to work on an array of “super networks” of sensors, robots, cameras and wireless computers for tracking temperature, rainfall, wind speed and other data. CENS is testing these networks in the forests of California’s San Jacinto Mountains in a project that has extensive ecological, civilian and military applications.

CENS is one of seven research centers that have been successful in gaining funds by engaging in interdisciplinary work. Among the campus’ major players in research are the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Geffen School of Medicine, and the life and physical science departments.

“Seven or eight years ago, we were more focused on individual research; now, our efforts are much more collaborative,” said Vijay Dhir, dean of the engineering school.

“One of our strengths,” Peccei explained, “is that we are a very large, compact university with the horsepower and the ability to put together big, cross-disciplinary initiatives.”

To the extent that such successes can be planned, the process lies largely in making the right decisions about investing in promising research that can be carried out by a dedicated team of faculty and students. The key here is to identify areas “worth bringing new faculty in for,” Peccei said.

The formidable challenge of recruiting and retaining talented faculty and graduate students became the focus of the Ensuring Academic Excellence initiative, launched by Carnesale in 2004 to address the chronic shortage of state funding for the entire university. State funds have remained at roughly $600 million annually since 1997-98. So far, more than $100 million has been raised for this initiative.

The chancellor’s campaign has an ambitious goal of generating $250 million, including $100 million to fund 100 new endowed faculty chairs across campus, $100 million to fund student fellowships and scholarships in the UCLA College, and $50 million to fund fellowships and scholarships in the professional schools.

Also burnishing UCLA’s worldwide reputation for research are the distinguished honors bestowed on its faculty, including Utpal Banerjee, professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology.

In 2002, Banerjee was selected as one of 20 Howard Hughes Medical Institute professors nationwide — known as “million-dollar” professors for the $1-million award they receive — “a singular honor given to great researchers who are also great teachers educating the next generation of students,” Peccei said.

For UCLA to remain ahead in the research game, it must continue to create outstanding technology while also capitalizing on its “well-earned international reputation” by forging a stronger global presence, Peccei said. “You cannot live on fame alone.”