2022 Monterey Bay DART Symposium

Join Monterey Bay DART, along with experts, entrepreneurs, educators, policy makers, and investors, for a Drone, Automation and Robotics Technology (DART) Symposium, Nov 30 – Dec 1. This in-person event will feature two days of compelling panel discussions, workshops, and networking opportunities at the University Center at California State University Monterey Bay’s (CSUMB) campus.

The symposium, “Innovation Workforce: Ready to Fly!”, focuses on the economic development opportunities and challenges of drone and automation technology.

RSVP NOW for your chance to:

  • Attend discussions and panels addressing developments in mobility, airspace management, and carbon-neutral power
  • Network with some of the industry’s top performers
  • Participate in developing an inclusive tech community

Space is limited, so RSVP today at https://montereybaydart.org/2022-dart-symposium/

CITRIS announces winners of first-ever student aviation prize

Members of the Project LEAP-FROG team include Kenneth Prewitt, Ambrose Liu, Philana Ng, Di An, Haoyu Niu and Derek Hollenbeck. Not pictured: Solomon Denning and Jim Song. (Photo courtesy of Derek Hollenbeck)

A team from the University of California, Merced comprising eight undergraduate and graduate students has won the inaugural CITRIS Aviation Prize. For engineering the winning proposal, they will receive a $2,000 cash award, as well as a $25,000 budget to support a live demonstration of their flight in spring 2022.

Launched in fall 2021 by the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS), in collaboration with the UC Berkeley Institute for Transportation Studies (ITS), the CITRIS Aviation Prize challenges student teams across the CITRIS campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Merced and Santa Cruz to design and develop a plan for an autonomous flight of at least 115 miles within a circuit of at least 5 miles with a small uncrewed aircraft system (UAV), or drone — in full compliance with Part 107 rules provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The winning team submitted a proposal for a “long endurance edge-AI platform for research opportunities and data gathering,” called Project LEAP-FROG. In addition to the 115-mile-long endurance flight, they proposed to measure the amount of residual dry matter, or old plant material left on the ground at the beginning of a new growing season, over 200 acres of rural environments.

“Our team is honored to have been selected for this prize, and we look forward to working with the CITRIS community to demonstrate our flight this spring,” said Derek Hollenbeck, team lead for Project LEAP-FROG and a doctoral student in mechanical engineering at UC Merced.

Other team members include Di An, Solomon Denning, Ambrose Liu, Haoyu Niu, Philana Ng, Kenneth Prewitt and Jim Song. The team is advised by UC Merced’s YangQuan Chen, professor of mechanical engineering, and Spencer Castro, assistant professor of management of complex systems.

The demonstration will be conducted at the UC Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve, a 6,500-acre nature preserve adjacent to campus that is part of the UC Natural Reserve System. The site restricts access to permitted visitors only and offers a generous amount of uncontrolled Class G airspace, making it an ideal location both to mitigate risk associated with the test flight and to approximate real-world research conditions.

“I’m looking forward to seeing this project in active development,” said Brandon Stark, the director of the UC Center of Excellence on Unmanned Aircraft System Safety and a research assistant professor of mechanical engineering at UC Merced who has played a key role in creating the CITRIS Aviation Prize. “There are a lot of pieces to integrate in only six months, such as autonomous safe landing site selection and 4/5G communication, on top of a unique hybrid vertical take-off and landing platform, but I’m confident this team is up to the challenge.”

CITRIS Director Costas Spanos praised all seven proposals submitted. “It is inspiring to see such innovation and enthusiasm from student teams across the four CITRIS campuses to meet the high bar established for this inaugural challenge,” he said. “We look forward to bringing together talent to see a successful flight in the spring and inspire more engagement from students and faculty in the future.”

While the Project LEAP-FROG team will lead the spring demo, CITRIS invites faculty, staff and the other Aviation Prize competitors to help make the flight a success. To get involved, email aviationprize@citris-uc.org.

Core Seed Funding 2021

CITRIS Seed Funding 2021 Request for Proposals

Proposals due by:
Monday, Oct. 25, at 5 p.m. (PDT)

The CITRIS Seed Funding program issues short-term, targeted awards to further the institute’s research priorities for societal benefit, catalyze early results that can lead to significant funding and strengthen connections across UC campuses.

Through engagement with our collaborators, CITRIS has identified four critical Grand Challenges in Information Technology. We seek innovative proposals that bring the university’s expertise and ingenuity to bear on the complex issues.

Proposals are invited from principal investigators at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Davis Health, UC Merced and UC Santa Cruz. Awardees embody the university’s public mission and innovative spirit of California.

  • $500,000 available
  • $40,000–$60,000 awarded per project

Funded projects offer a glimpse at new frontiers of technology and have attracted more than $60 million in follow-on support from federal, state, corporate and private sources.

Team Formation:
To encourage collaboration, proposals should engage at least two investigators from different CITRIS campuses. Search our researcher directory or tap your own network to build a team.

Info Sessions:
Online info sessions with live Q&A will be held:

  • Tuesday, Sept. 28, from 11–11:45 a.m.
  • Monday, Oct. 4, from 4–4:45 p.m.

Find Zoom registration links on the CITRIS Seed Funding webpage.

To view the full RFP and eligibility and application information, please visit: https://citris-uc.org/labs-programs/seed-funding/citris-core-seed-funding/

 

Grand Challenges in Information Technology

Climate Resilience

  • Critical life support systems: energy, water, food
  • Transportation and the built environment
  • Disaster mitigation: fire, flood, heat, drought
  • Decarbonization strategies

Digital Health Innovation

  • Remote access to quality care
  • Data analytics for health improvement
  • Aging well in a digitized world
  • Public health for environmental hazards
  • Preparing tomorrow’s health care workforce

Next-Generation Tech Policy

  • Responsible artificial intelligence
  • Digital ID systems and blockchain applications
  • Computational propaganda and authoritarianism
  • Participatory tools for equity and engagement
  • IT supply chain stability and security

Automation and the Workforce

  • Design for inclusive, accessible, safe systems
  • Platform technologies: emerging and at scale
  • Remote sensing, geospatial, aviation applications
  • Preparedness for tech-enabled jobs and careers
  • Economic mobility and technology literacy

For more information, contact Michael Matkin, assistant director of CITRIS and the Banatao Institute at UC Santa Cruz, at mmatkin@ucsc.edu.

Submissions Open for 2021 CITRIS UC Santa Cruz Campus Seed Funding Program

CITRIS and the Banatao Institute at UC Santa Cruz invites UCSC faculty and researchers to apply for project support through its Campus Seed Funding program. For 2021, the program will fund multidisciplinary projects that involve drone technology. This includes the innovative use of existing technology, the development of new technology, or examinations of the impacts of specific drone technologies and applications. Projects should address solutions to significant social challenges.

The UC Santa Cruz Campus Seed Funding program, which is separate from the broader CITRIS Core Seed Funding initiative, focuses on strengthening interdisciplinary connections on the Santa Cruz campus and requires project teams to include at least two principal investigators from different UC Santa Cruz campus divisions. The program will fund early-stage research that furthers the CITRIS and the Banatao Institute mission and exhibits strong promise of securing external funding.

Drone-related proposals may address, but are not limited to, the following areas of research:

  • Agriculture and AgTech;
  • Disaster monitoring, mitigation and recovery – including wildfires, impacts of sea level rise and earthquakes;
  • Conservation and coastal science;
  • Security and defense;
  • Societal impacts of drones.

The submission deadline is July 31, 2021.

View the RFP at: https://citris.ucsc.edu/ucsc-campus-seed-funding/

Applications can be submitted at: https://citris.smapply.org/prog/2021_citris_ucsc_campus_seed_funding_-_drone_research

A campus information session will be held via Zoom for all interested parties on Wednesday, June 2, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. To attend, RSVP at https://ucsc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0odu2hpzkuHtACI9-khK2QAsD1I0drJRSX

For more information, contact Michael Matkin, assistant director of CITRIS and the Banatao Institute at UC Santa Cruz, at mmatkin@ucsc.edu.

CITRIS and the Banatao Institute create information technology solutions for society’s most pressing challenges. Established in 2001, the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) leverages the interdisciplinary research strengths of four UC campuses—Santa Cruz, Berkeley, Davis and Merced—to advance UC’s mission and the innovative spirit of California. The institute was created to shorten the pipeline between world-class laboratory research and the development of cutting-edge applications, platforms, companies, and even new industries.

Tech For Social Good Project Showcase

Please join us on June 4th from 2:30 until 4:00 pm for a showcase of UCSC’s Tech For Social Good teams from both the 2019 and 2020 funding periods. Teams from both years have faced an unprecedented series of challenges – from student strikes to wildfires to a global pandemic lockdown – and have shown tremendous tenacity and creativity in moving their visions closer to completion. We’re excited to celebrate their progress and learn where they plan to take their projects next.

REGISTER FOR THE EVENT HERE

The schedule of presentations is as follows:

  • 2:30-2:35 pm: Welcome, introduction
  • 2:35-2:42: The Cookie Problem
  • 2:42-2:49: Circus-Themed Physical Rehabilitation App
  • 2:49-2:56: ReFuel: Harnessing Synthetic Biology to Build a Plastic-to-Biofuel Pipeline.
  • 2:56-3:02: Project Pasathea
  • 3:02-3:09: The Gateways Project
  • 3:09-3:17: Wonderfil at UCSC
  • 3:17-3:24: weBLACK
  • 3:24-3:31: Enhancing Climate Change Education Through Personalized Scientific Communications on Phenology
  • 3:31-3:38: Ocean Sustainability Autonomous Boats
  • 3:38-3:45: Revitalizing Everett’s Digital Toolkit & Educational Outreach
  • 3:45-4:00: Follow-up discussion/questions, wrap-up

2021 PIT-UN Network Challenge Funding Open for Submissions and Info Session

The Public Interest Technology – University Network (PIT-UN) has opened the call for proposals for the 2021 Network Challenge funding opportunity.  The PIT University Network Challenge seeks to encourage new ideas, foster collaborations, and incentivize resource- and information-sharing among network members.  For its third year, projects addressing any of the priority areas below are welcome. 

  1. Educational Offerings 
  2. Career Pipeline/Placement 
  3. Faculty & Institution Building 
  4. Strengthening the PIT University Network 

The Network Challenge provides grants up to $180,000 for projects focused on developing technology expertise to advance the public interest in a way that generates public benefits and promotes the public good, particularly for those members of our society least well served, historically and today, by existing systems and policies. The RFP is only open to submissions from researchers at member universities. As a member since 2019-20, all UCSC Principal Investigators are eligible to participate. 

 

Limited Campus Submission Process

A limited campus submission process will select up to three new campus proposals for submission to the network-wide competition. Campus submissions are due by 11:59 pm PDT, June 1, 2021, and requires a shortened version of the final proposal. The limited submission RFP and application portal is available at: https://ucsc.infoready4.com/#competitionDetail/1841841

Campus applicants chosen in the limited submission review will then further develop their proposals for the national deadline of 11:59 pm PDT, July 15, 2021. Final proposals are limited to 6 pages maximum in total length.

 

Campus Information Session

An information session for all interested researchers will be held via Zoom on May 5, 2021 from 12 – 1:00 PM. RSVP for the session here. 

Proposals are invited in three funding tranches:

  1. Up to $45,000 for direct and indirect costs
  2. Up to $90,000 for direct and indirect costs
  3. Up to $180,000 for direct and indirect costs

In 2020—PIT-UN’s second year—42 proposals from 28 institutions were awarded a total of $4,404,595 in grant funds. In that year’s cycle, UCSC’s first year in the network, two of our research teams received funding.

For an FAQ on this year’s submission process: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aW8Y1nZ7ssCRECeXGh4Lj9e6Upfvzp-Y/view

View the full RFP for the national submission (not the limited campus RFP): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aTzF1nwwps5m9wBa8v7ONDQSp_qXGwFY/view

 

Network Challenge Timeline:

May 5, 2021 – Info Session

June 1, 2021 – Campus Limited Submission Deadline

July 15, 2021 – Network-wide Submission Deadline

Week of October 11, 2021 – Grant recipients notified of their upcoming award

January 1, 2022 – Grant period starts