Around Town: UCI professor wins $250,000 award
Syed Ali Jafar, a UC Irvine professor of electrical engineering and computer science, recently won the 2015 Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists in physical sciences and engineering.
As one of three winners chosen from among 300 candidates from American universities and research institutions, Jafar will receive a $250,000 cash prize and a medal in September at New York’s Museum of Natural History.
Jafar studies the performance limits of wireless communication networks in trying to determine the maximum data rates that can be supported. His research group found that data rates are not limited by the number of devices sharing the radio frequency spectrum.
“This is a truly remarkable result that has a tremendous impact on both information theory and the design of wireless networks,” award judge Paul Horn, senior vice provost for research at New York University, said in a UCI news release.
Jafar is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers and recently won the UCI Academic Senate’s Distinguished Mid-Career Faculty Award for Research.
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Irvine mom and daughter win weight-loss contest
An Irvine mother and daughter won a weight-loss challenge sponsored by Lindora, a Costa Mesa-based diet program, and the Anaheim White House restaurant.
Megan West and her mother, Elizabeth McCombs, lost a combined 50.6 pounds and an average 15% of their body weight in the 10-week program, according to a news release.
The winners and six other mom-and-daughter teams were selected as finalists from among more than 100 entries after disclosing what led to their weight gain.
“When my children’s father left me, I had few resources, so my mom took us in,” West said in the news release. “The strain caused by the breakup, combined with the stress of living in such close quarters at my mom’s house, led both of us to overeat to quell our emotions.”
Among the other teams, Heather Wright of Irvine and her mother, Autumn, lost a combined 23.9 pounds.
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Carnival raises $27,000 for Irvine public schools
The Irvine Public Schools Foundation’s STEAM Carnival drew more than 1,000 visitors and raised more than $27,000 on July 18 at The Market Place in Irvine.
The event, a benefit for Irvine public school programs, was designed to encourage children’s interest in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics through hands-on games and other activities.
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Costa Mesa nonprofit provides career-building trip for young contest winners
Roadtrip Nation, a Costa Mesa-based nonprofit that creates resources designed to help youths explore and build careers, selected three Texas high school students for an all-expenses-paid trip to California for a “career discovery experience.”
The students from Steele Accelerated High School in Roanoke, Texas, were chosen from among thousands nationwide as winners in a contest that started last fall through a social media campaign that asked students to tweet what they aspire to do in life. Students involved in Roadtrip Nation programs on high school campuses across the country participated in the contest.
During their trip, the winners will participate in workshops at Roadtrip Nation’s headquarters, conduct interviews with leaders in fields they aspire to enter and go on an outing to Disneyland.
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Newport foundation grants $15,000 to help victims of violence
The Margaret E. Oser Fund for Women of the Newport Beach-based Orange County Community Foundation granted $15,000 to help nonprofit Community Service Programs’ Family Violence Victim Advocacy Program, which serves victims of violence in Orange County.
The Family Violence Advocacy Program, housed at the Irvine Police Department, served 297 female domestic-violence victims last year, according to a news release.