UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES THE HENRY SAMUELI SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE 56TH COMMENCEMENT JUNE 13, 2020 About UCLC Samueli ............................................. 2 Program ................................................................ 3 Congratulations ................................................... 4 Distinguished Speaker .......................................... 5 Student Speaker .................................................. 6 National Anthem Vocalist .................................... 6 Doctor of Philosophy ............................................ 8 Master of Science .............................................. 20 Bachelor of Science ............................................ 32 Awards and Honors ........................................... 46 Student Leaders .................................................. 50 Leadership .......................................................... 52 54 | UCLA Samueli 56th Commencement Program Lighting the Way for 100 Years The seeds of today’s UCLA were planted in the 1881 creation of the downtown Los Angeles State Normal School, which later moved to Vermont Avenue. In 1919, the University of California Southern Branch opened on the Vermont Avenue campus. The University of California at Los Angeles name was officially adopted in 1927, and in 1929, instruction began on the present-day Westwood campus. From those beginnings, UCLA has, in just a century, become consistently ranked as one of the top public universities in the world, and the nation’s most applied-to university. UCLA faculty and researchers are routinely recognized for their leadership and breakthroughs in a stunning array of fields, ranging from health and technology to social sciences and the arts. What began as a teachers college in downtown Los Angeles grew into one of the world’s greatest universities. An engine of social mobility. A catalyst for progress and profound insights once beyond our reach. For 100 years, leading the way toward a better tomorrow. The classes of 2019 and 2020 hold the honor of being the centennial graduating... classes at UCLA. As a land grant institution, UCLA acknowledges the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (Los Angeles basin, Southern Channel Islands). UCLA Samueli 56th Commencement Program | 1 About UCLA Samueli The UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science includes more than 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students and 190 full-time faculty members. Established in 1945, UCLA Samueli is known as the birthplace of the internet, and where countless other fields took some of their first steps — from artificial intelligence to reverse osmosis, from mobile communications to human prosthetics. The school academic departments include Bioengineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, as well as the recently added Department of Computational Medicine, which is affiliated with both the David Geffen School of Medicine and Samueli. In addition, UCLA Samueli offers the Master of Science in Engineering Online program. In 2000, the engineering school was re-named in honor of alumnus Henry Samueli, following a $30 million gift that supported capital improvements as well as fellowships for graduate students and early career faculty. In 2019, Samueli and his wife Susan gave another gift of $100 million to support the school’s expansion well into the next decade. Today, UCLA Samueli is in the midst of its largest growth since the school was founded, with plans to enroll up to 7,000 total students and add additional professors for a roster of nearly 250 by 2028. New faculty will bring expertise in emerging research areas, such as engineering in medicine, quantum technologies, and sustainable and resilient urban systems. The school’s facilities include four major buildings — Boelter Hall, Engineering-IV, Engineering-V and Engineering-VI. Recent renovations have added the Student Creativity Center — home to many of its student organizations, and the Innovation Laboratory — a makerspace for hands-on learning and creativity. UCLA Samueli is consistently ranked in the Top 10 among U.S. public engineering schools and its online program is ranked No. 1 by U.S. News & World Report. ... 2 | UCLA Samueli 56th Commencement Program PROGRAM GABRIELINO/TONGVA LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT Jared Rivera Civil and Environmental Engineering and Physics Bachelor of Science, Spring 2020 INTRODUCTION Professor Tsu-Chin Tsao Faculty Marshal, Presiding THE NATIONAL ANTHEM Karin Olga Sinavsky ’01, MS ’03 SCHOOL WELCOME Jayathi Y. Murthy Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS Jason Droege Distinguished Speaker STUDENT SPEAKER’S MESSAGE Imani Chantal Elston Civil and Environmental Engineering Bachelor of Science, Spring 2020 PRESENATION of the CANDIDATES for Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy CONFERRAL of ALL DEGREES CLOSING REMARKS Jayathi Y. Murthy Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean MESSAGES of CONGRATULATIONS UCLA Samueli 56th Commencement Program | 3 CONGRATULATIONS CONGRATULATIONS from from President Janet Napolitano Chancellor Gene D. Block Congratulations, UCLA Class of 2020! Today we join your family, Congratulations, class of 2020! Today is the culmination of friends, and the entire University of California community in years of dreaming and sacrifice, tenacity and creativity, deep celebrating you and your wonderful accomplishment. You have thought and hard work. I hope you are proud of all you have worked hard, sometimes overcoming great obstacles, in pursuit accomplished! of your UC education. Despite the different nature of the celebration, I hope you I hope you will always take great pride in what you have will still take the time to rejoice at how your UCLA education accomplished at the University of California, and in being a part has broadened your horizons, deepened your relationships, of the UC family for life. I wish you the best of luck in whatever strengthened your skills and expanded your opportunities. Those comes next. accomplishments will remain with you wherever you may be today and in the future. Your time at UCLA has given you the knowledge, skills, and confidence you need to go out into the world and change it for You are graduating into a time that needs you like no other time the better. UCLA alumnus and tennis great Arthur Ashe once gave in our memory. This pandemic is teaching important lessons some simple but elegant advice: “True heroism is remarkably about vulnerability and inequality, but also about science and sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at service, empathy and community. We will all need to shape a whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” recovery that makes our society more prepared, more resilient and more whole. That will require imagination and vision. Your Your graduation this year will be memorable for many reasons, imagination and vision. but I see it as a moment of great hope and a promise for the future. At this point in time when the world is facing While we may face unexpected challenges, hopefully your time unprecedented dilemmas, you are the future leaders who will at UCLA will have prepared you in unforeseen ways. At UCLA, we seek out the answers. Nationally and globally, we see challenges stress the values of compassion and inclusion, careful research ahead. But as a UCLA graduate, you are well prepared to do and thoughtful analysis, innovation and collaboration. Those are your part to respond to these challenges, and help your local the very virtues that will serve you as you make your way through community, the nation, and the world. As you embark on this this crisis and beyond. journey, you are equipped with the tools you need to gather This UCLA community you have been a part of, the UCLA information, think critically, and continually adjust your community you helped create, and the broader UCLA alumni understanding of the world around you. community you are now joining will be with you always. May they Go forth, Bruins, and make the world a better, brighter place. always give you strength and inspiration, hope and guidance. Fiat lux — let there be light! Congratulations again and stay heathy. Gene D. Block Janet Napolitano Chancellor President 4 | UCLA Samueli 56th Commencement Program CONGRATULATIONS DISTINGUISHED from Dean Jayathi Y. Murthy SPEAKER Jason Droege To the Class of 2020, As Vice President at Uber leading the global Uber Eats business, Jason Droege focused on leveraging Uber’s extensive logistics On behalf of the faculty and staff of the UCLA Samueli School network to launch new business ventures for the past six years. of Engineering, I want to offer our warmest congratulations to The Uber Eats team scaled Uber’s food delivery business to you on reaching this major milestone in life. Through hard work, more than 550 markets across 50 countries. Jason’s expertise as perseverance and creativity, you have earned your degree from a successful founder and business leader across e-commerce, one of the best engineering schools in the world. enterprise software and internet services helped him lead the I recognize these last few months have been extremely difficult. team that created Uber’s first app outside of its core ride-hailing The COVID-19 pandemic has upended all our lives, but especially service