Aydin Babakhani, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering in the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. This grant will provide $1.25 million in funding to advance Babakhani’s research into miniature diagnostic sensors.
These wireless sensors would have the ability to monitor processes used in the extraction of gas and oil. They give engineers real-time data during the extraction processes, which could make these processes safer and more cost-effective. Reducing these sensors down to the size of a grain of sand would allow them to be carried into wells with ceramics and other materials that are already used.
Babakhani is the director of the UCLA Integrated Sensors Laboratory, which focuses on the analysis and design of integrated sensors, including their applications in radar, medical imaging and oil and gas monitoring. He has previously received a Bell Labs Prize for his work on terahertz devices. Babakhani is also a past recipient of the National Science Foundation’s Career award and the DARPA Young Faculty Award.
