Proposals are evaluated based on feasibility, potential for societal impact, potential for follow-on funding, alignment with the CITRIS mission and inclusion of pretenured faculty.
Aviation
AIC Award recipient using AI and drones to detect wildfires earlier
Zhaodan Kong is developing FireFly with support from a 2025 CITRIS-CDSS Innovation Fellowship and AIC Award.
Zhaodan Kong named associate director of CITRIS at UC Davis
Kong’s relationship with CITRIS dates back to his first few months at UC Davis, when he met with former campus director Bahram Ravani.
Student teams advance to shape California Airlink in CITRIS Aviation Prize competition
Six student teams will progress to the second phase of the 2025–26 CITRIS Aviation Prize competition.
Bridging a ‘crucial gap’: CITRIS internship program ends on a high note
More than a hundred UC students in the fourth and final cohort developed valuable skills in high-demand industries.
Francesco Danzi
Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UC Merced
2025 UC Santa Cruz I2P Awards to advance interdisciplinary faculty research
The UC Santa Cruz Interdisciplinary Innovation Program announced funding awards for three faculty research projects.
Cihang Xie
Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, UC Santa Cruz
Maria Laura Delle Monache
Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley
Negar Mehr
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, UC Berkeley
Steve McGuire
Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UC Santa Cruz
Koushil Sreenath
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, UC Berkeley
Jasenka Rakas
Continuing Lecturer of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley
Giuseppe Loianno
Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, UC Berkeley
Christina Harvey
Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UC Davis
Mark Hansen
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley
Iryna Dronova
Associate Professor of Environmental Science, Policy & Management and of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning, UC Berkeley
Alvaro A. Cardenas
Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, UC Santa Cruz
Camli Badrya
Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UC Davis
Murat Arcak
Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering, UC Berkeley
CITRIS senior advisor to lead Berkeley Space Center
Victoria Coleman, former chief scientist for the U.S. Air Force, will succeed CITRIS’s Alexandre Bayen as associate provost for the Berkeley Space Center.
BioSCape project receives NASA award
Co-led by CITRIS’s Erin Hestir, the team received a 2024–25 NASA Group Achievement Award.
CITRIS Aviation to help launch Central Coast air mobility test ecosystem
CITRIS and the Banatao Institute will support the state’s first FAA-compliant ecosystem for clean-energy drones and advanced aerospace vehicles.
Nearly $3M expands drone workforce development work statewide
Thanks to nearly $3 million in new grant funding, the CITRIS Initiative for Drone Education and Research (CIDER) at UC Santa Cruz is launching a […]