Now in its 8th year, UC San Diego’s Accelerating Innovation to Market (AIM) program kicks off what promises to be yet another successful year with the announcement of its latest roster of awarded projects for 2025. This dynamic initiative, led by the Office of Innovation and Commercialization, focuses on expediting groundbreaking university technologies into market-ready solutions through resources and funding. Unique to this year, however, the total award pool leaped to an impressive $400,000, over 60% larger than in previous years, which then allowed the program to double the number of startups it could fund. The record increase was due in large part to the support of the University of California Office of the President, which graciously matched funding with the Entrepreneurship Council.
Sonoma State University Chemistry Professor and Chair Mark J. Perri has been awarded nearly $1M from the U.S. National Science Foundation to enhance ChemCompute, a free online platform he created for undergraduate students to perform advanced computational chemistry experiments.
University of California San Diego electrical and computer engineering professor Yuanyuan Shi has been named a 2024 AI2050 Early Career Fellow by Schmidt Sciences. This honor recognizes Shi’s pioneering work in developing AI and control models for sustainable energy systems–particularly, AI-driven building control systems designed to optimize indoor air quality while reducing energy consumption.
The UC Presidential Medal, the University of California’s highest honor, will be presented to San Diego-based philanthropist and business leader Irwin Jacobs, and in honor of his late wife and community leader, Joan, in recognition of their positive impact in education, health care, technology, the arts and more.