When Daniel Lee enrolled in Nate Delson’s Product Design and Entrepreneurship class at UC San Diego, becoming an entrepreneur wasn’t on his radar. But a little more than a year later, Lee and two other students at the Jacobs School of Engineering already have raised more than $450,000 through crowdfunding for their start-up company, Hush Technology. Their product? Smart wireless earplugs that block out external sounds but still allow users to hear their alarm clock and important messages via a smartphone app.
George Thornton made his first batch of beer at his sister’s apartment, using the spare bedroom to store the fermenting ale. Today, the UC San Diego alumnus is the owner of The Homebrewer in North Park, a supply store and educational resource for both beginning and advanced homebrewers. Here, customers can choose from a variety of hops, yeast, grains, additives and equipment, as well as participate in classes taught by fellow homebrewers. Next year, Thornton will open a small production brewery and tasting room next door.
A team of developers that includes UC San Diego cognitive science alumna Jelena Jovanovic has won the $500,000 grand prize in Intel’s Make It Wearable challenge for their wrist-mounted drone. The device—named Nixie—can travel a fixed distance from its owner to take a photo or video of them, and then return. Images or video can instantly be shared with friends.
The Rady School of Management at UC San Diego entered the Bloomberg Businessweek rankings at 51st overall in its first ranking by the publication. Even more impressive, the school ranked 1st in the United States in Intellectual Capital, which is a quality measure of faculty research. The Rady School’s Full-time MBA program was the only MBA program in San Diego to be ranked by Businessweek.
The Assyrian Empire once dominated the ancient Near East. At the start of the 7th century BC, it was a mighty military machine and the largest empire the Old World had yet seen. But then, before the century was out, it had collapsed. Why? An international study now offers two new factors as possible contributors to the empire’s sudden demise – overpopulation and drought.
Denise Moreno Ducheny, senior policy advisor at the University of California, San Diego School of International Relations and Pacific Studies’ Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, will be appointed to a key Obama Administration post, the White House announced Oct. 8.