Six UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering Faculty Named 2025 IEEE Fellows

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Six faculty from the University of California San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering have been named 2025 Fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world’s leading professional association for advancing technology for humanity.

Four of the faculty hold primary appointments in the UC San Diego Electrical and Computer Engineering Department; and one faculty member each from the Computer Science and Engineering Department and from the Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering. 

“Congratulations to all six colleagues! Having such a large number of Jacobs School faculty named IEEE Fellows in one year is absolutely spectacular. The fact that these six faculty come from three different academic departments highlights the deeply interdisciplinary nature of our research endeavors and of the real-world problems we work so hard every day to solve,” said Albert P. Pisano, Dean of the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering and Special Adviser to the Chancellor. 

Electrical and Computer Engineering Department

Nuria Gonzalez-Prelcic

Nuria Gonzalez-Prelcic is being recognized by the IEEE for contributions to millimeter wave wireless communications.

Gonzalez-Prelcic’s research group advances signal processing for wireless communication, from the fundamentals of signal processing and wireless communications all the way to their applications in cellular systems for people, vehicles and factories. 

Her group has made important contributions in millimeter wave wireless communications, solving fundamental problems related to configuring the hybrid MIMO architectures using signal processing and machine learning techniques. She is also a pioneer in the area of integrated sensing and communication, including joint radar and communication exploiting full duplex transceivers, joint localization and communication and sensor-aided communication.
 

Patrick Mercier 

Patrick Mercier is being recognized by the IEEE for contributions to low-power and energy-efficient circuits and systems. 

Mercier leads the Energy-Efficient Microsystems research lab, which creates, prototypes and tests miniature, ultra-low-power electronics. His group’s work addresses critical challenges in electronics, ranging from extending the battery life of wearable health technologies, mobile devices and biomedical instruments to powering sustainable Internet of Things (IoT) networks.

At UC San Diego, Mercier serves as the Co-Director of the Center for Wearable Sensors, Site Director of the Power Management Integration Center and vice-chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
 

Shayan Mookherjea 

Professor Shayan Mookherjea is being recognized by the IEEE for contributions to optoelectronic devices and their applications.

He leads the Integrated Photonics research group which develops microchip-scale photonic integrated circuits (PICs) incorporating electro-optic, nonlinear and quantum phenomena. He has developed electro-optic modulators which incorporate dielectric thin-film materials, such as thin-film lithium niobate, integrated with silicon PICs and improving upon the fundamental limits of silicon devices. He has also pioneered the development of heralded single-photon and entangled photon-pair generation and single photon detection applications. His papers have been published in journals such as Optica, Physical Review Letters, Optics Express, IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology, and the post-deadline papers of recent OFC and CLEO conferences, which are co-sponsored by IEEE. 

Tse Nga (Tina) Ng 

Tse Nga (Tina) Ng is being recognized by the IEEE for contributions to flexible organic electronics used in large-area imagers and sensing systems. 

The Ng Lab is a leader in the field of flexible printed electronics. The team engineers novel additive manufacturing processes to advance low-cost, large-scale fabrication of innovative electronic devices. These efforts have paved the way for thin, large, flexible sensors and energy storage devices with applications ranging from biomedical imaging and environmental inspection to manufacturing technologies. Ng’s work has also earned her the prestigious recognition as a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

Computer Science and Engineering Department

Larry Smarr

Larry Smarr is being recognized by the IEEE for contributions to supercomputing and metacomputer cyberinfrastructure. 

With 20 years of National Science Foundation (NSF) funding, and a career-long commitment to public service, Smarr is a pioneer in scientific computing, supercomputer applications, and Internet infrastructure. His many roles have included serving as the founding director of California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), a partnership of UC San Diego and UC Irvine.

Over the last decade, Smarr has also become a pioneer in the quantified-self movement, including personalized surgery.

A new website with his published papers, some 400 presentations, his grants, honors and media coverage from the more than 50 years of his professional service is live at https://lsmarr.net/.

Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering

Sheng Xu

Sheng Xu is being recognized by the IEEE for contributions in developing wearable electronics for monitoring deep tissue of the human body.

Xu’s research group has pioneered the development of wearable ultrasound patches for continuous and non-invasive tracking of vital functions such as central blood pressure, blood flow, tissue stiffness, heart activity, brain perfusion and muscle activity. These wearable technologies provide portability and real-time functionality, making them ideal for home use and clinics with limited resources.

Xu’s transformative work has earned numerous accolades, including induction into the AIMBE College of Fellows, recognition as one of MIT Technology Review’s top innovators under 35, and inclusion in Clarivate’s listing of Most Highly Cited Researchers in the World.