Newsroom’s Faculty Bulletin Board is a biweekly roundup highlighting awards, honors and notable achievements by UCLA faculty members. Consider it a snapshot of the many ways Bruin scholars and researchers are advancing knowledge, shaping their fields and powering progress on campus and around the world. See previous issues of the board.

Dr. Naoki Kaneko receives grant to treat complex, giant brain aneurysms

Dr. Naoki Kaneko, associate professor in the division of interventional neuroradiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, has been awarded $50,000 by the Brain Aneurysm Foundation to test a new device for complex, giant brain aneurysms located where blood vessels branch — aneurysms that are difficult to treat because they must be closed off while preserving blood flow to nearby arteries. Kaneko’s team will use realistic aneurysm models to find the best way to use the device, aiming to develop a safer, longer-lasting treatment option for patients. 

Soumitra Athavale, doctoral student Justin Manoff receive Keck bridge funding award

Soumitra Athavale, an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry who holds the John D. and Edith M. Roberts Term Chair in Organic Chemistry, has been named a Keck Scholar, and doctoral student Justin Manoff has been named a Keck Fellow. They will work together on a project called “New-to-Nature Biocatalysis for Sustainable Hydrogenation,” which aims to create a new, cost-effective technology that reacts with renewable, easily grown biomolecules that do not create toxic bioproducts.

Computer science professor Wei Wang receives ACM Innovation Award 

Wei Wang, professor and chair of the computer science department at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, has received the Innovation Award from the Association for Computing Machinery, the world’s largest professional computing society. The highest technical honor presented by ACM’s Special Interest Group on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, the award recognizes an outstanding individual for contributions that have had a lasting impact on advancing theory or the development of commercial systems and includes a $2,500 prize.

Dr. Neil Silverman receives 2026 Maternal Immunization Champion Award

Dr. Neil Silverman, a professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, has received the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s 2026 Maternal Immunization Champion Award. The award recognizes physicians who have demonstrated leadership in advancing maternal immunization rates and promoting the importance of recommended vaccines during pregnancy. Silverman is being honored for his commitment to increasing vaccine confidence and access, helping to protect the health of pregnant patients and their babies.

Marta Segura named director of climate center at UCLA Fielding School

Climate and health expert Marta Segura has been named director of the Center for Healthy Climate Solutions (C-Solutions) at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Segura, who earned her master's in public health from the Fielding School in 1991, was the founding chief heat officer for the city of Los Angeles, where she designed and recommended guidelines for California's Community Resilience Centers Program during its development. The program has since directed $270 million in state funding toward neighborhood facilities that keep residents safe during extreme heat events and on days of poor air quality.

UCLA Health to collaborate to develop pendant for early Alzheimer’s detection

UCLA Health will collaborate on a $2.5 million federally funded study to test if a wearable pendant can detect early signs of dementia and fall risk. The National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging grant will support the study to confirm whether the pendant sensor can tell, from participants’ homes, the presence and severity of cognitive difficulties and how those change over time. Bijan Najafi, professor of surgery and research director of the UCLA Center for Advanced Surgical and Interventional Technology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, will be a principal investigator with BioSensics CEO Ashkan Vaziri. UCLA will lead the clinical study with Linda Ercoli, director of UCLA Longevity Center.

4 UCLA professors named finalists of first UC Regents Innovation Awards 

UCLA's Aydogan Ozcan, Jean-Pierre Hubschman, Josh Green and Michael Jung are finalists in the University of California’s first UC Regents Innovation Awards, which recognize faculty, researchers and partners who solve the world’s most pressing challenges by turning research into real-world solutions. Three winners will be selected from across the 10 UC campuses and three national laboratories — they will be announced during a Sept. 16 ceremony at the UCLA Luskin Conference Center.

Dr. Jie Deng awarded joint ACS, ASTRO grant to advance lung cancer research

Dr. Jie Deng, assistant professor-in-residence of radiation oncology and a member of the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been awarded an American Cancer Society (ACS) Clinician Scientist Development Grant, co-sponsored by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and designated in honor of Dr. Felix Feng, an expert in translational genomics and preclinical therapeutics for prostate cancer. The award will help further Deng’s research investigating how radiation therapy and the immune system can work together more effectively to improve outcomes for patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Thomas Hines, 89, architectural historian who reshaped our view of modernism

Thomas Spight Hines Jr., a professor emeritus of history and architecture at UCLA whose scholarship and teaching helped recast how we view modern architecture, especially the architecture of Southern California, died July 26. For more than five decades, Hines was a formative presence at UCLA — a warm and generous mentor invested in student growth and the power of research and a scholar whose deeply interdisciplinary work encouraged architects and designers to look past labels and ask what a building was truly doing in the world.

Dr. Henry Takei, 88, internationally recognized leader in periodontics

Dr. Henry H. Takei, a distinguished clinical professor emeritus at the UCLA School of Dentistry who helped build what would become one of the nation’s premier postgraduate periodontics programs, died July 29. Takei, who devoted nearly 60 years to advancing periodontal education and patient care while shaping generations of dental professionals on campus and around the world, joined the faculty in 1967. With Dr. Fermin Carranza, he co-founded the UCLA Periodontics Residency Program and served as an educator for thousands of dental students, residents and continuing education participants throughout his career.