UCLA PIC Lab: A Hub for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) fosters a vibrant research environment through its various departments and initiatives. Among these is the PIC (presumably meaning "Programming, Inference, and Computation") Lab, which actively engages undergraduate students in cutting-edge research across diverse fields. This article explores the research landscape at UCLA, with a particular focus on the PIC Lab and related activities, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of the work and the opportunities available to students.

PIC Spotlight Seminars: Showcasing Undergraduate Research

In Winter 2026, Professors Michael Andrews and Jiayin Lu are organizing three PIC Spotlight Seminars for undergraduate students co-hosted with UCLA DataX. These seminars provide a platform for students to present their research and engage with the broader academic community. The third event will be on March 11.

The second event spotlighted the following speakers and talks:

Future of Filtration: Optimizing the Performance of Reverse Osmosis Systems

Mallika Ghante, an Applied Mathematics student, presented her work on "Future of Filtration: Optimizing the Performance of Reverse Osmosis Systems." Growing demand for clean water has accelerated the adoption of desalination technologies, particularly reverse osmosis (RO), which accounts for 70% of global facilities. However, RO systems face challenges, including membrane fouling, inconsistent permeate quality, and energy inefficiency. Recent work uses machine learning to improve system functionality and lower maintenance costs. As a Sustainable LA Grand Challenge scholar, Ghante is conducting research under Professor Eric Hoek to develop a time-series machine learning model (LSTM-PINN) that predicts membrane failure in the Navy's portable seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) units. This research directly addresses critical issues in water purification using advanced machine learning techniques.

Teaching a Bot to Navigate a Maze with Python

Eshika Abbaraju, a Cognitive Science student, discussed her personal project, "Teaching a Bot to Navigate a Maze with Python," which utilized reinforcement learning (RL). She worked on it as a Research Assistant in a lab. She started with Q-learning, an RL algorithm that learns optimal actions by updating initially random state-action values based on rewards received from previous actions. Abbaraju talked about how she used her Python knowledge to visualize the RL process by building a Q-learning agent that moves through a grid maze. She also discussed how she added features such as evolving heat maps of the maze (where brighter regions indicate the spots the agent believes are the most optimal to go to) and a GIF of the agent navigating the maze using what it has learned. This project demonstrates the application of AI and machine learning in problem-solving and visualization.

Real-time ASL-to-Speech Translation System

Another presentation showcased a real-time ASL-to-speech translation system to help those with permanent hearing loss. The presenter discussed how classroom machine learning skills can address real-world accessibility challenges. They used the MediaPipe library for computer vision-based hand landmark detection, trained LSTM neural networks on an ASL dataset to recognize sign language gestures, and integrated Hume AI's emotional voice synthesis API to convert these signs into natural, expressive speech. This project exemplifies what excites them most about AI: the limitless applications when we apply ML thoughtfully to help solve meaningful problems within our society. They included more about their journey as well as a live demonstration discussing both the technical architecture and broader impact!

VoroLight: Learning Quality Volumetric Voronoi Meshes From General Inputs

Jiayin Lu, Hedrick Assistant Adjunct Professor, presented "VoroLight: Learning Quality Volumetric Voronoi Meshes From General Inputs." Lu introduced VoroLight, a differentiable framework for 3D shape reconstruction based on Voronoi meshing. Their method produces smooth, watertight surfaces and topologically consistent volumetric meshes directly from diverse inputs, including images, implicit level-set fields, point clouds, and meshes. Beyond reconstruction, VoroLight enables design-driven applications: using this framework, they created a series of 3D-printable artistic lamps.

UCLA Mathematics: A Foundation for Research

UCLA Mathematics encompasses both pure and applied mathematics. Informally, the department is organized into several research groups. It publishes first-class mathematical research papers in the main stream of pure mathematics. Journals such as Forum of Mathematics, Pi and Forum of Mathematics, Sigma offer fully open access publication combined with peer-review standards set by an international editorial board of the highest caliber. Strong research papers from all parts of pure mathematics and related areas are welcomed. A mathematics research journal is supported by a number of American, Asian and Australian universities and research institutes, and currently published on their behalf by Mathematical Sciences Publishers, a non-profit academic publishing organisation. It was founded in 1951 by František Wolf and Edwin F. The Bulletin of Symbolic Logic was established in 1995 by the Association for Symbolic Logic to provide a journal of high standards that would be both accessible and of interest to as wide an audience as possible.

The Lundquist Institute: Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center

The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (TLI) is a leading nonprofit research organization in the life sciences ecosystem of Los Angeles County. Their bedside to bench to bedside approach is at the core of who they are and what differentiates them.

Research

Discover the groundbreaking translational research conducted at The Lundquist Institute.

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Education

Explore their educational programs, from advanced training and fellowships to undergraduate and graduate opportunities.

Community

Learn about their community programs and services.

Support

Support the mission of The Lundquist Institute through donations, corporate giving, planned giving, and honoring loved ones. When you give to The Lundquist Institute, you’re not just supporting science - you’re helping write the next chapter of medical discovery.

Undergraduate Engagement and Opportunities

The PIC Lab and related initiatives at UCLA highlight the university's commitment to engaging undergraduate students in research. The spotlight seminars, for example, provide a valuable opportunity for students to present their work, receive feedback, and network with faculty and peers. Furthermore, the diverse range of research topics, from machine learning applications in water purification to AI-powered assistive technologies, demonstrates the breadth of opportunities available to students with different interests and backgrounds.

UCLA provides numerous avenues for undergraduate students to get involved in research, including:

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Research Assistant positions: Students can work alongside faculty members and graduate students on ongoing research projects, gaining hands-on experience in data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Eshika Abbaraju's work on reinforcement learning was part of her work as a Research Assistant in a lab.
Independent research projects: With the guidance of a faculty mentor, students can design and conduct their own research projects, developing their critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills.
Undergraduate research programs: UCLA offers various programs that provide funding, mentorship, and training to undergraduate researchers.
Capstone projects: Many departments require students to complete a capstone project, which often involves conducting original research or applying existing knowledge to solve a real-world problem.

Student Spotlights

UCLA celebrates the achievements of its students through various spotlights. Here are some examples:

Meet Robert Castillo!
Meet Cara Susilo!
Meet Amit Rand!
Meet Clarissa Carrillo!
Meet Christian Aguirre!
Meet Sarah Sun!
Meet Mia Santiago!
Meet Anson Ting!
Meet Lucine Ksajikian!
Meet Alexa Garcia!
Meet Victoria Gong!
Meet Sasha Gladkikh!
Meet Kyla Letko!
Meet Mrinalini Mishra!
Meet Nirajara Dungwatanawanich!
Meet Kimberly Jorge!
Meet Alexandra Rebollar!
Meet Sofia Mirabal!
Meet Sohan Talluri!
Meet Ashlyn Sloane!
Meet Helen Benitez!
Meet Isabel Rosales!
Meet Angela Liang!
Meet Emily Silva!
Meet Zahra Gill!
Meet Priscilla Yang!
Meet Sophia Rueda, a 3rd year neuroscience major.
Meet Melody Haratian, a 4th year Psychobiology major.
Meet Jordi Martinez, a 4th year neuroscience major.
Say hello to Abigail: a fourth-year Neuroscience major.
Meet UCLA senior, Andy Liao, who is majoring in Biology.
Meet UCLA junior, Kelly Huang, who is majoring in Biology.

These spotlights showcase the diverse backgrounds and interests of UCLA students and their contributions to the university community.

tags: #UCLA #PIC #Lab #research