Naeem Zafar

📰 In a new EdSource op-ed, California Competes CEO Su Jin Jez illustrates the urgent need for a higher education system that is “built for the present and ready to adapt to the challenges and opportunities of the future.” https://lnkd.in/gb2TZ2hc Especially at a time when the very foundations of higher education are under threat, she urges decision-makers to be willing to question the status quo and advance bold ideas for a more coordinated and student-centered system, like those in our vision for a reimagined Master Plan for Higher Education: https://lnkd.in/gszRXufe. The good news is that campus and state reforms across California are already building momentum toward this vision. Su Jin offers multiple pathways for the state to continue this work toward a higher education system that meets the needs of today. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gb2TZ2hc

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What does it take to bring cutting-edge technologies out of the lab and into the real world? This panel features leaders from venture, government, and industry will share what works - and what doesn’t - when scaling deep tech companies in critical sectors like manufacturing, energy, and defense.

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The Rise of the "Quantum Coast" The next era of global innovation has an epicenter, and it’s officially anchored in California. I am incredibly proud to see the launch of the SoCal Quantum Alliance (SQA). As a board member of the UCLA Technology Development Group, I’ve seen the power of UCLA’s innovation first hand. We are often asked what the "next big shift" will be. It’s no longer a mystery: it is the transition from the silicon age to the quantum age. But a breakthrough in a lab is only half the battle. To truly lead, you need an ecosystem that bridges the gap between theoretical physics and industrial-scale reality. By uniting UCLA , Caltech, JPL, Boeing, and Google (among many others), we are doing something rare: we are collapsing the distance between academic discovery and economic momentum. Why this matters: • Infrastructure: The new Quantum Innovation Hub at the UCLA Research Park provides the physical "ground zero" for multi-disciplinary scaling. • Talent Pipeline: We are building a workforce that is "quantum-native," ensuring California remains the primary destination for the world's most ambitious engineers. • Regional Sovereignty: This alliance ensures that the most transformative technology of our lifetime is architected and scaled right here. The future is no longer binary. It’s quantum, and it’s being built at UCLA. #QuantumComputing #Innovation #UCLA #DeepTech #SoCalQuantumAlliance #Leadership #FutureOfTech

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New research at the USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning, and Education finds that the adolescent brain is highly disposed to deliberate on the abstract, systems-level, ethical, and personal implications of what they learn and witness. When these areas are discussed, it triggers transcendent thinking, which leverages brain systems for executive functioning, internal reflection, and emotion. These areas of learning predict brain development that support scholarly learning and social-emotional development in the future. #teacher #learning #adolecent

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From "Schooled Society" to "Learning Society": Rethinking Higher Education in the Age of AI In our latest Substack post, California Education Learning Lab Executive Director Lark Park speaks with Mitchell Stevens, organizational sociologist and Stanford Graduate School of Education professor, about the structural challenges facing higher education and the accelerating impact of AI on learning and credentials. Stevens argues that schools function as bureaucracies designed for stability— a structure that inherently resists the rapid changes we're experiencing today. The central question isn't how to reform existing institutions, but whether we can develop parallel systems that recognize and validate learning wherever it occurs. 📌 ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: Our second "In Case You Missed It" roundup —articles and reads we've been following on AI and higher education. This month: an AI retail experiment in SF, why the real center of gravity for generative AI is the global majority, and a Yale committee report on trust and expertise. Read the full post on our Substack: https://lnkd.in/gjQASKJW Foundation for California Community Colleges

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Do rewards drive how we learn? University of California, Berkeley Psychology Prof. Anne Collins argues that human learning relies on the interaction between working memory + habit, rather than just rewards, explaining why we often repeat mistakes during complex tasks. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gdK6wRBB Photo by Milad Fakurian on Unsplash

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Critical topic. Only 20% transfer within 4 years despite well designed transfer pathways. On average, students that do transfer take 9 semesters and earn 71.5 credits (11.5 in excess of the required 60). Our research shows that academic schedules prevent most students (57%) from getting all of the courses conflict-free that they are advised to take in their pathways. To what extent do misaligned schedules undermine these completion reforms? The report reaffirms the importance of investing in students' first (momentum) year through 'flexible scheduling.' We also know that an ongoing focus on Degree Velocity through each year of students' academic careers is needed, which requires ensuring clear Completion Paths in academic schedules.

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When we unified our product teams just over a year ago, I knew California’s K–8 Math Adoption would be a major milestone. But even in my most optimistic vision for year one, I didn’t expect the level of cohesion we found across a project this complex. The work we’ve done together with Illustrative Mathematics has been some of the most focused, instructionally grounded, and cross-functional collaboration I’ve seen in my career. We're proud of what we’ve built and of the impact we’re starting to see for California educators and students. More soon. https://lnkd.in/gGJDQDMg

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I'm proud to share this announcement of the Cal Poly Noyce School of Applied Computing investment in compute infrastructure that supports our applied AI curriculum and research! This technology enables the design and creation of unique AI models and the applications that interact with them. Our students and faculty will have access to resources and talent that only a select group of universities currently have. I look forward to the innovative and multidisciplinary creations California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) brings to life!

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🤖✨ Robotics in 2025: Progress and Possibilities ✨🤖 Ken Goldberg, UC Berkeley professor and co-founder of Ambi Robotics, recently shared his perspective on where robotics stands today and where it is headed. His message is not about pointing out shortcomings, but about celebrating how far we have come and recognizing the opportunities still ahead 🚀. 🔹 Where Robots Excel Today 📦 Logistics and warehouse automation are thriving, with robots handling tasks like sorting, moving, and repetitive pick and place operations at speeds and scales that humans alone could not achieve. 🧠 Advances in AI driven perception and machine learning are making robots smarter and more adaptable, especially in structured environments. 🖥️ Combining simulation with real world training has accelerated progress and improved reliability. 🔹 Where the Opportunities Remain 🙌 Everyday tasks that appear simple to humans, such as folding laundry or pouring a drink, reveal the immense complexity of our physical world. These challenges are not failures, they are invitations for future innovation. 🤝 Humanoid robots inspire imagination, but the path to practical deployment requires further engineering breakthroughs. 🔮 The field continues to advance steadily, and the much anticipated “ChatGPT moment” for robotics may be closer than we think. 🔹 Looking Ahead 💡 The next wave of robotics innovation will come from blending bold ideas with practical applications. The real value lies not in replacing humans, but in augmenting human capability, improving safety, and driving efficiency in industries that touch everyday life 🌍. At Altest Corporation 🏭, we are proud to support this vision. Our San Jose facility partners with leading companies to manufacture the advanced electronics that power robotics and AI systems, helping ideas move from prototype to production ⚡. ✨ Robotics is not about limits, it is about potential. Together, we are building a future where humans and machines achieve more than ever before 🤖🤝🌟. #robotics #AI #automation #engineering #ennovation #altestCorp #pcbdesign #powerelectronics #pcba #pcbassembly #pcbdesign

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📣 Big news for the future of education in California! #GoogleEdu is partnering with all 116 California Community Colleges to provide free access to our suite of #AI tools, including Gemini and NotebookLM. This collaborative effort will support 2.1 million students and faculty, fostering a new wave of innovation in teaching, learning, and research across the state. Learn more at the link in our comments.

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📚Dr. Julia Scott, Director of the Brain and Memory Care Lab at Santa Clara University School of Engineering and a Spring 2024 Faculty Hackworth Grant recipient, worked with Bhanujeet Choudhary, Former Chief of Staff at XRSI and Aryan B. M.S. ‘25 at Santa Clara University to create a series of case studies and resources on the dangers of using new immersive technologies such as VR as a potential research tool, especially when not coupled with a proper safety protocol. 🔬“Containment of participant data is no longer as simple as storage on a secured hard drive, design of a safe experiment must take into account psychological effects of embodiment [...] Consequently, data management practices and psychological safety need to be updated in the review process.” 🧠Their research provides guidance for those looking to use these new technologies in the field. Learn more details about the research, and access the case studies here: 🔗https://lnkd.in/gZhX-skv The project was sponsored by the SCU School of Engineering, SCU Healthcare Innovation and Design Program, the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Hackworth Research Grant Program, The Medical XR Advisory Council (MedXRSI), and PRIM&R - Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research.

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🤖 Can a simple poster on a wall hijack your autonomous vehicle? UC Santa Cruz researchers just exposed a critical vulnerability in embodied AI systems that should concern every robotics engineer, autonomous vehicle developer, and CTO investing in AI infrastructure. Their breakthrough study reveals that misleading text in the physical environment can hijack decision-making in self-driving cars, drones, and robots—without hacking a single line of code. The attack method called CHAI (Command Hijacking Against Embodied AI) achieved alarming success rates: • 95.5% attack success on aerial object tracking • 81.8% success hijacking autonomous vehicles • 68.1% success manipulating drone landing systems How it works: Attackers optimize text on signs, posters, or objects that AI vision systems read as instructions. The AI treats environmental text as commands, potentially causing vehicles to crash, drones to land in dangerous locations, or robots to make unsafe decisions. This works across multiple languages including English, Chinese, Spanish, and even Spanglish, targeting systems powered by GPT-4o and other large visual-language models. Why this matters now: As companies deploy billions in autonomous vehicle fleets, delivery robots, and drone systems, this vulnerability exposes a fundamental security gap. Traditional cybersecurity focuses on software exploits—but CHAI demonstrates that physical-world text can weaponize AI perception itself. For engineers: Review your visual-language model integration and input validation protocols. The study outlines defense pathways that should inform your security architecture. For managers: This research highlights why embodied AI security requires different frameworks than traditional software security. Budget accordingly. For executives: As autonomous systems scale from pilots to production, environmental prompt injection attacks represent an enterprise risk that existing insurance and liability frameworks may not cover. The researchers will present their findings at the 2026 IEEE Conference on Secure and Trustworthy Machine Learning, but the implications demand immediate attention from anyone deploying camera-equipped AI systems in real-world environments. What safeguards is your organisation implementing against environmental attacks on AI perception systems? Check the comments for research links and technical details. #AI #Robotics #AutonomousVehicles #Cybersecurity #EmbodiedAI

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🔥 Transforming innovation in San Jose: How AI startups are getting game-changing support through local grants! 🚀 💡 The city of San Jose is at the forefront of technological innovation, offering substantial grants to emerging AI startups. These initiatives are designed to catalyze groundbreaking solutions and empower local entrepreneurs with the resources they need to succeed. 💡 One key program highlighted in the post is the "Innovate San Jose Grant," which provides up to $50,000 in funding to startups demonstrating unique AI applications to solve pressing societal issues, ranging from healthcare to urban development. 💡 These grants not only support financial needs but also offer startups access to mentoring and networking opportunities, which are crucial for early-stage companies aiming to scale their innovations. 🔗 Read more: https://lnkd.in/g94vHq6N #AIStartups #Innovation #SanJose #TechGrants #Entrepreneurship

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Fascinating news from experimental physics. The STAR Collaboration at Brookhaven National Laboratory just published in Nature: particles with measurable mass emerging directly from quantum vacuum fluctuations. In short: empty space is not empty. Quantum chromodynamics predicted this. Now it's experimentally confirmed. --- This result has a direct connection to work I've been doing. For two years I've been studying Besud Ch. Erdeni's Principia Mathematica — a Mongolian physicist's life work connecting Φ = 1.618... to fundamental physics. The framework predicts lepton masses as resonant modes of Phi spiral geometry: m_ℓ = m_e × Φ^(φ_ℓ) Verified: → m_τ/m_μ = Φ^5.865 (exact) → m_τ/m_e = Φ^16.94 (exact) What STAR demonstrated experimentally — that mass arises dynamically from vacuum interactions — is precisely what this geometric framework describes from first principles. Standard Model asks: "How much mass?" Phi framework asks: "Why this mass, from what geometry?" The answer: Φ, π, e → X = 10^(90/(Φπe+1)) → lepton mass spectrum All three lepton masses follow one formula. No free parameters beyond Φ, π, e. --- This is not a claim that our work equals theirs in experimental rigor. It is a claim that the geometric origin they are uncovering experimentally has a mathematical counterpart that was already there — waiting to be recognized. Full methodology under collaboration discussions. #Physics #QuantumPhysics #QCD #VacuumEnergy #GoldenRatio #StandardModel #Research #Fermilab #CERN #BrookhavenNationalLaboratory #STARCollaboration #Nature #TheoreticalPhysics #Mongolia

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Most MTSS systems fail in the same place: the handoff. A student struggles in October, the data confirms it in November, and intervention starts in January. Too little, too late. Teachers should be able to act on Tuesday what they saw on Monday. The breakdown gets worse when math and ELA live in separate systems. Many “math struggles” in grades 3–8 are really reading struggles wearing a math costume. A student can compute but can’t unpack the language of a multi-step problem. The math teacher sees one issue. The ELA teacher sees another. The connection gets missed. A unified system catches what siloed systems can’t. It sees the literacy demand inside the math task. It surfaces when a student can argue in ELA but can’t justify reasoning in math. That’s how schools protect Tier 1 time instead of double-booking the students who need it most. And in California, where it “never rains,” the drought usually starts long before anyone notices the cracks. ELA people, talk to your math people! Math people, talk to your ELA people: Kiddom has now submitted for EL Education for California’s ELA adoption and we also offer Illustrative Mathematics: two golden, inquiry-based curricula in one modern ecosystem, powered by learning intelligence technology to supercharge MTSS.

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