Archive of posts from 2025

  • Listening Without Labels: Unsupervised Exploratory Data Analysis for Bioacoustics

    Posted on Sep 6, 2025

    featured image Images are straightforward to interpret. They’re intuitive to human brains, and, owing to their prevalence, well-studied. Sound, by contrast, can only be experienced over time, requires undivided attention, and is often clouded by ambient complexity. While this complexity can make sound harder to analyze, it also carries ecological information that images miss. As such, bioacoustics have become an increasingly useful method to monitor ecosystem health in a cost-effective manner. AudioMoths, f...

  • Introducing FishSense Scout

    Posted on Aug 26, 2025

    featured image Factors like geographical location, water condition, and ocean depth can present significant challenges in diver-operated systems for fish ecosystem analysis. To overcome these hurdles, remote operated vehicles (ROVs) have presented themselves as valuable tools for collecting fish data in the lesser-documented areas of the ocean. Previous E4E systems, like FishSense Lite, target the monitoring of fisheries through citizen science. With the introduction of Scout, our horizons are broadened be...

  • Bear-ly Audible Tracking Panda Vocalizations with STM32

    Posted on Aug 22, 2025

    featured image Do you know what sound a panda makes? Over the last eight weeks, our team has been collaborating with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance to find ways to record, label, and store the various vocalizations produced by panda bears, polar bears, and several other species using specialized collars. While initially simple, the problem has posed several questions relevant to the field of computer hardware at large: how do you keep a low-power device running for periods of over a year? Can you colle...

  • Come See the Summer 2025 REU Final Presentations

    Posted on Aug 19, 2025

    featured image Engineers for Exploration is once again hosting final presentations for the REU students this year! This year will include recent work and effort done by the REU students working in exploratory methods for audio data mining, development on edge devices for acoustics, improvements to the FishSense System, improvements to secure chip access, and updates on the latest Smartfin device. The presentations will be on Thursday, August 28 at 10:30 – 11:50am. If you are interested in attending, please...

  • 2025 Summer Research Students

    Posted on Jun 26, 2025

    featured image This summer, we are hosting 14 students from around the world in our 2025 summer research program at UC San Diego. Meet our students by reading their bios below:

  • Congrats to Sean Perry for becoming an SDZWA Fellow!

    Posted on Mar 17, 2025

    featured image PhD student and Acoustic Species Project lead Sean Perry was awarded the Conservation Technology Fellowship from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance! Primarily focused in the challenges of processing data from Passive Acoustic Monitoring deployments, Sean will spend the fellowship working in the Beckman Center for Conservation Research studying Burrowing Owls from the Biodiversity Research here in San Diego. Current goals are to make it easier to study the interactions between different gene...

  • Kendall-Frost Marsh Acoustic Deployment!

    Posted on Mar 17, 2025

    featured image South of UCSD lies Mission Bay, a popular tourist spot once a biodiverse-rich marshland destroyed through a combination of dredging and the redirection of the San Diego River. However, recent efforts have begun to preserve and restore some of the original habitats, particularly in the Kendall-Frost Marsh, one of several biodiversity reserves managed by the UC Natural Reserve System. This 40-acre marshland lies in the northern section of Mission Bay and is a popular spot for migrating birds an...

  • Winter 2025 Info Session

    Posted on Jan 8, 2025

    featured image Info session will be held at CSE 1242 on January 14th at 2:00 PM! Engineers for Exploration is a one of a kind program that develops intelligent systems that aid research in conservation, cultural heritage, and exploration. We work closely with archaeologists, biologists, ecologists, and marine scientists to create technologies that aid them in their scientific research. Applications range from determining population counts for endangered animals and studying animal behavior to capturing lar...