UCLA alumni Ralph and Shirley Shapiro received the UCLA Medal, the campus’ highest honor, on April 2, at the Chancellor’s residence.

“When we talk about service as a core mission of UCLA — alongside research and education — two of the names that always come to my mind are Ralph and Shirley Shapiro,” UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said at the medal ceremony. “They met at UCLA, formed a beautiful partnership here and have both made UCLA very proud. My hope is that UCLA will continue to graduate students who share their values and will extend their legacy.”

The future looked bright — and clean and efficient — when a team of law students took home the top prize in UCLA School of Law’s Lowell Milken Institute-Sandler Prize for New Entrepreneurs one year ago. Class of 2018 members Mac Kennedy and Mary Vu won $70,000 in seed funding for their company Mote, which is developing a device that filters toxic particles from car tailpipes. They worked with engineers from Caltech and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to develop the winning entry.

A student-run startup that addresses the costly and common habit of teeth grinding and another that uses artificial intelligence to assist corporate human resources managers in evaluating employees were the big winners of the $100,000 Lowell Milken Institute-Sandler Prize for New Entrepreneurs.

Culminating years of work led by UCLA School of Law professor Jill Horwitz, on May 20 the American Law Institute approved a comprehensive compendium of the legal issues that confront charitable nonprofit institutions.

Nathan Cox’s time at UCLA School of Law included the launch of a technology company, work with leading professors in tax law and honors as part of UCLA Law’s moot court and mock trial programs. In recognition of his efforts, Cox ’19, who is now working in the San Diego office of Cooley, received the 2019 Bruce I. Hochman Award for Excellence in the Study of Tax Law.

Bolstering UCLA School of Law’s instruction in corporate governance, business ethics and related subjects, alumnus William Kahane ’74 and his wife, Elizabeth Kahane, have committed $1million to launch a new corporate governance course and programming at UCLA Law’s Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy.