Abstract: It is becoming increasingly apparent that qubits based on individual electron spins in Si quantum dots have considerable potential for scalable quantum information processing. Complementary to the active research efforts at Wisconsin, we at UCLA have developed a different type of electrostatically-confined quantum dots on Si MOS based materials. An array of electrical characterization shows that the quantum dots have unprecedented device stability and controllability. In this talk, I present results of transport measurements in the few electron regime. Unusual spin filling configurations, along with non-linear transport features associated with high-spin states will be reported. An integrated charge sensing channel adjacent to the quantum dot has been used to study the individual electron tunneling events and relaxation dynamics. The electron spin relaxation time T1 in the presence of an in-plane magnetic field is measured by the charge sensor with a pump-and-probe technique. I will discuss mechanisms leading to spin relaxation in this type of Si device.