News

Illustration of water recycling, showing insects, wetland plants and glass of potable water

How building wetlands could recycle the world’s water

01/21/22 — Kicking off Season 2 of the Berkeley Voices podcast, water engineer David Sedlak explains how ever-thirstier California can fight back against climate change by learning to recycle the water we use

Assortment of student projects at Jacobs Winter Design Showcase

Design Showcase spotlights student innovation

01/19/22 — The Jacobs Institute's 2021 Winter Design Showcase returned for an in-person run, featuring work from Jacobs Institute courses, student clubs

Novel drone shape-shifts mid-flight

01/19/22 — Interesting Engineering: Researchers at Berkeley's High Performance Robotics Laboratory (HiPeRLab) have developed an experimental drone called the Midair Reconfigurable Quadcopter that can shape-shift in midair, as seen in the lab's video.

8 engineering faculty named biohub investigators

01/11/22 — The eight professors, representing three Berkeley Engineering departments, are among 21 Berkeley faculty members selected by the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub for the awards, each worth $1 million over five years.

The culture of yes

01/04/22 — A ventilator startup finds its life force at Berkeley Engineering

UC Berkeley partners with new Arc Institute to tackle complex diseases

12/21/21 — Patrick Hsu, Berkeley assistant professor of bioengineering, and Silvana Konermann, Stanford assistant professor of biochemistry, are founding researchers of a new institute that aims to accelerate breakthroughs in complex diseases.

Cesunica Ivey to lead EPA project to reduce wildfire smoke exposure

12/20/21 — EPA: Award to support engagement and better communication of health risks of underserved and marginalized groups in California’s San Francisco Bay Area.

petri dish with smart roof coating samples

New smart-roof coating enables year-round energy savings

12/16/21 — Berkeley Lab: Rooftop material that automatically switches between radiative cooling in the summer to heat retention in the winter could lower household energy costs

Kavli Foundation leaders with Berkeley campus officials

New Kavli Center to foster ethics, engagement in science

12/14/21 — The Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public, directed by EECS professor Stuart Russell, will equip the next generation of scientists with the tools to tackle the ethical and societal implications of their research.

Head shot of Ikhlaq Sidhu, SCET faculty director

Ikhlaq Sidhu named dean of Spain’s IE School of Technology

12/13/21 — The founding faculty director and chief scientist of Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology to remain in current position until June 2022.

Video clip of Kara Nelson in water testing lab

Berkeley team detects omicron in Bay Area wastewater

12/09/21 — ABC7 News: A team led by Kara Nelson, professor of civil and environmental engineering, has identified the COVID-19 variant in samples of sewage from two California sites, one of them in the Bay Area.

A first look inside the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub

12/09/21 — The wait for Berkeley’s bold new home for research and innovation is nearly over, with the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub, led by bioengineering professor Amy Herr, scheduled to open in February 2022

QB3 director David Schaffer elected to National Academy of Inventors

12/07/21 — One of 164 new NAI fellows, Shaffer holds appointments at UC Berkeley in chemical and biomolecular engineering, bioengineering, and molecular and cell biology

Boubacar Kante, superimposed over an illustration of a BICSEL laser

Making lasers more efficient, versatile and compact

12/07/21 — With support from his Bakar Fellowship, EECS associate professor Boubacar Kante is preparing to fabricate a prototype of a new laser with a range of applications from microsurgery to satellite telemetry.

An Intel Corp. chip manufacturing technician in a clean room

Opinion: U.S. must train semiconductor workforce

12/01/21 — San Jose Mercury News: In the face of a global chip shortage, the country’s loss of its world leadership role is a threat to national security that Congress has a chance to fix, Dean Liu writes. (Subscription may be required)

Fall magazine is here

11/22/21 — Berkeley Engineer explores sustainable plastics, bats and the brain, leaping squirrels, engineering better health and more.

Photo illustration of Michael Yartsev and a flock of bats

Right off the bats

11/15/21 — Researchers at the NeuroBat Lab are learning more about the brain by studying the world’s only flying mammal.

Illustration of hourglass, containing plastic transforming into compost

Back down to earth

11/15/21 — Materials science professor Ting Xu is re-engineering plastics for the age of sustainability.

AI-directed legged robot in uneven terrain

Awesome agility

11/15/21 — AI algorithms are equipping legged robots with an enhanced ability to navigate and adapt to unfamiliar terrain in real time.

Dean Tsu-Jae King Liu with Oski and students on Wozniak Terrace

Dean’s note: Engineering better health

11/15/21 — We’ve launched the Health Technologies Collaborative Lab to develop devices and systems that transform the way healthcare is managed and delivered.