Alumni

At Qualcomm, rise of founder’s son defies hazards of succession

06/12/11 The New York Times — When Paul E. Jacobs took over from his father as chief executive of the chip maker Qualcomm in 2005, mobile phones were just beginning their transition from tools for talking to hand-held computers delivering data and entertainment. "We talk about the future of computing being mobile, but I don't feel that way," said Mr. Jacobs, 48. "I feel the present of computing is mobile." Mr. Jacobs received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer sciences from UC Berkeley and is the current chairman of the UC Berkeley College of Engineering Advisory Board.

Graduation walk, reinvented

06/07/11 — Last month, on May 14, my faculty colleagues and I watched with great pride as more than 1,100 graduates crossed the Greek Theatre stage and walked into the world. Some will go on to more schooling, others to new careers, but all shared a cool, dry Saturday afternoon to mark this major milestone in their lives.

Obituary: Alexander Murray Wilson

05/28/11 San Francisco Chronicle — Berkeley Engineering alumnus Alexander Murray ("Bud") Wilson, one of the premier figures in the mining industry throughout the world, has died. Bud Wilson was a significant supporter of the University of California during his life and was active as a member of the Hearst Mining Dean's Committee, a volunteer in the Berkeley Engineering Fund, the Engineering Advisory Board, and the Mineral Engineering Advisory Committee.

N.C. A&T names Berkeley Engineering alumna as new engineering dean

05/20/11 Greensboro News & Record — Robin N. Coger has been named dean of N.C. A&T's College of Engineering. Coger is the founder and director of the Center for Biomedical Engineering Systems at the UNC-Charlotte and a professor in the Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science Department at William States Lee College of Engineering. Coger earned her bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University, and received a master's and doctorate in that field from UC Berkeley.

Berkeley Engineering alum Gary May named dean of engineering at Georgia Tech

05/06/11 Technique — Gary May, professor and chair of the School of ECE at Georgia Institute of Technology, was named Dean of the College of Engineering on May 6, 2011, following an international search. "I am very excited. I think this a dream job. Who wouldn't want to be the Dean of Engineering at school where they sing about engineering in the fight song?" May said. May completed his master's and doctoral degrees at the University of California, Berkeley.

This is your brain on neuromarketing

02/02/11 — When it comes to the quest for a better potato chip, a sleeker cell phone or a knockout TV ad, A.K. Pradeep (Ph.D'92 ME) believes in digging deep. A leading figure in the emerging field of neuromarketing, he conducts market research by studying how the subconscious mind responds to a variety of flavors, designs and sales pitches. His Berkeley-based company, NeuroFocus, advises companies on everything from developing a new product to packaging, marketing and advertising.

Berkeley Engineering alum A.K. Pradeep mines the brain for marketers

11/17/10 San Francisco Chronicle — A.K. Pradeep (Ph.D.'88 EECS) is a neuromarketer: He studies the inner workings of the human brain to find out not how people react to an array of stimuli, but why. He advises companies of all kinds - from banking to pharmaceutical to grocery chains - on how the female brain is different from the male brain, and how the young brain is unlike an old brain.

Engineering with broad shoulders

11/04/10 — A key tenet of Berkeley Engineering is to educate leaders. To us, engineering leadership extends beyond simply creating new technologies and managing technology innovation. Truly transformative engineering leadership calls for a comprehensive understanding of the economic, legal, social and environmental implications of novel and emerging technologies and services in societal scale systems.

Educating transformational leaders

10/05/10 — Homecoming has a special significance for us this year, as we kick off the weekend on Friday, October 8, with the grand opening of Blum Hall. This dedication represents not only the expansion and renovation of the historic Naval Architecture Building. It is also the culmination of a five-year construction effort that has transformed the north side of campus and provided a new home for the Richard C. Blum Center for Developing Economies.

Man of a thousand faces

09/08/10 — Over the last decade, the line between real and virtual in motion pictures has grown even blurrier with the rise of computer-generated imagery (CGI). If CGI is done well, you could be looking at a pixilated Brad Pitt, not the hunky star himself, and you'd be none the wiser. Any visual effects supervisor will tell you that one of CGI's biggest challenges is replicating faces. Humans look at faces every day and expertly distinguish fact from fiction. But technology is catching up, thanks, in part, to a Berkeley engineer. Paul Debevec (Ph.D.'96 EECS) is a friendly, congenial academic with a love of movies who has engineered an ingenious system to make digital animation, in particular human faces, more realistic.

Shining new light on the Statue of Liberty

08/09/10 — Liberty, equality, tolerance, freedom of expression. As the national debate on immigration reform heats up, who hasn't been thinking deeply about those lofty ideals we celebrate every Fourth of July? Perhaps there's no better time to revisit the Statue of Liberty, the elegant monument that graces New York Harbor as an enduring symbol of the principles our nation was founded on 234 years ago. Her long and complicated story is the subject of a new book, Enlightening the World: The Creation of the Statue of Liberty, by Yasmin Sabina Khan (M.S'83 CE).

Marvell Technology’s mobile connector

07/30/10 Forbes.com — Marvell's Weili Dai takes her place on Forbes' list of entrepreneurs, innovators and businesspeople who left home and made their mark in the U.S. Dai arrived in Silicon Valley from China at age 17 in 1978, coming of age at the same time as the U.S. tech hub. She moved in with her grandparents before going on to study at the University of California at Berkeley. Today Marvell Technology, the semiconductor design company she went on to cofound 15 years ago with her Indonesian-Chinese husband and his brother, employs 5,000 worldwide and trades on the Nasdaq with an $11 billion market cap. The trio donated the funds for a building named after them at Berkeley

A well-designed feed-in tariff can drive renewables in California

07/13/10 Greentech Media — A new UC Berkeley study says the state can build renewables rapidly while making big money and adding jobs. A cutting-edge incentive program is the way California can meet its need for renewable energy while bringing enormous financial benefits to the state and adding jobs by the thousands, according to the study conducted by Dan Kammen and Max Wei of UC Berkeley's Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory Energy and Resources Group. A well-designed feed-in tariff will bring California $2 billion in additional tax revenue and $50 billion in new investment, while adding an average of 50,000 new jobs a year for a decade.

Vows: Helen Zhu and Richard Ho

06/11/10 The New York Times — Berkeley Engineering alumna Helen Zhu (ME), married Richard Ho, a University of Texas-trained engineer, in Menlo Park in May. Helen and Richard co-founded Chictopia.com, a social networking Web site with a fashion twist, in their San Francisco apartment just months after their 2007 engagement.

A thriller in the midst of EECS

05/05/10 — Picture this: The security of computers worldwide hangs in the balance. Cult-like followers of the Greek philosopher Pythagoras are suspected of a nefarious plot to crack the cryptographic code protecting virtually everyone's digital data. Who ya gonna call? In his debut thriller, Tetraktys, Ari Juels (Ph.D'96 EECS) crafted a stereotype-shattering sleuth to take on the bad guys. His fictional hero: an intrepid young doctoral candidate schooled in the classics and studying computer science at-you guessed it-UC Berkeley's College of Engineering.

Science in the Amazon

03/03/10 — The boys from the Amazonian orphanage decided to name themselves Los Científicos. The Scientists. It was a small but monumental achievement for Rick Henrikson and Richard Novak, two Berkeley bioengineering graduate students. The pair cofounded Future Scientist, a tiny but highly motivated aid organization whose mission is to teach science and practical technical skills to young people in rural, developing regions. Last August, Novak, Henrikson and nine other Future Scientists traveled to Peru for their first pilot project: teaching a two-week crash course on pathogenic microorganisms, disease transmission, optics and solar-powered electricity to schoolchildren living along the Amazon River. This slideshow tells their story.

University of Maryland president C.D. Mote to step down

02/16/10 The Washington Post — C.D. "Dan" Mote, Jr., who has led the University of Maryland on a 12-year journey into the top tier of public universities, will resign in August, he said Monday, confident that "the place is in good shape" and that it is time for someone else to take charge. Mote received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley. During his career he also served as UC Berkeley Vice Chancellor of University Relations, was president of the UC Berkeley Foundation, and held an endowed chair in mechanical systems.

Tim Sands, Berkeley Engineering alum and former faculty member, appointed executive vice president and provost at Purdue

02/11/10 Purdue University — The Purdue University board of trustees has ratified the appointment of Timothy D. Sands as the university's next executive vice president for academic affairs and provost. A native of California, Sands earned a bachelor's degree with highest honors in engineering physics and a master's degree and doctorate in materials science from UC Berkeley, where he was also a professor of material science and engineering prior to coming to Purdue.

Arun Sarin named Knight of the British Empire

02/06/10 United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office — Berkeley Engineering alumnus Arun Sarin (M.S.'78 MSE), former CEO of Vodafone and recipient of the Berkeley Engineering Innovation Award, has been named a Knight of the British Empire by the Queen of England for services to the communications industry.

Michael Barclay – Wilson Sonsini attorney and EECS alum known as ‘Keeper of All Knowledge’ – retiring

01/26/10 Law.com — Attorney Michael Barclay (Berkeley Engineering alumnus, M.S. '74 EECS) is retiring after 17 years with the Silicon Valley firm Wilson Sonsini, where he hasn't strayed far from his electrical engineering roots: He wears big, thick-rimmed glasses and is known as the "keeper of all knowledge" by his colleagues. He plans to travel, study guitar and volunteer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.