College news

Dean’s word: We’ve changed

05/01/12 — When was your last visit to Berkeley Engineering? If it’s been awhile, you are in for some surprises. Start your virtual tour at North Gate and walk east. What you may remember as the Naval Architecture Building is now renovated—faithful to its historic designation —and expanded as Blum Hall, home to the Blum Center for […]

New tenants at Richmond Field Station

05/01/12 — In January 2012, the Berkeley Lab named the Richmond Field Station as its top choice for a second campus; pending regulatory reviews, LBNL aims to open new research space by 2016.

Comments

05/01/12 — Friends, followers and readers: Thank you for posting your comments online. Here is a recent sampling: Re: “Berkeley gears up for new era of enterprise with SkyDeck incubator,” Berkeley NewsCenter Wish we’d had something like this when we were at Cal. Hope to see more resources for entrepreneurs as time goes on. —Eva M., via […]

Introducing the Kuh Distinguished Lecture Series

04/17/12 — I recently had the honor of introducing a new annual lecture series to the college community. Thanks to a generous gift from Professor Emeritus Ernest Kuh and his wife, Bettine, we now have the opportunity to hear from the world's most creative and inspiring scientists and engineers tackling our most pressing problems.

White House joins E-Week festivities

04/17/12 — In March, Berkeley celebrated National Engineers Week, an annual tradition since 1951. This year, the White House joined in the act. “You're the next generation of American engineers,” President Obama said in a recorded address during the March 14 launch of the “Stay With It” campaign, an outgrowth of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. “In an economy based on skills and education, science and technology, we need you more than ever. We need you to study hard and dream big.” The White House's goal is to encourage another 10,000 new engineers to graduate from college every year by connecting students with peers, role models and mentors.

Berkeley leadership on America’s nuclear future

03/19/12 — With America's nuclear waste management program at an impasse, we have been anxiously awaiting word from President Obama's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future-with Berkeley's Nuclear Engineering Chair Per Peterson among its 15 distinguished members-on how to break the deadlock.

UC Berkeley takes part in nationwide engineering initiative

03/14/12 ABC News — UC Berkeley participated in a nationwide motivational event organized by President Barack Obama to encourage students to pursue engineering degrees. The "Stay With It" campaign, put together by Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, is part of an effort to address the country's shortage of engineers and graduates with degrees in scientific fields in general.

Leaping lizards and the power of interdisciplinary collaboration

01/04/12 The Washington Post — What happens when a lizard slips just before leaping into the air? Does the tail go up or down? And what on earth does it have to do with emergency first responders and retaining students in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields? The answers start with a study by scientists and engineers at the University of California, Berkeley.

About Berkeley Engineer

01/01/12 — Information about Berkeley Engineer magazine

Cal engineering dean supports diversity plan

11/21/11 California Watch — S. Shankar Sastry, the dean of UC Berkeley's College of Engineering, expressed support today for a recommendation from a student group that the college create a recruitment and retention plan for women and underrepresented minority students. The move came after representatives from several engineering student groups presented a list of recommendations to increase diversity and equity in the college at a meeting of the college's executive committee.

Berkeley reveals plan for academic center in China

11/16/11 The New York Times — The University of California, Berkeley announced this week that it plans to open a large research and teaching facility here as part of a broader plan to bolster its presence in China. The public university said the Shanghai center would cater to engineering graduate students and be financed over the next five years largely by the Shanghai government and companies operating here. The program is expected to begin in July 2012.

A look at the women of Berkeley Engineering

11/08/11 Daily Californian — In this Daily Cal op-ed, Fiona Doyle, Executive Associate Dean of the College of Engineering, provides a thoughtful and far-ranging perspective on the participation of women and underrepresented individuals in the college.

Campus works to improve atmosphere for women in College of Engineering

11/06/11 Daily Californian — A recent California Watch article that addressed sexism experienced by a UC Berkeley engineering student has prompted administrators in the UC Berkeley College of Engineering to examine discrimination in the male-dominated college. The article prompted a swift response from top administrators. The issue will be discussed at the next College Executive Committee meeting Nov. 21, according to Fiona Doyle, executive associate dean of the college.

$7.5 million DOE grant will help develop new generation of advanced reactors

09/22/11 Massachusetts Institute of Technology — MIT has been awarded $7.5 million as part of a new initiative by the Department of Energy to support research and development on the next generation of nuclear technologies. The Integrated Research Projects were established to help ensure that the country maintains a leading role in nuclear energy research. The Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and the MIT Reactor Lab will work together with their partners at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Wisconsin at Madison on the project over the next three years to develop the path forward to a test reactor and ultimately a commercial high-temperature salt-cooled reactor.

UC Berkeley third in Washington Monthly’s annual rankings

08/29/11 Daily Californian — The Washington Monthly released its annual College Guide and Rankings Monday, ranking UC Berkeley third among national universities based on its contribution to the public good, ahead of Stanford, Harvard and MIT. UC Berkeley ranked first in science and engineering PhD's awarded, second in faculty in national academies and third in faculty receiving significant awards.

TRUST develops ‘science base’ for cybersecurity

08/23/11 Communications of the ACM — TRUST, a research center funded by the National Science Foundation and based at UC Berkeley, is developing what it calls a cyber-security "science base" -- a principled approach to developing "trustworthy systems" in which security is an integral part and not "bolted on like an afterthought." Shankar Sastry, dean of Berkeley's College of Engineering and TRUST's director and principal investigator, hopes the project will reduce the huge amount of time and resources the computer science community spends on fending off attacks on a piecemeal basis.

The science of cyber security

08/04/11 U.S. News & World Report — Imagine a large cyber-network with its own built-in "immune system" that can recognize and destroy foreign invaders, just like the human body. "We no longer can afford to be reactive in our attitudes about cyber security," says Shankar Sastry, dean of the College of Engineering at UC Berkeley, and principal investigator and director of the Team for Research in Ubiquitous Secure Technology (TRUST), focused on developing cyber security science and technology aimed at radically transforming the ability of organizations to design, build, and operate trustworthy information systems for the nation's critical infrastructure.

XSEDE project brings advanced cyberinfrastructure, digital services and expertise to scientists and engineers

07/25/11 National Science Foundation — The NSF has launched a massive five-year, $121 million project involving 17 institutions, including UC Berkeley, to bring advanced digital services to the nation's scientists and engineers. Collectively known as the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), the new project replaces the TeraGrid, which for 10 years provided researchers with computational and data resources in an open infrastructure to support scientific discovery.

Ford “talking” vehicles give San Francisco peek at more sustainable driving with fewer crashes, reduced congestion

06/01/11 PR Newswire — As Ford's fuel-efficient vehicles gain momentum in California, company researchers are showcasing what could be next: intelligent vehicles that wirelessly talk to each other to reduce crashes and the billions of gallons of gas wasted in congestion each year. Today, Ford convened a panel of auto industry, transportation and technology visionaries to experience the technology and discuss how intelligent vehicles could soon lead to breakthroughs in a more sustainable transportation system. The San Francisco event includes remarks by Dr. S. Shankar Sastry, Dean of UC Berkeley's College of Engineering, and a panel including Dr. Pravin Varaiya, UC Berkeley Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Professor Emeritus.

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.