Electrical engineering

Rendering of early Americans during the last Ice Age

Genes yield clues to arrival of first Americans

07/21/15 — Statistical models, including one created by EECS and statistics associate professor Yun Song, confirm that the original Americans crossed a land bridge from Siberia in a single wave no more than 23,000 years ago, at the height of the last Ice Age.

Dean Kuh in the new Bechtel Engineering Center

Ernest S. Kuh, Berkeley Engineering professor and dean emeritus, 1928–2015

07/08/15 — Ernest S. Kuh, dean and professor emeritus at the College of Engineering and an internationally renowned expert in electronic circuit theory, died on June 27. He was 86. A campus memorial will be held this September.

Teaching coding and hacking skills to summer camp students

UC Berkeley holds NSA-sponsored hacking summer camp for teens

07/06/15 KGO-TV — It is summer camp season and at UC Berkeley it is the government's cyberspies - the National Security Agency - who are sponsoring the summer fun. Instead of cloak and dagger, it's all about codes and hackers.

Institute of Physics awards Newton Medal to Eli Yablonovitch

07/01/15 — The United Kingdom's Institute of Physics has awarded its prestigious Isaac Newton Medal to EECS professor Eli Yablonovitch, a pioneer in the field of optoelectronics and nanophotonics.

Ernest Kuh, professor and dean emeritus, 1928-2015

06/30/15 — Ernest S. Kuh, who greatly expanded the College of Engineering's partnerships with its alumni and industry networks while serving as dean in the 1970s, died June 27 at age 86. A complete obituary will be published shortly.

Steve Wozniak receives top alumni honor

06/29/15 Cal Alumni Association — The Cal Alumni Association presented Steve Wozniak ('86 EECS) with its most esteemed honor, the 2015 Alumnus of the Year award, at a gala event at Memorial Stadium's University Club.

To teach the world robotics

06/17/15 — An electrical engineering professor and a graduate researcher designed a massively open online course to teach an intro to hacking electronics course.

Teaching robots to be moral

06/10/15 California magazine — As robots and other machines controlled by artificial intelligence are getting more sophisticated and more widely used, calls have gone out to try to instill morals in their decision-making pathways. But how? Computer science professor Stuart Russell weighs in.

The mapping backpack

06/08/15 — Berkeley engineers are building a backpack equipped with high-tech cameras and scanners that is capable of sensing and mapping indoor spaces. The backpack's potential applications include energy audits, search and rescue situations and more.

Eric Brewer and graduate student Achintya Maduri inspect solar panels

Power to the people

06/01/15 Berkeley Research — Computer science professor Eric Brewer and the students in his cross-departmental Technology and Infrastructure for Emerging Regions (TIER) program are tackling power shortages in Africa, blindness in India, and other challenges where technology can make a major impact in the developing world.

Robotic coackroach launching a bird-like robot

Robotic cockroaches are perfect tiny aircraft carriers for robotic birds

05/27/15 Gizmodo — Researchers in the Biomimetic Millisystems Lab created a robot system capable of running and flying by combining their VelociRoACH (a ground-based robot modeled after a cockroach) with the H2 Bird ornithopter (a birdlike robot).

New ‘deep learning’ technique enables robot mastery of skills via trial and error

05/22/15 — UC Berkeley researchers have developed algorithms that enable robots to learn motor tasks through trial and error using a process that more closely approximates the way humans learn, marking a major milestone in the field of artificial intelligence.

Robott scientists help BRETT learn new tasks

New approach trains robots to match human dexterity and speed

05/22/15 New York Times — Linking several powerful software techniques, as Berkeley engineers have done with BRETT (Berkeley Robot for the Elimination of Tedious Tasks), makes it possible for a robot to learn tasks rapidly with a relatively little training.

Fostering disruptive technologies

05/01/15 — The Bakar Fellows program supports faculty who are trying to translate research into commercialized technologies.

ToastBoard

05/01/15 — ToastBoard is designed to make circuit design and testing easier. It's a better breadboard.

Dash Robotics

05/01/15 — These biomimetic, origami-like kits are designed to get kids (of all ages) hooked on building robots.

Jitendra Malik among 5 Berkeley scientists named to National Academy

04/28/15 — Jitendra Malik, the Arthur J. Chick Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, is one of five UC Berkeley professors elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the nation's oldest and most prestigious scientific organization.

Paul Gray named to Silicon Valley Hall of Fame

04/17/15 Silicon Valley Engineering Council — Paul Gray (EECS professor emeritus, executive vice chancellor and provost emeritus) has been inducted into the Silicon Valley Hall of Fame in recognition of his outstanding professional achievement and significant contributions to Silicon Valley and the greater Bay Area.

The cyber-biophysical research frontier

04/16/15 — Cyber-biophysical systems, our newest research field, integrates sensing, computational and communications networks with human biology.

UN honors nanotech pioneer

04/13/15 UNESCO — Connie Chang-Hasnain, Whinnery Distinguished Professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences, was awarded a medal from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in recognition of her innovative nanotechnology research.