Great optics
11/01/14 — EECS professor Connie Chang-Hasnain, named associate dean for strategic alliances in July, has introduced a robust toolkit of nano-optoelectronic circuit elements.
Electrical engineering
Evolutionary algorithms
11/01/14 — EECS professor Umesh Vazirani and his colleagues have developed an algorithm that helps demystify a paradox inherent in evolution, demonstrating that diversity results from the selection process, as well as genetic mutations.
Herding cells with electricity
11/01/14 — EECS professor Michel Maharbiz and bioengineering graduate student Daniel Cohen found that an electrical current can orchestrate the migration of a group of cells into a shape of their choosing.
Freedom phones
11/01/14 — EECS Ph.D. student Yahel Ben-David and alum Barath Raghavan lead the De Novo Group, a research team developing the Rangzen smartphone app, designed to support dissenters and protect identities.
Body mechanics
11/01/14 — Berkeley engineers are building better bodies, one part at a time.
AI researchers say Elon Musk’s fears ‘not completely crazy’
10/29/14 Computerworld — Commenting on high-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk provocative statement that artificial intelligence research is a danger to humanity, EECS professor and robotics researcher Stuart Russell says that "If we don't know how to control AI… it would be like making a hydrogen bomb. They would be much more dangerous than they are useful."
The robot in the cloud
10/27/14 New York Times — In a conversation with the New York Times' Bits blog, Berkeley Engineering professor, roboticist and new media pioneer Ken Goldberg discusses what he thinks will be one of the great technology breakthroughs of our age: the fusing of robotics and cloud computing.
Scientists consider repurposing robots for Ebola
10/23/14 New York Times — Robotics scientists, pondering the intriguing possibility of repurposing existing search-and-rescue robots to help contain the Ebola epidemic, are planning a nationwide series of brainstorming meetings, including one Nov. 7 at UC Berkeley.
Waller honored with Packard Fellowship
10/20/14 Packard Foundation — The David and Lucile Packard Foundation has named Laura Waller, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences, as a recipient of the 2014 Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering. The Fellowship was awarded to 18 innovative early-career scientists. Waller will receive a grand of $875,000 over five years to pursue her research.
Waller, others gain funding for interdisciplinary big-data research
10/02/14 — EECS assistant professor Laura Waller, who hopes to use new computational tricks to turn simple microscopes into cutting-edge imaging machines, is one of 14 researchers who will receive $1.5 million over the next five years as part of the the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's Data-Driven Discovery Initiative.
Cybertools offer new channels for free speech, but grassroots organizing still critical
10/02/14 — Scholars from CITRIS, the Blum Center and EECS assess the ways the Internet and online tools have changed how social movements operate and communicate in the 50 years since the Free Speech Movement.
USAID is incubating start-ups to tackle poverty problems
09/17/14 Los Angeles Times — Seeking entrepreneurial solutions to poverty, the US Agency for International Development has bet a million dollars on Gram Power, the brainchild of two Berkeley Engineering grads who aim to bring electricity to rural India while slowing climate change at the same time.
EECS researcher creates controllable flying insects using TI technology
09/12/14 Texas Instruments — EECS associate professor Michel Maharbiz spends his days studying the "beautiful systems" of the insect world, and applying that knowledge to building the tiniest of flying objects.
8 grad students named Siebel Scholars
09/11/14 Siebel Scholars Foundation — Eight Berkeley Engineering graduate students - five from bioengineering and three from EECS - have been selected as Siebel Scholars for 2015, joining a class of 83 of the most talented students from the world's leading graduate schools.
Bakar research fellows make their case in Silicon Valley
09/09/14 — Sixteen Bakar Fellows, including several Berkeley Engineering faculty members, recently presented their research ideas to a a packed room of potential investors on Sand Hill Road.
Out of many, one
08/25/14 The New Yorker — EECS professor, Alexei Efros built the AverageExplorer to study visual information. The software creates an average image after compiling thousands of similar Internet photos.
The 10 best universities for robotics in the U.S.
07/18/14 Business Insider — In a roundup of university robotics options from around the country, UC Berkeley lands at the top of the list, described as "an incredibly robust college for robotics that will likely meet your interests no matter what they are."
A class discovery platform: By students, for students
07/16/14 Forbes — Three Berkeley undergraduates, including EECS junior Noah Gilmore, have created an interactive website designed to help students choose classes. Called Berkeleytime, it gathers all of the school's curricular information in one place, allowing students to filter and sort by thousands of criteria.
Nanolasers on silicon to provide faster data transmission
07/14/14 LiveScience — New technology in development at Berkeley Engineering promises to ensure that fiber optic networks will be able to keep pace with consumer demand for speed and seamless data flow. The work, led by EECS professor Connie Chang-Hasnain, involves growing lasers (called nanoneedles) on silicon , the base layer of choice for electronic devices.
Colleges work to engage women, minorities in STEM fields
07/10/14 U.S. News & World Report — Sheila Humphreys, director of diversity for Berkeley Engineering's electrical engineering and computer science department, talks about efforts in her department to encourage minorities and women breaking into the field.