Electrical engineering

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.

Big to tiny robots on risky ground: You go first

06/13/14 Phys.org — Researchers at Berkeley Engineering's Biomimetic Millisystems Lab and ETH Zurich have suggested an approach for protecting expensive components in big robots when on difficult terrain: Send in little, inexpensively made robots ahead of them as scouts.

Named lecture series honors pioneer Ruzena Bajcsy

06/06/14 Technische Universität Darmstadt — The new Ruzena Bajcsy Lectures on Communications at TU Darmstadt honors one of the first women researchers in electrical engineering and computer sciences and a role model for women scientists and engineers worldwide. The lecture series invites leading women researchers to Darmstadt. Bajcsy's work in EECS focuses on tele-immersive environments, image processing and robotics.

So, where are my robot servants?

05/29/14 IEEE Spectrum — Four years after Berkeley engineers' video of a towel-folding robot went viral, IEEE Spectrum ponders what it will take to develop robots that can become true helpers and companions in people's homes. Berkeley roboticist Ken Goldberg says he doubts that ever-smarter machines will replace human contact, “but people aren't always available.”

CNEP researchers target brain circuitry to treat intractable mental disorders

05/27/14 — Neuroscientists, engineers and physicians from Berkeley and other university and industry partners are teaming up for an ambitious 5-year, $26 million project to develop new techniques for tackling mental illness by using devices implanted in the brain to target and correct malfunctioning neural circuits in conditions such as clinical depression, addiction and anxiety disorders.

Bakar fellows Ana Claidia Arias, John Dueber, Shawn Shadden and Laura Waller

Four Berkeley Engineering faculty among new Bakar Fellows

05/27/14 Berkeley Research — The Bakar Fellows Program's new fellows for 2014-15 include Ana Claudia Arias (EECS), who is working to improve MRI hardware; John Dueber (bioengineering), who uses synthetic biology to improve green chemistry; Shawn Shadden (mechanical engineering), whose research integrates medical diagnostic imaging with computational modeling; and Laura Waller (EECS), who develops new methods for optical imaging as head of the Computational Imaging Lab.

Javey among Berkeley trio shortlisted for prestigious early-career Blavatnik Awards

05/22/14 — Three UC Berkeley researchers - including Ali Javey, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences - are among 30 national finalists for the 2014 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists.

Caviar delivers fave restaurant dishes to your door

05/14/14 Berkeleyside — New-to-the-East-Bay Caviar, a startup that delivers favorite foods from local restaurants that don't normally offer delivery, counts two Berkeley Engineering EECS developers - Andy Zhang and Richard Din - among its four foodie founders.

University Medal finalists Brooke Liang and Robin Shah

Two Berkeley Engineers among medal finalists

05/13/14 — Finalists for the 2014 University Medal, UC Berkeley's highest honor for graduating seniors, include Brooke Liang, a bioengineer from Ottawa, Canada, and Rohin Shah, an EECS major from Pune, India.

Science Goes to the Movies: ‘Transcendence’

05/12/14 National Public Radio — In a conversation with NPR's Science Friday, EECS professor Stuart Russell explains what it would take to “upload” a mind to the Internet, and what is really worrisome about strong artificial intelligence.

Former Berkeley engineers redefine music listening through shareable headphones

05/09/14 Daily Clog — Nelson Zhang and Richie Zeng, former EECS students and co-founders of Wearhaus Inc., recently launched their Wearhaus ARC headphones, which sync wirelessly with other music listeners, allowing users to discover new music and broadcast playlists.

Art imitates academia

05/01/14 — EECS professors Jose Carmena and Michel Maharbiz served as technical consultants to Transcendence film director Wally Pfister and answered questions about the film at a campus screening.

Devices: Optimal distillation

05/01/14 — Students in the hands-on Interactive Device Design course researched the distillery business to design an elegant solution to an age-old challenge.

Analysis of shadows in moon landing photo

Moonshadow

05/01/14 — Computer science professor James O'Brien, who began tinkering with code while in elementary school, has helped design a technique for detecting altered photographs.

Bin Yu of EECS among five new NAS members

04/29/14 — Bin Yu, a Chancellor's Professor in the departments of electrical engineering and computer science and of statistics, is one of five UC Berkeley professors newly elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences. Yu works on statistical machine learning theory, methodologies, and algorithms for solving high-dimensional data problems.

EECS professor emeritus George Turin dies at 84

04/22/14 Daily Californian — George Turin, a UC Berkeley professor emeritus and former chair of the department of electrical engineering and computer sciences, died in mid-March. He was 84.

Student hackers design new ways to research the Free Speech Movement

04/18/14 — A student team that included EECS undergrads Kevin Casey and Craig Hiller took first place in HackFSM, a 12-day hackathon organized by the Bancroft Library and Digital Humanities@Berkeley that shared the Free Speech Movement's aim to create a free marketplace of ideas.