Faculty

The skinny on skin

05/04/15 Inside Science — A study co-authored by materials science and engineering professor Robert Ritchie has shown, for the first time, that collagen explains the great durability of skin. The finding could help scientists develop better synthetic skin and improve the strength of man-made materials.

Claude Shannon, the creator of Information Theory, and Alan Turing, the creator of modern Computer Science

Through the computational lens

05/01/15 Simons Institute — EECS professor Umesh Vazirani discusses efforts at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing to foster a dialogue between the disciplines of information theory and computer science.

David Patterson and Carlo Séquin, pictured in 1981.

Simplify: The RISC story

05/01/15 — EECS professors David Patterson and Carlo Séquin, along with the Reduced Instruction Set Computer team, were honored by IEEE for their landmark work from the 1980s.

Farewell

05/01/15 — Obituaries for Berkeley Engineering faculty and alumni

Smart scooter

05/01/15 — Modified Razor scooters are used in a cyber-physical system design course to how electric vehicles interface with the energy grid.

NASA Tensegrity robots

05/01/15 — These squishy robots are inspiring new ways of thinking about the form and function of automated systems.

‘Intelligent design’ — can it deliver?

04/28/15 Berkeley Research — Berkeley bioengineer David Schaffer uses a strategy known as directed evolution to find variations in a common virus that will allow it to effectively deliver drugs to target cells.

How to attract female engineers

04/27/15 New York Times — In a New York Times op-ed article, Lina Nilsson, innovation director for the Blum Center, writes that the key to increasing the number of female engineers may be to focus engineering projects and curriculums on achieving societal good.

CEE chair Madanat appointed dean of engineering at NYU Abu Dhabi

04/23/15 — Samer Madanat, chair of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering from 2012-present, has been named dean of engineering at New York University's Abu Dhabi campus, and will be leaving Berkeley in July.

Q&A: Concerns of an Artificial Intelligence pioneer

04/21/15 Quanta magazine — Computer scientist and EECS professor Stuart Russell wants to ensure that our increasingly intelligent machines remain aligned with human values.

Sheila Humphreys, Gary May and Lorraine Fleming

President honors 3 from Berkeley Engineering as outstanding mentors

03/31/15 White House — President Obama on Monday named Sheila Humphreys, EECS director emerita of diversity, as one of 14 recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. Also honored were Berkeley Engineering alumni Gary May (M.S.'87, Ph.D.'91, EECS), engineering dean at Georgia Tech, and Lorraine Fleming (Ph.D.'85 CEE) of Howard University.

Electric vehicle batteries last longer than previously thought

03/30/15 Berkeley Lab — Scott Moura, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, has co-authored a study with Berkeley Lab colleagues that may alleviate concerns over battery life in electric vehicles.

Synthetic coatings: Super surfaces

03/26/15 Nature — Characteristics adapted from lizards, ivy and other natural materials could help to engineer everyday objects with remarkable properties. Professor Phillip Messersmith, a Berkeley materials scientist and bioengineer, is studying mussel adhesive, which is ideal for securing objects underwater.

EECS professor Ana Claidia Arias demonstrates her wearable MRI wrap to Barbara Bakar and Arnold Silverman.

Bakar Fellows show off their discoveries to tech entrepreneurship world

03/25/15 — Sixteen UC Berkeley faculty, including many Berkeley Engineers, who are conducting commercially promising research supported by the Bakar Fellows Program traveled to San Francisco to deepen their connections with prominent venture capital firms, industry partners and entrepreneurs.

The waves of the future may bend around metamaterials

03/24/15 New York Times — In recent years, scientists have learned how to construct materials that bend light, radar, radio, even seismic waves in ways that do not naturally occur. A key pioneer of these metamaterials is Berkeley Engineering's Xiang Zhang, whose lab has created optical “superlenses” that may one day surpass the power of today's microscopes.

Paul Alivisatos to step down as lab director

03/24/15 Berkeley Lab — Berkeley Lab Director Paul Alivisatos, who is also a professor of materials science and engineering and chemistry, on Tuesday announced his intention to leave his position once a successor can be recruited to lead the lab.

Aging wooden bridge needs all the support it can get

03/23/15 New York Times — Structural engineering professor Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl has been hired as a consultant on a fight by local residents to save the Albion River Bridge - California's last wooden bridge on a coastal highway.

Tensegrity robots make headlines

03/23/15 BEST Lab — Tensegrity robots have been featured in a host of recent media articles. The spherical cable-and-rod structures are being developed by mechanical engineering professor Alice Agogino's team, working with NASA Ames and their collaborators, for tasks ranging from space exploration to home health care.

What’s the state of California’s water infrastructure?

03/20/15 KALW — On a program about California's water crisis, David Sedlak, professor of civil and environmental engineering, talks about the extensive system of levees, aqueducts and pipes supply water to 25 million Californians and three million acres of farmland.

New chameleon-like material

03/12/15 — Berkeley engineers led by EECS professor Connie Chang-Hasnain have created an ultra-thin film that can shift colors as easily as a chameleon's skin when pulled or twisted.