Industry

Academic-industrial team to uncover innovations in systems engineering

05/30/13 iCyPhy — UC Berkeley has partnered with Caltech, IBM and United Technologies Corp. to launch Industrial Cyber Physical Systems (iCyPhy), a Berkeley-based research consortium that will identify and develop new engineering techniques to make it easier to successfully build products and services that combine complex software, hardware and mechanical components.

Greening the factory floor

05/01/13 — Berkeley graduate students and professors at the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Sustainability, led by mechanical engineering chair David Dornfeld, are guiding factory owners and builders to a green manufacturing future.

College, TI cut ribbon on $2.2 million electronics design lab

04/11/13 Berkeley Patch — Texas Instruments and the College of Engineering today opened the doors to a state-of-the-art electronics teaching lab in Cory Hall, made possible by major gifts from TI and Agilent, that will encourage ingenuity among undergraduate engineering students.

Who should share the responsibility for sustainability?

02/19/13 Environmental Leader — In a blog post for environmental and energy managers, David Dornfeld, professor and chair of mechanical engineering, writes about finding ways to include all the costs of a product into the price the consumer pays, insuring that everyone pays their “fair share” and encouraging innovation.

Manufacturing: Innovation’s secret sauce

02/07/13 — Thanks to our new master of engineering program and other initiatives, we're educating a new generation of entrepreneurial engineers with transformative products and services in mind. But to drive these innovative ideas to market, they will need manufacturing know-how as well.

Can Silicon Valley bring back U.S. manufacturing?

10/22/12 San Jose Mercury News — In a Mercury News op-ed, Marvell executive and computer science alumna Weili Dai calls for a resurgence of U.S. manufacturing. “Silicon Valley has the know-how, track record and brain trust to lead the way,” says Dai. “For example, UC Berkeley and other fine universities already graduate some of the world's top semiconductor manufacturing experts.”

Alumni and corporate partners say thank you to Berkeley

10/16/12 Graduate Division — VMware could have honored software architect Michael Nelson (B.A'83 CS, Ph.D'88 EECS) with a gold watch and a handshake for his groundbreaking contributions to cloud technology. Instead, the firm endowed an $800,000 fellowship at Berkeley. In all, the Graduate Fellowships Matching Program has set up more than 60 funds campuswide – 13 of them in the College of Engineering alone.

Hyundai research agreement kicks off long-term partnership

09/02/12 Daily Cal — The first project of the Hyundai R&D Global Frontier Program establishes Hyundai Center of Excellence at UC Berkeley and UC Davis, world leaders in automotive engineering and technology research. Through this initiative, select Hyundai engineers will join top researchers at both universities to work on vehicle dynamics and integrated vehicle safety systems. The Center of Excellence will conduct research projects aimed at making Hyundai vehicles safer, better-handling, and more fun to drive.

White House report provides roadmap for revitalizing U.S. manufacturing

07/17/12 — The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released a report on July 17 that provides a roadmap for revitalizing manufacturing industries in the U.S. The report is a product of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) Steering Committee, whose membership includes leading manufacturing experts from industry and six universities, including the University of California, Berkeley.“For the U.S economy to flourish, America must have a robust manufacturing sector,” said UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau. “This report maps out exciting and innovative strategies by each of the university, government and business sectors that can ensure that the U.S. will play a leadership role in advancing manufacturing. We at UC Berkeley are excited by this report and are ready to play an active role in moving forward the report's recommendations.”

American Bureau of Shipping endows ocean engineering chair

07/05/12 MarineLink.com — Professor Ronald W. Yeung has received the inaugural appointment to a new chair endowed by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) in ocean engineering, which is within the department of mechanical engineering. “We believe that encouraging students in engineering is crucial to the future of the industry,” says ABS President and CEO Christopher J. Wiernicki. “We are convinced the caliber of people in leadership roles at universities like UC Berkeley is one of the keys to ensuring these institutions continue to produce the quality engineers who will develop technologies that will determine the future of the industry.”

VMware names Berkeley Engineering alumnus as first VMware Fellow to recognize exceptional leadership and technology contributions

06/07/12 Yahoo Finance — VMware, Inc., the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, has announced the appointment of two VMware Fellows, recognizing the continued and dramatic contributions by outstanding VMware people to its products, the company and the industry at large. As the inaugural VMware Fellows, Mike Nelson (Ph.D.'88 EECS) and Ole Agesen are being honored by endowments in their names of $800,000 each to UC Berkeley and Stanford University, their respective alma maters.

Texas Instruments gives $2.2 million to re-energize introductory electronics courses at UC Berkeley

05/10/12 Texas Instruments — Texas Instruments Incorporated has announced a $2.2 million gift to support engineering education at UC Berkeley. The university will use the gift to transform its traditional introductory Electronic Design Laboratory into a dynamic learning environment for undergraduate students. "This is a unique opportunity to introduce a new generation of engineering students to the fun of building things that matter," said Professor Costas Spanos. "We will do this by infusing the 'maker' ethic early into the learning cycle, and by creating a place that brings together state-of-the-art instructional labs, a student meeting place and student-run space for hardware hacking."

Building green performance motorcycles

04/17/12 — Electric motorcycles are quiet, and from a power perspective more efficient. Both traits are not lost on the rider. “If you get on these electric motorcycles the first thing you notice is a magic carpet ride feel,” says Abe Askenazi, B.S'92, M.S'94 ME. “It's almost like flying. It feels like you are on a glider and this thing is propelling you forward. You don't hear all of the drama of power production, you are just doing it.” Askenazi has traveled a long road to become the chief technology officer at Zero Motorcycles, one of the nation's leading electric motorcycle manufacturers.

High-tech titans: Gordon Moore and Andy Grove

04/06/12 National Public Radio — In a rare joint interview, Intel legends Gordon Moore (B.S. '50, Chemistry) and Andy Grove (Ph.D. '63, ChemE) discuss how their company has thrived over the decades and what they think of the current crop of Silicon Valley techies.

Manufacturing: The road to economic recovery

10/17/11 — We have become a nation of traders, regulators and middle parties. But are we still a nation of designers and makers? In the 1950s, manufacturing contributed more than 25 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. Today, that share has fallen to below 12 percent. China is rapidly overtaking the United States as the world's largest manufacturing nation.

U.S. firms pledge more engineering internships

09/01/11 AAAS Science Insider — During a meeting of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, a group of some 50 U.S. companies promised to create thousands of internships for engineering students as a way to increase the number of U.S. citizens who earn engineering degrees and enter the profession. The increase in internships "is a tremendous boon for students," said panelist S. Shankar Sastry, dean of the college of engineering at UC Berkeley. "And it's scalable: If 50 companies join in today, you can expect many more to follow."

President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness announces industry leaders’ commitment to double engineering internships in 2012

08/31/11 Whitehouse.gov — The President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness has announced that 45 industry leaders have committed to double the engineering internships available at their companies in 2012. "For America to stay competitive in the global market, we must train and retain the world's best engineers," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. Intel CEO and Berkeley alumnus Paul Otellini stated, "Looking forward, this nation is at risk of a significant shortfall of qualified experts in science and math to meet the country's needs. Today's announcement is about inspiring and encouraging our next generation of engineers."

Berkeley bywords: Made in the U.S.A.

08/18/11 — When it comes to manufacturing know-how, Berkeley Engineering is the College of Big Shoulders. From minuscule chips to massive aircraft, we invent the tools and methods that power the assembly lines of American manufacturing.

Intel Labs opens latest Intel Science and Technology Centers

08/03/11 Intel — Aimed at shaping the future of cloud computing and how increasing numbers of everyday devices will add computing capabilities, Intel Labs announced the latest Intel Science and Technology Centers (ISTC) both headquartered at Carnegie Mellon University. The center combines top researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of California Berkeley, Princeton University, and Intel. The researchers will explore technology that will have has important future implications for the cloud.

At Qualcomm, rise of founder’s son defies hazards of succession

06/12/11 The New York Times — When Paul E. Jacobs took over from his father as chief executive of the chip maker Qualcomm in 2005, mobile phones were just beginning their transition from tools for talking to hand-held computers delivering data and entertainment. "We talk about the future of computing being mobile, but I don't feel that way," said Mr. Jacobs, 48. "I feel the present of computing is mobile." Mr. Jacobs received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer sciences from UC Berkeley and is the current chairman of the UC Berkeley College of Engineering Advisory Board.