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Grad program rankings edge still higher

03/19/18 — In the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings of graduate programs, Berkeley Engineering and its departments held steady or moved higher in all categories, including electrical engineering joining CEE as the top-ranked program in the nation.
white fiber mat containing a stable enzyme that can break down a toxic chemical

Protein ‘mat’ can soak up pollution

03/15/18 — Berkeley researchers led by Ting Xu, professor of materials science and engineering and chemistry, have found a unique way to keep proteins active in synthetic environments, using this breakthrough technology to create fiber mats that can trap chemical pollution.
Award winners Lane Martin and Arvind Dasgupta with EH&S Director Patrick Goff and Vice Chancellor for Research Randy Katz

Prometheus Group honored for lab safety

02/23/18 — The Prometheus Group, headed by materials science and engineering professor Lane Martin, has won UC Berkeley's grand prize for lab safety for the team's commitment to safe practices in their work on functional complex-oxide thin-film materials.
Slide containing cesium-doped perovskite that is transparent at room temperature but turns dark at high temperatures

Study shows solar power potential for smart window material

01/22/18 — Smart windows that automatically adjust their transparency in response to light conditions could potentially generate power as well, according to a new study led by Berkeley researcher Peidong Yang, who holds a joint appointment in materials science and engineering. The new study shows that perovskite can switch back and forth between transparency and non-transparency while retaining its electronic properties.
Abstract image of computer network.

New research centers to help usher in future of microelectronics

01/19/18 — The Semiconductor Research Corporation announced six new multi-university research centers, and Berkeley Engineering faculty are leading partners in three of them. The centers aim to jump-start future technologies for the microelectronics industry.
Fisker EMotion car

Radical new battery technology for a $130,000 electric sedan

01/12/18 LA Times — Solid-state automotive batteries, like those being designed for Fisker Inc.'s all-electric EMotion supercar, will eventually exist, says materials science and engineering professor Gerbrand Ceder, but “it's not going to happen as fast as people think.”

A new metacanvas for metamaterials

12/13/17 — Junqiao Wu and Jie Yao, professors of materials science and members of Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division, asked themselves how it might be possible to create metamaterial devices that could be erased and written over again - like an Etch A Sketch drawing toy - to quickly yield a quite different device.
Gerbrand Ceder

Major progress in realizing new type of lithium cathode

11/02/17 Berkeley Lab — A team of Berkeley Lab scientists led by Gerbrand Ceder, professor of materials science and engineering, have reported major progress toward making lithium battery cathodes with so-called “disordered” materials.
Comparing potential solar fuel materials

Materials genome to solar fuels

11/01/17 — Berkeley Lab's Materials Project was deployed with great success in an effort to find new materials that hold promise for capturing more of the sun's energy.
Robert Henry “Pete” Bragg, Jr.

Pete Bragg, materials science pioneer, dies at 98

10/20/17 — Robert Henry “Pete” Bragg, Jr., professor emeritus of materials science and engineering, passed away on Oct. 3 at the age of 98. Bragg joined the Berkeley faculty in June 1969, one of six African American faculty on campus at the time.
Single nanowires shown emitting different colors.

‘Soft’ semiconductors could transform HD displays

06/29/17 Berkeley Lab — A class of semiconductors called halide perovskites could usher in new generation of optoelectronic devices, according to Berkeley Lab scientists led by materials science and engineering professor Peidong Yang.
A new ferroelectric material developed at Berkeley Lab

Scientists help thin-film ferroelectrics go extreme

05/13/17 Berkeley Lab — Lane Martin, associate professor of materials science and engineering and faculty scientist at Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division, has created the first-ever polarization gradient in a thin film, greatly expanding the range of functional temperatures for ferroelectrics, a key material used in a variety of everyday applications.
Jungiao Wu and graduate students in the lab

The rule-breaker

05/01/17 — Professor of materials science and engineering Junqiao Wu has identified an outlier in the materials world: Vanadium dioxide can conduct electricity without conducting heat.
Ali Javey holding a sensor chip

Sweating it out for science

03/01/17 Berkeley Research — In a Cory Hall lab converted into a high-tech mini-fitness center, researchers led by Bakar fellow and Berkeley Engineering professor Ali Javey trace the metabolic changes experienced by runners in real time, using a substance any good workout produces: sweat.
Berkeley Lab scientists use a nano-Auger electron spectroscopy instrument to measure the content of materials.

For this metal, electricity flows, but not the heat

01/26/17 Berkeley Lab — A study led by MSE professor and Berkeley Lab physicist Junqiao Wu finds that electrons in vanadium dioxide can conduct electricity without conducting heat - a law-breaking property that could lead to applications in thermoelectrics and window coatings.
Oscar Dubon at awards ceremony

Dubón honored for enhancing campus diversity

01/06/17 — Oscar Dubón, MSE professor and the college's associate dean for student affairs and equity & inclusion, has been selected as the winner of UC Berkeley's 2016 Chancellor's Award for Advancing Institutional Excellence and Equity.