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.
Mechanical engineering
Innovator aims to combat global warming from the rooftops down
09/04/14 California magazine — George Ban-Weiss (Ph.D. '08 ME) is all about being cool: Not only does coolness figuratively define his work as a professional jazz bassist, it almost literally defines his career as a scientist.
Engineering sisters and their bargain bots
08/27/14 California magazine — Melissa and Lavanya (B.S.'15 ME) Jawaharlal created their affordable Pi-Bots and founded STEM Center USA to engage kids - especially girls - who otherwise might never discover their aptitude for science, technology, engineering and math.
Young Berkeley engineers recognized as innovators, humanitarians
08/20/14 MIT Technology Review — An EECS post-doc and two Berkeley Engineering alumni are named to the 2014 MIT Technology Review “35 Innovators Under 35” list. All three are part of the humanitarian category. Post-doc Kurtis Heimerl, 30, developed the Village Base Station, which brings cellular telecommunications to remote places of the world. Heimerl is CEO of Endaga, a company founded […]
Capstone team takes 2nd in ASME Undergraduate Design Competition
08/14/14 — A team of students in the Fall 2013 Bioengineering Senior Capstone Design course have won Second Place in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Undergraduate Design Competition this summer.
Scientists named to influential list for combustion research
08/06/14 The Independent — Lawrence Livermore scientist William Pitz (Ph.D.'82 ME) has been named to Thomson Reuters list of “The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds” for his research papers on combustion modeling.
Tiny laser sensor heightens bomb detection sensitivity
07/20/14 — UC Berkeley researchers, led by mechanical engineering professor Xiang Zhang, are developing ultra-sensitive bomb detectors using tiny laser sensors that could detect incredibly minute concentrations of explosives.
Engineering for all
06/18/14 National Science Foundation — In an article on how the "maker movement" shines a spotlight on DIY design and manufacturing, mechanical engineering professor Paul Wright talks about how more affordable tools, like 3-D printers and design software, are helping young inventors move rapidly from prototype to product.
The graduate
06/17/14 — Saddiq Nuru, a recent graduate from the Fung Institute's Master of Engineering program, reflects on his education, experience and ambitions. Nuru was chosen to deliver the graduate student address at this year's College of Engineering commencement ceremony.
Power hitter
06/17/14 — On the surface, the late Orlando Tafoya (B.S'53 ME) and Cal varsity softball player Breana Kostreba may not appear to have much in common. But the two were connected through the Orlando Tafoya Memorial Scholarship, awarded to engineering students interested in athletics.
On the road
06/17/14 — While working in their garage at the Richmond Field Station, the machine shop in Cory Hall, or the Hackerspace, CalSol - the UC Berkeley Solar Vehicle Team - has completely redesigned their competition vehicle. They will have the opportunity to test their new design in an upcoming endurance race that will take them across eight states, from Texas to Minnesota.
World Cup may score points for exoskeleton development
06/10/14 University of California — When soccer's World Cup kicks off June 12, mechanical engineering professor Homayoon Kazerooni and his research assistants won't be watching the players. They'll be staring at the paraplegic teenager in a brain-controlled robotic suit kicking a soccer ball.
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.
By Jupiter
05/01/14 — Recent work from Philip Marcus, professor of mechanical engineering, in collaboration with Pedram Hassanzadeh (Ph.D'13 ME), may explain the longevity of Jupiter's Great Red Spot.
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.
Bot on a budget
05/01/14 — Lavanya Jawaharlal, with her sister Melissa, co-founded STEM Center USA and developed the affordable Pi-Bot robot kit to increase access to science, technology, engineering and math fields.
Cal Human-Powered Vehicle team mends, but does not brake
05/01/14 California magazine — Things were looking bleak for the Berkeley Engineering Human-Powered Vehicle team last weekend, and the timing couldn't have been worse. Just a day before the big ASME regional race, their state-of-the-art vehicle, nicknamed Reuben, crashed and broke in two on the first practice run. Then came a bigger surprise.
Research on the literal edge of 2D semiconductors
05/01/14 Berkeley Lab — Researchers at Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley, led by Professor Xiang Zhang of mechanical engineering, have recorded the first observations of a strong nonlinear optical resonance along the edges of single layers of molybdenum disulfide. The existence of these edge states is key to the use of molybdenum disulfide in nanoelectronics, as well as a catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction in fuel cells, desulfurization and other chemical reactions.
Control design at Lift Labs
04/04/14 — Anupam Pathak's (B.S'04 ME) idea to build a device to assist people with Parkinson's disease or essential tremor evolved from helping soldiers survive combat. Pathak started his mechanical engineering doctoral research at the University of Michigan at the height of U.S. troop deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan in 2004. Field reports showed that large numbers of freshly minted troops, with little experience in war zones, were facing stress-induced tremors during combat situations. A soldier with shaky hands is dangerous; the situation was so bad that tremor was affecting casualty rates.
Berkeley scientists advance on-chip inductor technology
03/21/14 EE Times — Berkeley scientists led by mechanical engineering professor Liwei Lin report they have found a way to advance on-chip inductor technology, a breakthrough that could lead to a new generation of miniature electronics and wireless communications systems.