Mechanical engineering

Bullet-train planners face huge engineering challenge

11/12/12 Los Angeles Times — An audacious plan is taking shape on the drawing boards of California's bullet train planners as they envision a high-speed rail line from Bakersfield to L.A. that will travel over two mountain ranges and more than half a dozen earthquake faults. The crossing is seizing the imagination of engineers who see it as the greatest design challenge of the $68-billion project. "It is the project of the century," said Berkeley civil engineering professor Bill Ibbs.

Olympic-caliber engineer

11/01/12 — Olympic rower and mechanical engineering student Olivier Siegelaar relates his experiences as an Olympian and student-athlete.

Switched

11/01/12 — A multi-institutional team of researchers has created the first artificial molecules whose chirality - a molecule's distinct right or left orientation - can be quickly switched from right to left with a beam of light.

Piggyback ride

11/01/12 — Berkeley Engineering students helped create CINEMA (CubeSat for Ions, Neutrals, Electrons and MAgnetic fields), a low-cost nanosatellite designed to piggyback aboard other NASA missions.

Building green motorcycles

11/01/12 — Most of the things motorcycle makers call character, like throaty pipes, are really just covering up byproducts of internal combustion—and masking energy lost during power production. In contrast, electric motorcycles are stealthy and quiet, a trait not lost on riders. Abe Askenazi, head of engineering at Zero Motorcycles. (Photo courtesy Zero Motorcycles)“If you get on […]

C.D. (Dan) Mote Jr. nominated to be next National Academy of Engineering president

09/12/12 National Academy of Engineering — The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) 2013 nominating committee has unanimously recommended C.D. (Dan) Mote Jr. to stand as the sole candidate for the NAE presidency. Mote received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Berkeley, where he served on the faculty for 31 years and held positions as chair of the department of mechanical engineering, president of the UC Berkeley Foundation, and vice chancellor.

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.

NSF awards $2 million to develop flexible bioelectronics systems

08/30/12 — The National Science Foundation has awarded $2 million over four years for a UC Berkeley project to develop flexible bioelectronics systems. The research would support the development of electronic materials that could not only be implanted into the body for medical applications such as wound healing, but that could also be safely resorbed into the body.

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.”

For good design, start with the end user

06/26/12 — “If you're an engineer and you're working on a project to improve parks, you could stay in a lab. Or you could go to up to Tilden Park and get a fuller context of what visitors experience,” says Lora Oehlberg, a mechanical engineering graduate student and an instructor in a sequence of classes known as the human-centered design course thread.

Whose lab are you wearing?

05/22/12 Berkeley Science Review — When most of us think of electronics, we think of the sturdy stability of silicon and plastic. Flexibility is a trait that belongs to the organic world, where materials come in all shapes and stiffness. However, advances in materials science and electrical engineering have paved the way for a new type of electronic device: one that can bend and fold just like a piece of paper. From flexible displays to disposable RFID tags, these new materials have enabled electronics to end up in places they never have before. They could even, thanks to Berkeley electrical engineering and computer sciences professor Ana Claudia Arias, end up in our own clothing.

Floating robots provide insight into Delta waters

05/15/12 ABC News — UC Berkeley engineering researchers have developed floating robots that may help California in a number of scenarios. The sensors are equipped with GPS receivers and cellphone technology that provide data showing their exact movements in the waterway in real time. They can also deliver information on pollution, salinity and other variables. "The goal here is to be able to show the currents on a scale that was previously unknown, so we can understand better how the Delta works," UC Berkeley electrical engineer Alex Bayen said.

Washington calling

05/01/12 — The White House has tapped two of Berkeley Engineering's own for leadership on critical presidential initiatives.

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.

Mechanical engineering doctoral student Christopher Ategeka receives Chancellor’s Award for Public Service

04/10/12 Cal Corps — Christopher Ategeka, UC Berkeley doctoral student in mechanical engineering, has received the Graduate Student Award for Civic Engagement, one of the honors offered as the Chancellor's Award for Public Service. Ategeka, who also received his B.S. from Berkeley Engineering, recounted his formidable journey to Berkeley from his rural Ugandan village in a commencement address in May

Maker of resonators

03/19/12 — Most days (and nights), you'll find Ernest Ting-Ta Yen, a mechanical engineering Ph.D. student, immersed in the complexities of his microelectromechanical systems research. The aluminum nitride resonators he builds, aimed at new cell phones and communications applications, are designed to help shrink mobile devices while increasing functionality. Happen upon him in his graduate student office at midnight, though, and you'll hear lovely strains of music. Yen practices from midnight to 2 a.m., the only hours available to this busy researcher.

When the car is the driver

02/17/12 National Public Radio — This week the state of Nevada finalized new rules that will make it possible for robotic self-driving cars to receive their own special driving permits. Do people notice a self-driving car and gawk? "We get a lot of thumbs up," says Berkeley Engineering alum Anthony Levandowski (M.S.'03 IEOR), one of the leaders of Google's self-driving car project. Google's fleet of robotic cars has driven more than 200,000 miles over highways and city streets in California and Nevada.

Berkeley Engineering grad students design an ‘EcoFridge’ that uses 40 per cent less energy

02/10/12 BusinessGreen — Imagine an environmentally friendly household refrigerator that is affordable and helps break people's energy-wasting habits when they use the appliance. That is what team of UC Berkeley grad students in engineering and industrial design students from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico envisioned when they were asked by appliance manufacturer Mabe to develop a cost competitive fridge that is kinder to the environment than others available to consumers in Mexico.

Three Berkeley Engineering students named finalists for 2012-2013 Hertz Fellowship

02/09/12 Wall Street Journal MarketWatch — The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation has announced fifty finalists for the 2012-2013 Hertz Fellowship, chosen from over 600 applicants. Considered the nation's most generous support for graduate education in the applied sciences and engineering, the Hertz Fellowship is valued at more than $250,000 per student, with support lasting up to five years. Berkeley Engineering students David Barth (ME), Nicholas Boyd (EECS) and Sean Lubner (ME) have been selected.