Mechanical engineering

crystal orientations of 2D semiconductor membranes

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.

Do good, be in demand as an engineer

03/11/14 U.S. News & World Report — Berkeley Engineering alum William T. Hagen (M.Eng.'12 ME) is an example of how job prospects in fields that allow engineers to help the world – such as energy, civil and mechanical engineering – are projected to grow.

Bacteria interacting with a nanostructure

Scientists show which surfaces attract clingy Staph bacteria

03/04/14 Berkeley Lab — Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley researchers are investigating how shapes and surface texture influence the adhesion of infectious Staphylococcus Aureus bacteria. Their work, led by Mohammad Mofrad, a Berkeley Lab faculty scientist and a professor of bioengineering and mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley, could guide the development of bacteria-resistant materials.

Astronaut Rex Walheim with a Berkeley pennant

Rex Walheim – NASA astronaut and Berkeley engineer

02/24/14 Insight@Berkeley — Rex Walheim (B.S.'84 ME), veteran of more than 500 hours in space, talks about the value of tenacity, the power of passion, and the need for engineers to lay down their computers and polish their people skills.

Connor Landgraf with phone and stethoscope

Startup founded by students aims to revolutionize stethoscope

02/12/14 Daily Californian — Family doctors' iPhones may soon be incorporated into regular checkups to help monitor and detect heart conditions, thanks to a startup company run by UC Berkeley students and led by CEO Connor Landgraf (B.S.'13, M.Eng.'14 BioE).

Pinning down malevolent cancer cells

02/07/14 Berkeley Research — Lydia Sohn, associate professor of mechanical engineering, is analyzing circulating tumor cells in the bloodstream of breast cancer patients, aiming to find new methods for early diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Her work has earned her recognition as one of five new Bakar Fellows on the Berkeley campus.

Carlos Daganzo, J. Karl Hedrick and Jack Moehle

NAE adds three Berkeley faculty to its ranks

02/06/14 — Three Berkeley Engineering faculty - Carlos Daganzo (CEE), J. Karl Hedrick (ME) and Jack Moehle (CEE) - are among 67 new members and 11 foreign associates elected Thursday to the National Academy of Engineering.

Seafloor carpet catches waves to generate energy

01/28/14 — UC Berkeley mechanical engineers are developing a seafloor carpet system to capture ocean wave energy and convert it into usable electricity. The system could eventually help lower the cost of converting seawater into fresh water, easing the pressure during periods of drought.

Chris Ategeka named to Forbes 30 Under 30

01/08/14 Forbes — Christopher Ategeka (B.S. '11 ME), founder of CA Bikes, which builds bike and motorcycle ambulances for those in need in his native Uganda, has been selected as one of Forbes magazine's 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneurs.

ME professor’s research determines particles most likely to cause stroke

12/09/13 Daily Californian — While some mechanical engineers use their supercomputers to build airplanes and vehicles, assistant professor Shawn Shadden uses his to map the inner workings of the human heart, and to improve its man-made replacement parts.

Stanley Berger, known for his work in blood flow, dies at 79

12/04/13 — Stanley A. Berger, Montford G. Cook professor emeritus of mechanical engineering and bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and a renowned expert in fluid mechanics, died on Nov. 25, 2013. He was 79.

Flying to the edge of darkness

11/22/13 — Adam Wright (B.S'05 ME) is building submarines that fly through water. He started his career at Hawkes Ocean Technologies as an unpaid intern before his freshman year of college. Early this year, he was named the company's president and CEO.

Under observation

11/01/13 — Scientists have discovered a better way to study integrins experimentally, by creating a computer model.

Check your head

11/01/13 — Researchers have developed affordable technology to help diagnose brain injuries in real time.

Adam Wright in the cockpit of the Super Falcon

Diving to the edge of darkness

11/01/13 — At Hawkes Ocean Technologies, alum Adam Wright builds manned submarines capable of underwater flight.

Luck, smarts lead from Uganda to UC Berkeley

10/22/13 San Francisco Chronicle — The amazing journey of Christopher Ategeka, who went from teenage orphan and human scarecrow in Uganda to mechanical engineer at UC Berkeley (two degrees down, one more in the works), winning honors and prizes, founding a nonprofit and a biotech company, even giving a TED talk.

March of the ‘zombie vortices’

09/11/13 — A team led by Philip Marcus, a mechanical engineering professor and computational physicist, shows how variations in gas density lead to instability, which then generates the whirlpool-like vortices needed for stars to form. According to the researchers' models, the change in density is what triggers the violent birth of a new star, upending an otherwise stable dead zone of gas-or what Marcus calls ‘zombie vortices'

Promising cost analysis for thermoelectricity

07/01/13 Royal Society of Chemistry — Scientists, including Berkeley mechanical engineering Ph.D. candidate Shannon Yee, have derived a metric to analyze the cost of power generation using thermoelectric technology. The metric shows that thermoelectric devices have greater potential in large-scale power generation than previously thought.