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Home > News > With flexibility comes possibility

With flexibility comes possibility

Berkeley Engineer magazine Spring 2021 cover
April 26, 2021
This article appeared in Berkeley Engineer magazine, Spring 2021
  • In this issue
    Coiled fiber optic cable

    Coming to light

    Students in Dan Fletcher

    The health lab in your pocket

    Time-lapse photo of robotic arm grasping and moving various objects

    Smooth operator

    Outdoor class on Blum Hall patio

    Next-gen leaders

    Upfront

    • Unraveled
    • It's elemental
    • Out of the bag
    • A new twist
    • Bring in the reinforcements
    • Read my hand
    • Q+A on the future of our cities

    New & noteworthy

    • Cultivating female coders in Africa
    • M.E.T. program celebrates first graduating class
    • Farewell
    • With flexibility comes possibility
  • Past issues

When the pandemic put the world into lockdown, academic classes across campus had to shift quickly to remote learning. This posed particular challenges for hands-on lab courses, including three core classes in Berkeley’s mechanical
engineering department.

Faculty and students solved the problem by creating a microcontroller and electronics kit that provided everything students would need to build and test circuits, as well as a companion website with collaboration tools. Within three weeks, kits had been delivered to 270 students worldwide.

Such flexibility to adapt to adversity was made possible through discretionary resources like the Berkeley Engineering Fund. Contributions to this annual fund can be put to use immediately in support of the college’s greatest needs. With your support, anything is possible.

To learn more about giving to the Berkeley Engineering Fund, email us at: bef@berkeley.edu

Berkeley Engineering wordmark

Mechanical engineering assistant professor Hannah Stuart
“Practicing theory on real hardware at home elevated engagement and retention of
the materials.”
Hannah Stuart
Assistant professor
Components in the mechanical engineering microkit
Race car built from microkit components
“I’ve been able to test my understanding on controls, linkages and electronics while learning how to utilize new parts.”
Natalia Perez
 Undergrad student
Undergrad student Natalia Perez working on electronics project at home
Topics: College news
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