News

The education of a maker

05/17/12 — Parents like Tony DeRose (Ph.D'85 CS), senior scientist and research group lead at Pixar Animation Studios, are all too familiar with the difficulty of finding something engaging for their children to do with their hands. “When my son grew out of Legos at about eight years old, we realized there wasn't much for him to graduate into,” DeRose says. That's when DeRose and his son began working on projects in their garage. Most of the projects went unfinished until they discovered the Maker Faire. From there, DeRose and his son were hooked. DeRose wanted to bring the Maker Faire to more students and co-founded the Young Makers program in 2010.

Preventive medicine for pipelines

05/17/12 — Nationwide, our network of more than 2.5 million miles of pipeline is aging. More than a third of the pipeline infrastructure is over 50 years old, and a reliable method to monitor corrosion hasn't really existed. Until now. Jerome Singer, professor emeritus of EECS and engineering science, and two Berkeley Engineering alums have developed a way to keep tabs on pipeline health by using an MRI machine similar to the ones used in hospitals. Their technology is called the Magnetic Response Imaging System (MRIS), and it will be able to look at the state of underground pipelines.

Hats off to 2012 graduates

05/17/12 — The world is now wealthier by well over 1,300 newly minted Berkeley Engineers–a proud moment we celebrated on Saturday, May 12 with the college's 143rd commencement exercises in the Greek Theatre. In the morning, we saluted our master's and doctoral candidates, including the first cohort to graduate from the college's new professional master of engineering program. Commencement speaker Thomas Siebel, chairman of First Virtual Group, reminded graduates that “luck, they say, is where preparation meets opportunity. Be ready. Luck happens.” In our baccalaureate ceremony that afternoon, Marvell co-founder Weili Dai (B.S'84 CS) encouraged the graduates with her own story. Watch a slideshow of the festive events.

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.

iPhone powered by viruses? Berkeley scientists move closer

05/14/12 ABC News — Viruses might eventually be able to power the very phone, computer or tablet you're reading this article on. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Berkeley Lab have been able to generate power using a harmless human virus that can covert mechanical force into electricity. "In near future, we believe that we can develop personal electric generators," said Seung-Wuk Lee, a faculty scientist at Berkeley Lab and professor of bioengineering at UC Berkeley.

Weili Dai’s commencement address to Berkeley Engineering students

05/14/12 San Francisco Chronicle — Entrepreneur Weili Dai, the co-founder of Marvell Technology Group Ltd. and Berkeley Engineering alumna, may be the first woman to deliver the commencement address to a UC Berkeley College of Engineering graduating class. This commentary is excerpted from the speech she gave to the Class of 2012 on Saturday, May 12

Texas Instruments gives $2.2 million to re-energize introductory electronics courses at UC Berkeley

05/10/12 Texas Instruments — Texas Instruments Incorporated has announced a $2.2 million gift to support engineering education at UC Berkeley. The university will use the gift to transform its traditional introductory Electronic Design Laboratory into a dynamic learning environment for undergraduate students. "This is a unique opportunity to introduce a new generation of engineering students to the fun of building things that matter," said Professor Costas Spanos. "We will do this by infusing the 'maker' ethic early into the learning cycle, and by creating a place that brings together state-of-the-art instructional labs, a student meeting place and student-run space for hardware hacking."

Berkeley Engineering alum Ilesanmi Adesida chosen as University of Illinois provost

05/09/12 Illinois News-Gazette — The University of Illinois has chosen a noted nanotechnology scholar as its next provost. Ilesanmi "Ade" Adesida, dean of the UI's College of Engineering, is expected to assume the post on August 16. Born in Nigeria, Adesida has made the UI campus his home for 25 years. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering from UC Berkeley.

Morgan Stanley’s Grimes is where money and tech meet

05/08/12 The New York Times — Berkeley Engineering alum Michael Grimes (B.S.'87 EECS), the head of Morgan Stanley's Menlo Park office, has become Silicon Valley's banker of choice for initial public offerings, and his firm is the lead underwriter of Facebook's IPO. "He was known as the whip-smart Cal Berkeley engineer who really understood technology," said Mary Meeker, who worked with Mr. Grimes at Morgan Stanley. "He's very creative and goes to meetings with the mind-set that the team needs to earn and re-earn the client's confidence at every turn."

Teaching engineers to be business leaders

05/07/12 Poets & Quants — A year ago, UC Berkeley's College of Engineering launched a leadership program for Silicon Valley engineers who wanted a deep dive in business and management but didn't want to commit to an MBA program. The Engineering Leadership Professional program has attracted engineers from Facebook, Cisco, Yahoo, Applied Materials and Network Appliances, among others. The program has been a big success, drawing 45 participants last year and 48 this year. "This is a hidden gem of a program," says Ikhlaq Sidhu, the curriculum designer and academic director of the program.

Berkeley Engineering’s Ashok Gadgil honored for bridging innovation and humanitarianism to help millions globally

05/02/12 Business Wire — Dr. Ashok Gadgil is the recipient of the 2012 $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation in recognition of his steady pursuit to blend research, invention, and humanitarianism for broad social impact. Gadgil is a chair professor of Safe Water and Sanitation at UC Berkeley, and director of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Farewell

05/02/12 — Obituaries for Berkeley Engineering faculty and alumni

African project aims to innovate in educational robotics

05/01/12 IEEE Spectrum — Roboticists in Africa and in the United States have launched an initiative to enhance robotics education, research, and industry in Africa. The African Robotics Network (AFRON) wants to mobilize a community of institutions and individuals working on robotics-related areas, strengthening communication and collaboration among them. One of the co-founders of AFRON is Ken Goldberg, an IEEE Fellow and professor of robotics at UC Berkeley. Goldberg was born in Nigeria, where his parents were teachers.

Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing

05/01/12 The New York Times — The Simons Foundation, which specializes in science and math research, has chosen UC Berkeley as host for an ambitious new center for computer science. The foundation's $60 million grant to establish the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing underscores the growing influence of computer science on the physical and social sciences.

UC Berkeley wins $60 million for computer center

05/01/12 San Francisco Chronicle — UC Berkeley has won a $60 million grant to establish a worldwide center for theoretical computer science to explore high-level mathematical algorithms that could help a variety of scientific fields, including health care, climate modeling and economics. The award from the Simons Foundation of New York will be used to start the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, which is expected start operations in July.

Dean’s word: We’ve changed

05/01/12 — When was your last visit to Berkeley Engineering? If it’s been awhile, you are in for some surprises. Start your virtual tour at North Gate and walk east. What you may remember as the Naval Architecture Building is now renovated—faithful to its historic designation —and expanded as Blum Hall, home to the Blum Center for […]