Molecular Legos
05/01/12 — Led by bioengineering professor Seung-Wuk Lee, researchers have found a way to more easily work with collagen.
News
Putting water online
05/01/12 — In spring 2012, the Floating Sensor Network project, led by associate professor of EECS Alexandre Bayen, launched a flotilla of 100 robots down the Sacramento River to provide data on water movement and pollutant spread.
From smart dust to smart rooms
05/01/12 — Small and inexpensive wireless sensors placed throughout our physical world are capturing and transmitting streams of information about conditions in places, things and even our behavior.
Winging it
05/01/12 — A small, roach-like robot with plastic wings borrowed from a toy is providing important insights into the natural history of flight.
Building a better world, one project at a time
05/01/12 — A new student group, Engineers Without Borders, is building a better world, one infrastructure project at a time.
Alumni notes
05/01/12 — News and photos of Berkeley Engineering alumni from decades past.
Hats off
05/01/12 — Marvell co-founder Weili Dai (B.S'84 CS) delivered the commencement speech to the college's baccalaureate graduates at the Greek Theater on May 12, 2012.
Seeds of social change
05/01/12 — Kushal Chakrabarti (B.S'04 EECS) founded Vittana, a start-up that helps students from low-income or poverty-stricken homes around the world get an education.
Girls meet “the science of better”
05/01/12 — Rhonda Righter (M.S'82, Ph.D'86 IEOR) usually applies sophisticated mathematical models to challenges such as improving the efficiency of an auto manufacturing plant, but most recently, she served as a volunteer role model to 35 middle-school girls.
Comments
05/01/12 — Friends, followers and readers: Thank you for posting your comments online. Here is a recent sampling: Re: “Berkeley gears up for new era of enterprise with SkyDeck incubator,” Berkeley NewsCenter Wish we’d had something like this when we were at Cal. Hope to see more resources for entrepreneurs as time goes on. —Eva M., via […]
What’s next?
05/01/12 — Berkeley Engineer asked undergraduates to tell us about their upcoming ventures.
Berkeley Engineering student makes “ridiculously automated dorm”
04/30/12 Berkeleyside — UC Berkeley student Derek Low is nothing if not inventive. A few months ago Low set out to make his Berkeley dorm room as fully automated as possible. The result, as you can see in the video he uploaded to YouTube, is BRAD: the Berkeley Ridiculously Automated Dorm. Through remote controlled lighting and curtains, Low's room manages to wake him up, put him to sleep and provide the right ambiance for homework and even romance. Its "party mode" is particularly impressive.
Innovation agents: Marvell Technology Group’s Weili Dai, semiconductor pioneer
04/23/12 Fast Company — If there's such a thing as geekdom, Berkeley Engineering alumna Weili Dai, cofounder of Marvell Technology Group, would be queen. As the only female cofounder of a global semiconductor company, Dai built an empire out of those little silicon chips. From humble beginnings in 1995, Dai now presides over an organization that employs 6,000 worldwide and has annual revenues in excess of $3.3 billion. This May, Weili Dai will be the first woman commencement speaker at the College of Engineering, as her son graduates.
Charles K. (Ned) Birdsall, professor emeritus of electrical engineering, dies at 86
04/21/12 San Francisco Chronicle — Charles Kennedy ("Ned") Birdsall, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, and a pioneering inventor and educator in microwave tubes and plasma physics, died March 6, 2012, at his home in Lafayette. He was 86. Ned joined the Electrical Engineering Department in 1959, launching a four-decade academic career. Ned became known as a pioneering inventor and educator whose contributions to plasma science have made lasting impacts on communications and other
Introducing the Kuh Distinguished Lecture Series
04/17/12 — I recently had the honor of introducing a new annual lecture series to the college community. Thanks to a generous gift from Professor Emeritus Ernest Kuh and his wife, Bettine, we now have the opportunity to hear from the world's most creative and inspiring scientists and engineers tackling our most pressing problems.
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.
Rowing on to nationals
04/17/12 — Student engineers from more than a dozen western universities gathered in late March for a weekend of ambitious civil and environmental engineering competitions. Berkeley was the host campus for this year's Mid-Pacific Regional Conference, put on by the American Society of Civil Engineers. At Quarry Lakes in Fremont, concrete canoe teams raced in heats. Berkeley's team, aboard their new canoe GraffiCal 2.0, came in second place. Along with first-place winner University of Nevada, Reno, Berkeley advances to the 25th annual National Concrete Canoe Competition in Reno in mid-June.
White House joins E-Week festivities
04/17/12 — In March, Berkeley celebrated National Engineers Week, an annual tradition since 1951. This year, the White House joined in the act. “You're the next generation of American engineers,” President Obama said in a recorded address during the March 14 launch of the “Stay With It” campaign, an outgrowth of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. “In an economy based on skills and education, science and technology, we need you more than ever. We need you to study hard and dream big.” The White House's goal is to encourage another 10,000 new engineers to graduate from college every year by connecting students with peers, role models and mentors.
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
Berkeley and Stanford launch networking research center
04/10/12 Stanford University — Berkeley Engineering professor Scott Shenker is co-director of the new Open Networking Research Center, which is exploring software-defined networking (SDN) as a paradigm for making networks simpler and less expensive while expanding their capacities. Industry sponsors include Cisco, Google, Hewlett-Packard and Intel.