Students race car with just a few drops of gas
04/08/15 ABC-7 News — A team of mechanical engineering students race through the streets of Detroit in a car that employs cutting-edge materials and tools - but very little gas.
News
Society of Women Engineers hosts new admits
04/01/15 — The campus chapter of the Society of Women Engineers invites newly admitted students to experience life at Berkeley for a weekend. (See video.)
President honors 3 from Berkeley Engineering as outstanding mentors
03/31/15 White House — President Obama on Monday named Sheila Humphreys, EECS director emerita of diversity, as one of 14 recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. Also honored were Berkeley Engineering alumni Gary May (M.S.'87, Ph.D.'91, EECS), engineering dean at Georgia Tech, and Lorraine Fleming (Ph.D.'85 CEE) of Howard University.
Electric vehicle batteries last longer than previously thought
03/30/15 Berkeley Lab — Scott Moura, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, has co-authored a study with Berkeley Lab colleagues that may alleviate concerns over battery life in electric vehicles.
Mobile tour tells campus story via trees
03/30/15 — A free, smartphone-based guided tour, developed by CNR experts in partnership with a Berkeley Engineering alum's software company, highlights the campus's landscape and cultural history through 16 exemplary trees.
Synthetic coatings: Super surfaces
03/26/15 Nature — Characteristics adapted from lizards, ivy and other natural materials could help to engineer everyday objects with remarkable properties. Professor Phillip Messersmith, a Berkeley materials scientist and bioengineer, is studying mussel adhesive, which is ideal for securing objects underwater.
Michael Stonebraker wins $1 million Turing Award
03/25/15 MIT — MIT researcher Michael Stonebraker, who revolutionized the field of database management systems in his nearly three decades as a Berkeley EECS professor, has won the Association for Computing Machinery's A.M. Turing Award, often referred to as “the Nobel Prize of computing.”
Bakar Fellows show off their discoveries to tech entrepreneurship world
03/25/15 — Sixteen UC Berkeley faculty, including many Berkeley Engineers, who are conducting commercially promising research supported by the Bakar Fellows Program traveled to San Francisco to deepen their connections with prominent venture capital firms, industry partners and entrepreneurs.
The waves of the future may bend around metamaterials
03/24/15 New York Times — In recent years, scientists have learned how to construct materials that bend light, radar, radio, even seismic waves in ways that do not naturally occur. A key pioneer of these metamaterials is Berkeley Engineering's Xiang Zhang, whose lab has created optical “superlenses” that may one day surpass the power of today's microscopes.
Paul Alivisatos to step down as lab director
03/24/15 Berkeley Lab — Berkeley Lab Director Paul Alivisatos, who is also a professor of materials science and engineering and chemistry, on Tuesday announced his intention to leave his position once a successor can be recruited to lead the lab.
Aging wooden bridge needs all the support it can get
03/23/15 New York Times — Structural engineering professor Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl has been hired as a consultant on a fight by local residents to save the Albion River Bridge - California's last wooden bridge on a coastal highway.
Tensegrity robots make headlines
03/23/15 BEST Lab — Tensegrity robots have been featured in a host of recent media articles. The spherical cable-and-rod structures are being developed by mechanical engineering professor Alice Agogino's team, working with NASA Ames and their collaborators, for tasks ranging from space exploration to home health care.
What’s the state of California’s water infrastructure?
03/20/15 KALW — On a program about California's water crisis, David Sedlak, professor of civil and environmental engineering, talks about the extensive system of levees, aqueducts and pipes supply water to 25 million Californians and three million acres of farmland.
Bakar Fellow Shawn Shadden is using computer modeling to sharpen diagnostic tools
03/20/15 Berkeley Research — Bakar Fellow Shawn Shadden, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has developed computational strategies designed to serve as diagnostic tools to better inform treatment for medical conditions including stroke, heart disease and osteoporosis.
Heising-Simons Foundation supports Berkeley search for dark matter axions
03/18/15 — Dark-matter axion research at four U.S. institutions, led by nuclear engineering professor Karl van Bibber, is one of two new grants to UC Berkeley scientists from the Heising-Simons Foundation.
‘Smart bandage’ detects bedsores before they are visible to doctors
03/18/15 — Berkeley engineers have created a “smart bandage” that uses electrical currents to detect tissue damage from pressure ulcers, or bedsores, before they can be seen - while recovery is still possible.
A lightness of being
03/16/15 The Economist — An article on locomotion in microgravity mentions Berkeley mechanical engineering professor Alice Agogino's NASA-funded research on a “structurally compliant” rover designed to move across asteroids with a “punctuated rolling motion.”
Cyborg beetle research allows free-flight study of insects
03/16/15 — Remote-controlled beetles equipped with radio backpacks are showcasing the potential of miniature electronics in biological research led by Berkeley engineers and Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.
Out of the shadows
03/12/15 — Mario Lio (B.S. '10 CEE) proves that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative, along with a lot of hard work and determination, can be life-changing.
New chameleon-like material
03/12/15 — Berkeley engineers led by EECS professor Connie Chang-Hasnain have created an ultra-thin film that can shift colors as easily as a chameleon's skin when pulled or twisted.