News

Kenyan children drinking water from a fountain

Bringing clean water to Kenya’s largest slum

08/04/16 California magazine — Paul Sagues (M.S.'80 ME), chairman of the Marin-based water systems firm Xio, and energy professor Dan Kammen were part of a high-profile Berkeley-driven team bringing a model clean water project to Kibera, Africa's largest slum.

Spreadsheet tools to help everyone escape from the cell

08/04/16 Financial Times — Alumnus and Microsoft researcher Sumit Gulwani (Ph.D.'05 CS) is behind the development of user-friendly spreadsheet tools that can, in his view, “keep control of the digital divide.”

The mountainous headwaters of the East River catchment, located in the Upper Colorado River Basin

Lab to lead new watershed study

08/04/16 Berkeley Lab — Geophysicist Susan Hubbard (Ph.D'98 CEE), Berkeley Lab's associate director for earth and environmental sciences, will head up a three-year DOE initiative to quantify how mountainous watershed floods, drought, fire and early snowmelt affect the downstream delivery of water, nutrients, carbon and metals.

Berkeley hosts high school students for cyber training

08/04/16 Campus Technology — A cyber security program sponsored by the National Security Agency has wooed 23 students to attend a six-week course at the Berkeley. The CYBEAR initiative is part of a nationwide effort to introduce K-12 students to safe online behavior and spark their interest in pursuing careers in the field.

simulation of ion channels in atomic detail

Head-Gordon leads Berkeley partnership to improve scientific software

08/04/16 — A nine-university partnership headed by Virginia Tech has launched the Molecular Sciences Software Institute, an NSF-funded program to improve software for the molecular sciences. Bioengineering's Teresa Head-Gordon is the institute's lead scientist at UC Berkeley.

Sprinkling of neural dust opens door to electroceuticals

08/04/16 — Tiny, implantable wireless sensors have been developed by a team led by EECS professors Michel Maharbiz and Jose Carmena. The dust-sized prototypes could stimulate and monitor internal nerves, muscles and organs, as well as introduce the possibility of "electroceuticals" to be used in a wide variety of treatments.

Bringing cutting-edge 3-D printing to Berkeley

08/02/16 Medium — Jacobs Hall, Berkeley's hub for design innovation, welcomed a new addition this spring: an M1 3-D printer from Bay Area company Carbon, which takes a new, photochemical approach to additive manufacturing.

New Berkeley undergraduate program to develop innovative tech leaders, entrepreneurs

08/01/16 — The Management, Entrepreneurship, & Technology Program, a new undergraduate offering that integrates the study of engineering and business, is designed to give students a seamless understanding of technology innovation, preparing future leaders who will create real-world impact.

Women in Technology Round Table participants

Women in tech: Taking matters into their own hands

07/22/16 Medium — Facing the dearth of women in senior positions in the field, the Women in Technology Leadership Round Table encourages participants to measure what they want to change, and to be bold.

MSE professor emeritus Kal Sastry dies at 74

07/19/16 Daily Californian — Kal Sastry, a materials science and engineering professor emeritus remembered for his unique life philosophies and his love for the Berkeley community, died July 15. He was 74.

CEE professor emeritus Robert Wiegel passes away

07/19/16 — Robert Wiegel, a coastal engineering pioneer, distinguished civil and environmental engineering professor and former acting dean, died on July 14. He was 93.

Voice commanad prompt on an Android phone

How secret voice commands in YouTube could hijack your phone

07/18/16 PCWorld — EECS Ph.D. student Nick Carlini, professor David Wagner and a team of Georgetown University researchers have revealed how secret commands could use voice-control tools like Siri and Google Now to take over your smartphone.

Better marching through algorithms

07/15/16 — Using computer code and a little ingenuity, an introductory engineering course helped solve a confounding problem for the Cal Marching Band.

Girls in Engineering camper works on a 3D-printed prosthetic hand

Young makers build prosthetic hands for children in need

07/15/16 — During the college's weeklong Girls in Engineering program, young makers build kid-size prosthetic hands from 3-D-printed parts to donate to children in need.

BIE student Matt Chen examining a spring winding machine

Blogging the Biodesign Immersion Experience

07/13/16 — An eight-week summer program for Berkeley juniors and seniors, the BIE prepares bioengineers to bridge engineering innovation and unmet clinical needs.

Tsu-Jae King Liu named to Intel board

07/13/16 Fortune — Intel has added Berkeley Engineering associate dean and EECS professor Tsu-Jae King Liu to its board of directors, marking just the second woman on the chipmaker's governing body.

Berkeley and San Diego explore future of engineering education through making

07/01/16 California Council on Science & Technology — UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, both located in world-renowned hubs of engineering education and high-tech innovation, have both invested in facilities that break the mold of traditional engineering education, looking to the Maker movement for inspiration.

Fetal surgery stands to advance from new glues inspired by mussels

06/30/16 — Using lessons learned from a lowly mollusk, bioengineer Phillip Messersmith is making better glues that can be used for fetal surgery and other medical procedures.

Diagram of the effect of transforming growth factor-beta 1 on stem cell activity and aging

The bloody battle against aging

06/29/16 Berkeley Science Review — By examining the chemical makeup of young blood, bioengineers Irina Conboy and David Schaffer have discovered a drug that could turn back the age clock.

Remembering Joonhong Ahn, professor of nuclear engineering

06/22/16 — Professor Joonhong Ahn died in Japan on Sunday, June 19, 2016. Professor Ahn's research broadly encompassed the entire nuclear fuel cycle. He was a leading expert on Asian nuclear power and traveled frequently to the Asia-Pacific region advising governments and industry, alongside his extensive academic collaborations.