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Riders for a good cause
BIKE GANG:
On September 9 and 10, EECS professor David Patterson and his fellow team members
rode in the Waves to Wine 2006 bike tour to raise money for
the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Team members are,
from left, EECS staff members Lars Rohrbach and John Keller,
and professor David Patterson and his sons Mike Patterson
and David Patterson Jr. The group called themselves the “Anti-MS
Crew,” MS meaning multiple sclerosis not Microsoft. Professor
Patterson alone raised $17,000, and the crew won for best
team name.
DAVID PATTERSON PHOTO
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While some DeCal classes teach the culture of the TV
show “South Park” or the anthropology of surfing, CEE 98/198
teaches problem solving in developing nations. In “Technological
Innovation for Underserved Communities,” students are researching
ways to filter arsenic from drinking water in Bangladesh, integrate
water treatment technology with an educational program in Mumbai, India,
and redesign Darfur cook stoves so they use less fuel, among other
projects.
“ We’re focused on bringing technology solutions to communities that
need them,” says CEE senior Kate Ming, cofacilitator of the new, two-unit
class. “The class gives students a chance to work on a project and get
experience beyond just taking tests and doing problem sets.” [FULL STORY]
More than 10 million classified ads are posted on craigslist
each month. Not all of them result in honest transactions between buyer
and seller, but a new website cofounded by an IEOR alum aims to make online
transactions more fair and square.
On RapLeaf.com, people rate buyers and sellers to produce a database of reputations.
(RapLeaf comes from rap sheet or reputation, and leaf, signifying life.) The
idea is that if you’re selling something on craigslist, for example,
and you know a buyer will rate you, you’ll be more honest. In turn, if
you’re a buyer, you can review a seller’s reputation and avoid
shady dealers. Honest behavior is rewarded with more business; unethical behavior
is shunned. In fact, the San Francisco-based startup’s motto is “It’s
more profitable to be ethical.” [FULL STORY]
In a very simplistic description of his research, EECS
Ph.D. student Jingtao Wang designs technology systems for the average
user. If he wants feedback, he has plenty of EECS colleagues who can
provide it. But the average user in the world of an EECS Ph.D. student
is, well,
not so average. That’s a big reason why Wang appreciates his office
in the Berkeley Institute of Design (BID). Situated on the third floor
of Hearst Memorial Mining Building with a view toward the Berkeley
Hills, the institute houses the workspaces of 20 graduate students in
ME, BioE,
Art Theory and Art Practice as well as EECS. “I have access to students
without a background in computer science, and it helps me a lot,” Wang
says. “We have daily discussions, and if I have an idea, I can get
their immediate feedback.” [FULL STORY]
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