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| Yep, that
would be Engineering Week
BOWLED OVER: The pins are human sized,
there's no lane, and what about the bowling ball? Well,
that's you. ME junior May Chu had what it takes to "bowl"
a strike in the Human Bowling game on the first day of Engineering
Week. Her fearless approach, linebacker tackle, and flailing arms
knocked over every pin, drawing cheers from onlookers. "It
hurts just a little," said Chu after her successful bowl,
"but it was very fun." The sun came out for Engineering
Week and, on Tuesday, students showed up to eat hamburgers and
cotton candy, play games, and talk to student society representatives
tabling at the event. The atmosphere was so fun and relaxed, those
problem sets were forced to wait.
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In the sixth grade, Sehat
Sutardja (M.S.'83, Ph.D.'88 EECS) told his parents he wanted a career
in electronics. This was the 1970s, and that meant repairing TVs and
radios. His parents wanted him to be a medical doctor, not a TV repairman.
But Sutardja loved electronics. At night, he dreamed about the wonderful
things electronics could do. Thirty years later, Sutardja still loves
the field. Together with two other Berkeley alumni, he's parlayed his
passion and dreams into a wildly successful technology company, Marvell
(pronounced mar-VELL) Semiconductor, for which he serves
as CEO.
It has taken Sunnyvale-based Marvell only ten years to grow from a three-person,
family-funded startup to a 1,800-employee, billion-dollar technology
company. Some would consider that extraordinary, given Silicon Valley's
tough times and the maturity of the semiconductor industry.
As Berkeley students, Sutardja and his brother Pantas (B.S.'83, M.S.'85,
Ph.D.'88 EECS) studied hard. Sehat worked...[FULL
STORY]
The
dream Castillo built
Civil engineering alum finds success through
energy and fortitude
In his Oakland office, Francisco
Castillo (B.S.'95 M.S.'97 CEE) talks passionately - and voluminously
- about three things. One is family: his wife, Sonia Rocha Castillo
(B.S.'02 IEOR, whom he met on campus), his parents, and nieces and nephews.
The second is the 49ers, which Castillo insists will make a comeback
this year. The third is work. Castillo has been a civil engineer in
the Bay Area since he left Davis Hall in 1997. "I do engineering because
it's as fun as the first day I was in class," he says. "I don't take
it too seriously."
Which is only partly true. Castillo takes his contributions to the designs
of prominent Bay Area buildings quite seriously. As serious, say, as
translating for his Spanish-speaking mother during her cancer operation
when he was 14 or getting a degree from Berkeley Engineering, with few
resources. He approaches it all with a mix of humor, thought, and enterprise.
"I always take pride in the fact that you can open doors if you struggle
and work really hard," he explains.
In 1986, Castillo's family emigrated from Nicaragua, settling in the
Bay Area. His mother worked as a nurse's aide in people's homes making
minimum wage; his father worked for a company that prepared airline
meals. Castillo went to inner-city Mission High School. While he struggled
to learn English and adapt to a new culture, he cruised through math
and science. Extra-curricular programs like the Mathematics, Engineering,
Science Achievement (MESA) and Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP)
challenged...[FULL
STORY]
Stopping
the jumpers
CEE seniors design suicide barrier for Golden
Gate Bridge
According to New Yorker
magazine, the Golden Gate Bridge is the world's leading suicide location.
On average, someone jumps every two weeks.
The railing along the bridge's walkway stands just four feet tall. As
he walked along it, CEE senior Doug Wahl looked over. "It's a good drop,"
he remembers thinking (220 feet at mean high water to be exact). Wahl
and fellow CEE seniors Danielle Hutchings, Ryan Stauffer and Robert
Simpson were visiting the bridge earlier this semester for a CE 180
class assignment. Their project was to design a barrier that would prevent
people from jumping.
People have asked for a suicide barrier on the bridge since the 1950s.
Other landmarks, like the Eiffel Tower an Empire State Building, have
them. But barrier supporters for the Golden Gate have run into stiff
opposition. The main worries, says the bridge's governing body, the
Golden Gate Bridge Authority, are cost and the effect a barrier might
have on the structure's renowned beauty. Proposed solutions have languished
on the drawing board. When they got...[FULL
STORY]
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