They're brainy! They're lovable! They're engiNERDs! NERDS=COOL: Engineering Week culminated with the ever-popular Berkeley Engineering Nerd Contest. Five contestants tapped into their inner nerd for a chance to win a Sony Playstation Portable. In front of a crowd of fellow engineers, contestants demonstrated their calculators, discussed their favorite scientific principles, showed off backpacks stuffed with books, tried out awkward pick-up lines, and generally whined their way into the audience's favor. They even danced. In the end, judges awarded EECS freshman Colin Jeanne (center) "Best Nerd" and the top prize.

BioE undergraduates develop MicroJet device for "ouchless" injections

This fall, BioE senior Laleh Jalilian will go to medical school to become a doctor or medical researcher. Fellow BioE senior Marcio von Muhlen (whose parents are doctors) will go to graduate school to become a bioengineering researcher. So it's no wonder that, for the last couple years, the two have been working in the lab on a medical device.

Dubbed the MicroJet injector, the device functions as a hypodermic needle, but without the pain. The secret? Microjet uses a piezoelectric actuator to propel liquid at 140 meters per second, or about 315 miles per hour, through the skin without touching it. Instead of forcing liquid into deeper and more sensitive layers of the skin, the Microjet deposits it just under the skin's surface.

"There are other jet injectors on the market, but they are plagued by variability in the percentage of liquid delivered," explains Jalilian. "That means it is difficult to know exactly how much of the drug actually gets into the bloodstream. The MicroJet we are developing uses a tunable electronic circuit to offer a finer level of control than the air- and spring-powered models available now."

MicroJet was inspired...[FULL STORY]

He rocks! MSE/ME sophomore catches the flow on hip hop dance team

Check it out: MSE/ME sophomore Andrew Favor is not studying. He's in front of a good-sized crowd on Lower Sproul Plaza with a group of other student dancers. There are no fancy costumes here. On this sunny day, it's mostly jeans paired with whatever shirt is available in brown or turquoise. For a dance performance, there are a surprising number of guys.

A deejay gets the crowd's attention. The song starts, the beat drops, and the students launch into their choreographed moves. Favor is flowing. He whips his hands out, spins, and slides. He struts, crouches down, pops up, and suddenly "locks" - or freezes in a dramatic pose. The crowd cheers; a few whistle. Favor is pointing now, just briefly, into the crowd. He throws a fierce look and the beat thumps on.

Favor is a member of student dance group The Movement, which has traditional jazz and swing dance as well as hip hop. But it's the hip hop team that has the most dancers and draws the biggest response from a crowd. Maybe that's because hip hop isn't that far removed...[FULL STORY]

Spring poster session showcases the best of Berkeley Engineering undergraduate research

Undergraduate researchers got out of the lab and into the spotlight during the spring 2005 Engineering and Science Undergraduate Poster Session on April 13. Eighteen presenters revealed and explained their projects to dozens of visitors in Bechtel lobby.

Some competed for prizes. Engineering Science junior Lindsay Soh won first place for her poster entitled, "Oxidizing Capacity of Zero-Valent Iron." BioE senior Marcio von Muhlen came...[FULL STORY]

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