October 2003
Friends of the College of Engineering,
It's a busy and exciting fall at the College - and I'm pleased
to note that, as always, Berkeley Engineers are receiving their
share of accolades on campus
and in the national press.
For example, Berkeley Engineering Professor Kris Pister, known as the "Father
of Smart Dust," was featured in Forbes magazine
last month for his pioneering work in this important emerging industry. Kris
gave a riveting talk on "smart
dust" and its potential for commercialization on Saturday, Oct. 4 for our
Homecoming Weekend. He's a key College and CITRIS leader - and now an entrepreneur
as well. To watch Kris's talk online, visit the College's multimedia
gallery.
Speaking of smart dust, this month's MIT Technology Review magazine
has
named eight Berkeley faculty and alumni as 100
Top Young Innovators "under age 35 whose technologies are poised to
make a dramatic impact on our world," including our own young leaders in
this field, Jason Hill (EECS '98 '03) and Mike Horton (EECS
'95 '96).
Earlier this year Jason achieved a milestone by integrating sensors and a tiny
computer operating system (TinyOS) onto a chip barely bigger than a fleck of
glitter. Called Spec, the new wireless mote integrates radio frequency communication
onto a sensor processing chip, and measures a mere 5 square millimeters. Mike
Horton, the Founder/CEO of Crossbow Technology,
has collaborated with Berkeley and CITRIS to develop a commercial version of
the Berkeley Smart Dust design.
Mike tells me Crossbow has already shipped over 20,000 of these Smart
Dust motes to universities and companies throughout the world. Congratulations
to all of
our Young Innovators!
For our College symposium on Sept. 13, keynote speaker David Kennedy (CE
'59 '62) presented an excellent analysis of the California water situation. You
can
also
see David's talk via our multimedia
gallery and view videographies of our
2003 Distinguished Engineering Alumni award winners.
Go
Bears!
/rich
A. Richard Newton
Dean, College of Engineering and
the Roy W. Carlson Professor of Engineering
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©
2003 UC Regents. Updated 9/29/03.
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