Nov 20, 2009 Los Angeles Times Effects of judge's Katrina ruling could be huge

The finding that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is liable for much of the New Orleans flooding could change how levees are designed nationwide. "The American public frequently believes they are protected by these piles of dirt that we call levees, when they are not," said Robert Bea, a UC Berkeley civil engineering professor who testified during three days of the trial. "I hope this ruling would serve as a wake-up call."

Nov 19, 2009 UC Berkeley NewsCenter UC Berkeley research garners nearly $65 million in federal stimulus money

Many of the stimulus grants to UC Berkeley support primarily graduate students. An example is the LoCal Energy Network, a project in the College of Engineering that received $1.5 million in funding to overlay the current energy grid with a cybernetwork that would improve the efficiency, reliability and quality of power delivered. According to principal investigator Randy Katz, UC Berkeley professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, the project will support six graduate students for three years.

Nov 19, 2009 National Geographic Katrina damage due to "monumental" neglect, judge rules

A federal judge ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers' failure to properly maintain a navigation channel led to massive flooding in Hurricane Katrina, a decision that could make the federal government vulnerable to billions of dollars in claims. Speaking in May, months before the ruling, Bob Bea, a civil engineer and levee expert at UC Berkeley, told National Geographic News that the federal government could be on the hook as much as two trillion dollars.

Nov 19, 2009 Innovations A Reality Check on High-Speed Rail for California

In November 2008, California voters passed a $9.95-billion bond issue to build a bullet train that would zip passengers between San Francisco and Los Angeles via the Central Valley at speeds up to 220 miles per hour. Clearly, many Americans are smitten with the romance of the rails. But last month, at an overflow symposium at UC Berkeley, a panel of experts in the fields of transportation engineering and city and regional planning urged caution.

Nov 18, 2009 The New York Times Andy Grove's prescription for health care

Andrew S. Grove, the 73-year-old former chief executive of Intel, has long brought a piercing intellect and a personal passion to the subject of health care. Mr. Grove will deliver a presentation on Wednesday morning at a symposium in San Francisco, "Translating Technology into Cost-Effective Healthcare," focusing on the shortcomings in the medical innovation pipeline. "Why doesn’t technology give us medical treatments that are better, faster, cheaper? A system that works, heaven forbid, like the chip world." An answer, Mr. Grove says, lies in a concept called "translational medicine."

Nov 16, 2009 Forbes Look who's hiring now: Inquire within

It's really bad out there. But, sensing opportunity, companies across America are starting to hire again, despite powerful drags on hiring. "We're seeing a classic case of behavioral conservatism," says Jonathan Burgstone, who runs UC Berkeley's Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology. Most companies don't feel comfortable adding to their payrolls unless they see competitors doing the same, he reasons. "They require much more proof than is necessary to convince themselves that hiring is the right thing to do."

Nov 11, 2009 Technology Review Breaking the botnet code

Software that deciphers botnet communications could help infiltrate criminals' networks. Researchers from UC Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon University, including Berkeley Engineering professor Dawn Song and Ph.D. student Juan Caballero, have created a way to automatically reverse engineer the communications between compromised computers and their controlling servers.

Nov 11, 2009 Marin Independent Journal Working artist: Engineer builds career melding technology with art - and whimsy

Engineering and art may seem worlds apart to some, but to Mill Valley artist Ken Goldberg they're complementary pursuits. Both require a magical combination of creativity, persistence and hard work. Case in point: Goldberg, a Berkeley Engineering professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences, is also director of the UC Berkeley Center for New Media, where he teaches and builds robots that do complex tasks. He also creates expansive, conceptual art installations that deal with the identity, nature and the Internet.

Nov 09, 2009 San Francisco Chronicle Eyebar just one of Bay Bridge's many problems

Despite all the attention it has received, the eyebar isn't the biggest danger on the eastern span of the Bay Bridge -- and it's not the reason the span is being replaced instead of retrofitted. At least one Bay Area engineer believes the span could still withstand a major earthquake and should be retrofitted. Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, a UC Berkeley civil engineering professor and a frequent critic of Caltrans, says the eastern span would be more resistant to earthquakes and terrorist attacks than the single-tower suspension span under construction.

Nov 09, 2009 UC Berkeley NewsCenter Intel, Safeway luminaries to address how tech can lower health costs

Can technological innovation rein in our nation’s escalating health care costs? On Wednesday, Nov. 18, luminaries including Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel Corp., and Steve Burd, CEO of Safeway, will take up this question at the second annual A. Richard Newton Global Technology Leaders Conference, "Translating Technology into Cost-Effective Health Care," hosted by UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering in partnership with the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3).

Nov 05, 2009 San Francisco Examiner Old bridge bumper technology means future oil spills likely

Two years after a rigid bumper system on a Bay Bridge tower ripped open two fuel tanks of a wayward cargo ship, the dangerously outdated technology remains in use. The old-fashioned design of the bumper systems has been criticized by UC Berkeley engineering professor Abdolhassan Astaneh-Asl.

Nov 05, 2009 TheScientist.com Scientific song and dance

What started as a creative idea for a video contest about nanotechnology is now growing into a full-fledged science music video production team. Composed of four University of California, Berkeley, students and one alumnus, 'The Sounds of Science' is making a quite a splash with its Broadway-style musical numbers, which enliven the realities of the laboratory through song, dance, and puppetry.