Press Releases

Visit Berkeley's Public Affairs site for a complete list of press releases from the Berkeley campus.

Feb 09, 2012 UC Berkeley NewsCenter Scott Shenker elected to National Academy of Engineering

Scott Shenker, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, is joining the ranks of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest professional honors accorded to an engineer. Shenker, an expert in Internet architecture and software-defined networks, is among 66 new members and 10 foreign associates elected to the NAE.

Feb 01, 2012 UC Berkeley NewsCenter Professors' innovations benefit society, economy

Many UC Berkeley researchers' discoveries -- including cancer therapies, Internet search engines, vaccines, increased DVD storage capacity, robotics and computational and design software -- and the companies created to manufacture them are spurring the U.S. and California economies and saving lives. Boris Rubinsky, Jay Keasling, and Kris Pister are some of the Berkeley Engineering faculty who are motivated by the UC mission of conducting research that benefits the public and advances the frontiers of knowledge.

Dec 14, 2011 UC Berkeley NewsCenter AAAS elects eleven UC Berkeley faculty as fellows

Eleven UC Berkeley faculty members, including three from Berkeley Engineering, have been named 2011 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. The UC Berkeley researchers are among 539 new fellows chosen for this honor, which is bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers in recognition of their distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. This year's honorees from Berkeley Engineering are Dan Kammen, Randy Katz and Stuart Russell.

Dec 06, 2011 UC Berkeley NewsCenter Berkeley hosts manufacturing brainstorm

Representatives from government, industry and academia gathered at UC Berkeley to discuss strategies to re-establish the United States as a global leader in advanced manufacturing. Co-hosted by Berkeley and Stanford, the daylong Advanced Manufacturing Partnership regional meeting aimed to jump-start the national effort launched by President Obama in June. The mission of the AMP is to identify transformative opportunities for investments in research and development, public-private and intra-industry collaboration and shared facilities and infrastructure.

Nov 15, 2011 UC Berkeley NewsCenter Berkeley Engineering launches collaboration with Shanghai innovation hub

On November 11, 2011, the College of Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley announced a new partnership with the Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, one of China's top high-technology parks, to develop a platform for expanding industrial and academic research collaborations in Asia and fostering global learning opportunities for Berkeley students.

Oct 27, 2011 UC Berkeley NewsCenter Transatlantic Science Week brings Norway to Berkeley to tackle global energy challenges

The launch of Transatlantic Science Week at the Brower Center was a call-to-action for greater collaboration in tackling global energy and climate challenges. More than 300 participants from academia, government and industry registered to attend the annual event, which came to the West Coast for the first time in its 10-year history. Hosted in conjunction with Berkeley and Stanford, this year's program of seminars, workshops, presentations and site-visits focused on the theme of innovation frontiers and pressed home the importance of partnerships that span government, academia and industry.

Oct 24, 2011 UC Berkeley NewsCenter BERC symposium energizes Cal students

Record attendance at last week's fifth annual Energy Symposium at UC Berkeley demonstrated the swelling interest among students on campus and nationwide in bridging the gap between universities' renewable energy research and the private sector. More than 450 students joined about 250 people from industry at the two-day conference.

Oct 21, 2011 UC Berkeley NewsCenter CalSol nears the finish line in Aussie solar race

CalSol, UC Berkeley's Solar Vehicle Team, is on the ground in Australia, and on Friday it was smelling the finish line of its first World Solar Challenge competition. If all goes as planned, Impulse, the solar vehicle built by Berkeley students, will reach Adelaide tomorrow, completing a 3,000-kilometer transcontinental race.

Oct 19, 2011 UC Berkeley NewsCenter Researchers turn viruses into molecular Legos

Researchers at UC Berkeley have turned a benign virus into an engineering tool for assembling structures that mimic collagen, one of the most important structural proteins in nature. The process they developed could eventually be used to manufacture materials with tunable optical, biomedical and mechanical properties. The researchers, led by Seung-Wuk Lee, UC Berkeley associate professor of bioengineering and faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, describe their "self-templating material assembly" process in the Oct. 20 issue of the journal Nature.

Oct 17, 2011 UC Berkeley NewsCenter Robotic roach gets wings, sheds light on evolution of flight

When a team of engineers at UC Berkeley, led by electrical engineering professor Ron Fearing, outfitted a six-legged robotic bug with wings in an effort to improve its mobility, they unexpectedly shed some light on the evolution of flight. Even though the wings significantly improved the running performance of the 10-centimeter-long robot, they found that the extra boost would not have generated enough speed to launch the critter from the ground.

Oct 13, 2011 UC Berkeley NewsCenter CalSol ready to race for solar title in Australia

CalSol, UC Berkeley's Solar Vehicle Team, is on the ground in Australia, sweating through last-minute preparations for the upcoming transcontinental race against 36 other solar cars from all over the world this weekend. It's the first time CalSol has competed in the World Solar Challenge, and the race is the culmination of two years of work by 75 undergraduate students to design and build Impulse, a single-seat, low-to-the-ground all-solar vehicle.

Oct 10, 2011 UC Berkeley NewsCenter Kicking hybrids out of carpool lanes backfires, slowing traffic for all

The end of a California program granting free access to carpool lanes by solo drivers of hybrid cars has unintentionally slowed traffic in all lanes, according to transportation engineers at UC Berkeley's Institute of Transportation Studies. "Our results show that everybody is worse off with the program's ending," said Michael Cassidy, professor of civil and environmental engineering. "Drivers of low-emission vehicles are worse off, drivers in the regular lanes are worse off, and drivers in the carpool lanes are worse off. Nobody wins."