Press Releases

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

Nov 29, 2012 UC Berkeley NewsCenter Eric Norman of Nuclear Engineering named AAAS fellow

Eric Norman, professor of nuclear engineering, was named Thursday as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science “for distinguished contributions to nuclear science and applications to national security, and high commitment to public education and outreach, particularly following the Fukushima nuclear disaster.”

Nov 19, 2012 UC Berkeley NewsCenter Engineering senior heading to Oxford as Rhodes Scholar

Daniel A. Price, who will graduate from Berkeley in May with dual B.S. degrees in bioengineering and in electrical engineering and computer sciences, is one of 32 students selected as Rhodes Scholars for 2013. Price, from Grass Valley, Calif., plans to focus on medical devices, robotics and global health during his three years of graduate study at the University of Oxford in England.

Nov 08, 2012 UC Berkeley NewsCenter USAID to fund multidisciplinary Development Engineering at Berkeley

Modeling a new network of multidisciplinary labs on UC Berkeley's Blum Center for Developing Economies, the U.S. Agency for International Development is tapping faculty and student ingenuity at seven U.S. and foreign research universities to help fight global poverty. The program, which brings up to $20 million to Berkeley, will ready inventions for the developing world, train a new generation of development practitioners and innovators, and launch a brand new field of research — Development Engineering.

Nov 08, 2012 UC Berkeley NewsCenter Columbia University scholar selected as new Berkeley chancellor

Nicholas B. Dirks, Columbia University’s executive vice president and dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences, has been selected as UC Berkeley’s 10th chancellor by University of California President Mark G. Yudof. The appointment of Dirks, 61, the Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology and History at Columbia and the author of three books on India, will be voted on by the UC Board of Regents at a special meeting in late November.

Jul 26, 2012 UC Berkeley NewsCenter Future of California high-speed rail looks green

Berkeley Engineering professor Arpad Horvath and research colleagues have determined that, in terms of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, a mature high-speed rail system wins out when it deploys state-of-the-art trains powered by greener electricity. This was true even after accounting for the emergence of more fuel-efficient airplanes and automobiles.

Jul 24, 2012 UC Berkeley NewsCenter UC Berkeley joins national online learning collaborative

UC Berkeley has joined edX, a nonprofit online learning initiative founded by Harvard and MIT, to enrich on-campus education while reaching a broader base of learners. Faculty will use this open-source platform to explore how technology and social media can enhance instruction and to assess and improve teaching. This fall, the campus will offer two courses through edX: one on artificial intelligence taught by Pieter Abbeel and Dan Klein, and one on software engineering taught by Armando Fox and David Patterson.

Jul 19, 2012 UC Berkeley NewsCenter Bakar fellows advancing research in engineering

Research innovations by early-career UC Berkeley faculty—including Jose Carmena (pictured), Michel Maharbiz, and Amy Herr in engineering—are getting a significant boost toward commercial development from a new campus initiative aimed at speeding the translation of Berkeley-bred innovations into practical applications and, in the process, improving the California economy.

Jun 06, 2012 UC Berkeley NewsCenter Stealth behavior allows cockroaches to seemingly vanish

New cockroach behavior discovered by UC Berkeley biologists secures the insect's reputation as one of nature's top escape artists, able to skitter away and disappear from sight before any human can swat it. Always eager to mimic animal behaviors in robots, the researchers teamed up with UC Berkeley robotics experts to recreate the behavior in a six-legged robot by adding Velcro strips. "This work is a great example of the amazing maneuverability of animals, and how understanding the physical principles used by nature can inspire design of agile robots," said Ron Fearing, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences.

Jun 06, 2012 UC Berkeley NewsCenter The real culprit behind hardened arteries? Stem cells, says landmark study

One of the top suspects behind killer vascular diseases is the victim of mistaken identity, according to researchers from UC Berkeley, who used genetic tracing to help hunt down the real culprit. The guilty party is not the smooth muscle cells within blood vessel walls, but a previously unknown type of stem cell which should now be the focus in the search for new treatments. "For the first time, we are showing evidence that vascular diseases are actually a kind of stem cell disease," said principal investigator Song Li, professor of bioengineering and a researcher at the Berkeley Stem Cell Center.

May 25, 2012 UC Berkeley NewsCenter Mirrors provide candles for Golden Gate Bridge's 75th birthday

In celebration of the 75th birthday of the Golden Gate Bridge, space scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, are topping each tower with a glittering solar candle. The "candles" are mirrors that the public can control through the Internet to make them swivel and tilt, flashing a glint of reflected sun like a lit candle. "Solar Beacon" is one of 75 birthday tributes approved by the Golden Gate Bridge District in celebration of the bridge's completion in 1937, and one of the few approved for installation on the bridge itself.

May 17, 2012 UC Berkeley NewsCenter 2012 Citation Award Winners

Nine members of the College of Engineering Class of 2012 have been recognized with Department Citations, denoting outstanding achievement in their respective majors.

May 09, 2012 UC Berkeley NewsCenter Floating robots use GPS-enabled smartphones to track water flow

A fleet of 100 floating robots took a trip down the Sacramento River today in a field test organized by engineers at UC Berkeley. The smartphone-equipped floating robots demonstrated the next generation of water monitoring technology, promising to transform the way government agencies monitor one of the state's most precious resources. The Floating Sensor Network project, led by associate professor Alexandre Bayen, offers a network of mobile sensors that can be deployed rapidly to provide real-time, high-resolution data in hard-to-map waterways.