ME Professor Emeritus Ronald Yeung has been awarded the 2020 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) Distinguished Achievement Award for Individuals. This award recognizes Professor Yeung’s 45-year career in educating a generation of naval architects and ocean engineers, as well as, his fundamental research in ship and offshore hydrodynamics. Over this period, he has supervised 28 doctoral …
ME Professor Masayoshi Tomizuka Receives ASME Honorary Membership
ME Professor Masayoshi Tomizuka was awarded an American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Honorary Membership at the 2020 ASME Annual Award Ceremony on November 16, 2020. The ASME Honorary Membership is awarded for a lifetime of service to engineering or related fields–e.g. science, research, public service. This achievement is described as “distinguished service that contributes …
Improving Urban Traffic Throughput with Vehicle Platooning
Before California sheltered in place, UC Berkeley and ITS researchers were out in traffic showing how forming vehicle platoons can dramatically improve urban traffic flow in Arcadia, CA. They recently published a paper(link is external) and video(link is external) on their research and demonstration. Funded by the National Science Foundation and DOT, Department of Mechanical Engineering (ME) Chair Roberto …
At Berkeley Engineering, Creativity Still Shines Through Remote Learning
A typical Berkeley Engineering education features hands-on learning, collaborative teams, real-word engagement and access to cutting-edge equipment. As at other universities nationwide, the college has had to pivot to virtual instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But because engineers excel at finding creative solutions to any challenge, many of its programs evolved over the past …
5 Projects With UC Berkeley Researchers Receive Seed Funding From UC Research Center
Five projects involving UC Berkeley researchers were awarded seed funding from the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, or CITRIS, and the Banatao Institute, which advance interdisciplinary research at multiple UC campuses.
SCET Names Tarek Zohdi as New Academic Director
The Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology (SCET) at the University of California, Berkeley has just named Tarek Zohdi to be its new Academic Director and member of its new Faculty Committee. Zohdi currently serves as the Will C. Hall Endowed Chair Professor in Berkeley Mechanical Engineering, Chair of the UCB Designated Emphasis for Computational …
ME Ph.D. Student Angel Rodriguez Wins 1st Place in GMiS Research Poster Competition
ME Ph.D. student Angel Rodriguez, of the FLOW Lab, has won first place in the Great Minds in STEM Research Poster Competition for his poster titled, “X-ray Computed Tomography of Vertical Bubble Column.” The GMiS Research Poster Competition provides a premiere, national forum for traditionally underserved and underrepresented STEM undergraduate and graduate students to showcase …
ME Undergraduate Spotlight: Gissell Jimenez
Meet Gissell Jimenez, a third-year undergraduate student here in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley.
Click to learn to more about Gissell’s interest in biomechanical engineering, and her passion for tutoring and the ME Scholars program.
Berkeley Researchers Use 3D Printer to Make Stronger, Greener Concrete
Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a new way to reinforce concrete with a polymer lattice, an advance that could rival other polymer-based enhancements and improve concrete’s ductility while reducing the material’s carbon emissions. The Berkeley team used a 3D printer to build octet lattices out of polymer, and then filled them with ultra-high performance …
ME Ph.D. Student George Moore Awarded the Chancellor’s Award for Public Service
George Moore, doctoral candidate in Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley, was awarded one of the Chancellor’s Awards for Public Service, the 2020 Birgeneau Recognition Award for Service to Underrepresented Students. Chancellor Christ hosted the awards ceremony in honor of the recipients, nominators, and nominees on Tues., Sep. 23, 2020. See video of the award ceremony.
Berkeley Engineering Announces Five New Faculty Fellows
Thanks to the generosity of a handful of Berkeley Engineering alumni and friends, five new and incoming faculty are joining the college with ample funding to help equip their labs, hire their first graduate students and get their research projects up and running. The Berkeley Engineering Faculty Fellows program debuted in 2018–19 with three fellowships …
UC Berkeley Team Partners in New $20M AI Food Systems Research Center
On August 26, 2020, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced it will be funding a new food systems research center in partnership with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The award of $20M over five years will aim to improve US food systems to address issues such as …
ME Alum Negar Mehr Wins 2020 IEEE ITS Best Dissertation Award
ME Alum Negar Mehr has won the 2020 IEEE ITS Best Dissertation Award. The IEEE ITS Best Dissertation Award is given annually for the best dissertation in any ITS area that is innovative and relevant to practice. This award is established to encourage doctoral research that combines theory and practice, makes in-depth technical contributions, or …
ME Professor Masayoshi Tomizuka Receives IEEE ITS Lifetime Achievement Award
ME Professor Masayoshi Tomizuka is the recipient of the 2020 IEEE ITS Lifetime Achievement Award. The Lifetime Achievement Award is given to (a) an outstanding leader in the organizations they have led; (b) a thought leader in the ITS field; and (c) a champion of vision of ITS and its fulfillment within and beyond the …
Why ‘Fire is Normal’ in California and How Communities Can Change to Cut Risks
Michael Gollner, UC Berkeley Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering, joins Yahoo Finance to discuss the risks of wildfires on the West Coast and how residents can adjust to stay safe.
ME Undergraduate Spotlight: Bryant La
Meet Bryant La, a third-year undergraduate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering here at UC Berkeley with a 4.0 GPA.
Bryant is a first generation student and he is proud to be from Oakland. He is a valuable member of our community, serving as the president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He grew up just east of Lake Merritt and is an alum of Oakland High School.
Berkeley ME Group Wins Best Paper Award at ASME Design Conference
UC Berkeley Mechanical Engineering faculty (Alice Agogino and Kosa Goucher-Lambert), PhD graduates (Eui-Young Kim, Vivek Rao) and a visiting student from the University of Minnesota (Jieun Kwon) have been recognized for their research paper on decision making about design methods. They won the 2020 Best Paper Award in the Design Theory and Method division at the ASME …
BART Summer Internships Give Students Real-World Experience in Public Transportation
Jennie Nguyen’s summer internship with Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) let her stretch her computer science skills with real-world experience, architecting a new faregate patron sensor solution and coding the sensors to work in the new faregates “It definitely gave me experience that I couldn’t get in the classroom alone,” said Nguyen, a senior in …
New California Fire Science Seminar Series
This new online seminar series will cover the breadth of wildland fire research relevant to California and introduce researchers to new topics and research groups across the state. Topics will include fire weather, wildfire risk, fire ecology, remote sensing, emissions, fire dynamics, fire modeling and public health. Featuring many early-career researchers, this series is aimed at …
ME Community Spotlight: Dr. Pamela Eibeck
Meet Dr. Pamela Eibeck, a former professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering here at UC Berkeley. After working in gas systems design at Pacific Gas and Electric and attending grad school, Dr. Eibeck was a professor in the department from 1985 to 1995. Since then, Dr. Eibeck went on to become the Chair of …
Closed, Open, Still, Stirring: Pandemic-Era Berkeley in 30 Photos
You’re miles from UC Berkeley, maybe even overseas, working remotely and wondering if central campus has become a COVID-19 ghost town with cobwebbed windows, withering brown lawns, locked doors and barely a human, or even a peregrine falcon, in sight. Is anybody there? If you were here, you’d see nearly empty outdoor expanses and darkened …
The Clean Air Car Race Turns 50
This summer, as thousands of Americans drive their lower-emission cars on the nation’s roads and highways, very few of them are aware that this month marks the 50th anniversary of a seminal event that paved the way to the invention of their vehicles. On August 24, 1970, Berkeley’s College of Engineering students participated in the …
UC Berkeley Team Advances Food Systems Research in New $20M NSF Center
A new research center funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will aim to improve U.S. food systems to address such issues as pandemic-driven food system security and safety; improving crop yield, quality and nutrition; decreasing energy …
ME Alumni Spotlight: Boeing
Howard McKenzie was named vice president and chief engineer for Boeing’s Global Services business unit in May 2020. He is responsible for leading the alignment of 7,000 engineers into one cohesive engineering function that supports commercial and government customers worldwide.
ME Alumni Spotlight: Dr. Debbie Senesky
Debbie G. Senesky is an Associate Professor at Stanford University in the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department and by courtesy, the Electrical Engineering Department. In addition, she is the Principal Investigator of the EXtreme Environment Microsystems Laboratory (XLab). Her research interests include the development of nanomaterials for extreme harsh environments, high-temperature electronics, and robust instrumentation for …