News from Mechanical Engineering

During Native American Heritage Month, Berkeley Mechanical Engineering spotlights a prominent Native American alumna, Suzanne Singer. Originally from Flagstaff, Arizona, Suzanne is a member of the Diné (Navajo) tribe. She earned her BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arizona and her Masters and PhD from UC Berkeley in Mechanical Engineering. Since graduating, she …

The shape and architecture of collagen and elastin fibers can improve our understanding of lung diseases, including the one associated with vaping.

Renowned Berkeley Citation award winner and beloved professor of mechanical engineering, Andrew Packard, passed away last week at the age of 59 after a long battle with cancer.

Arapaima gigas. Image by iStock.com/kurga The scales of the massive Amazonian freshwater fish, Arapaima gigas, are so tough that they do not tear or crack when a piranha—which has one of the animal kingdom’s sharpest bites—attacks. Material scientists have discovered the secret to the fish’s impermeable armor: each scale is made up of a highly …

ME Professor Masayoshi Tomizuka was awarded the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Soichiro Honda Medal at the 2019 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference in Park City, Utah on October 10, 2019. ASME established the medal in 1982 to recognize an individual for an outstanding achievement or a series of significant engineering contributions in developing …

Professor Andrew (Andy) K. Packard, a pioneer in robust control theory who held the FANUC Chair of Mechanical Systems, passed away on September 30, 2019 after a long battle with cancer. Andy was born July 7, 1960. He grew up in Chicago Illinois and went to the University of Illinois, at Urbana-Champaign where he graduated …

Battery power is a limiting factor for robots everywhere, but it’s particularly problematic for drones, which have to make an awkward tradeoff between the amount of battery they carry, the amount of other more useful stuff they carry, and how long they can spend in the air. Consumer drones seem to have settled around about a …

A man paralyzed from the shoulders down has been able to walk using a pioneering four-limb robotic system, or exoskeleton, that is commanded and controlled by signals from his brain. With a ceiling-mounted harness for balance, the 28-year-old tetraplegic patient used a system of sensors implanted near his brain to send messages to move all …

The “Squishy Robot” is equipped with six cameras, GPS, and various interchangeable chemical, biological, and radiological sensors that deliver data and 360-degree videos in situations where human access can be difficult or unsafe.

The Oral History Center is proud to announce the launch of the oral history of UC Berkeley engineering scientist and Professor Emeritus George Leitmann. This is a large oral history, twenty-three hours of recording. From February 12, 2018 until February 12, 2019, Dr. Leitmann and I spent eleven sessions at his home talking about everything …

If the sight of a skittering bug makes you squirm, you may want to look away — a new insect-sized robot created by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, can scurry across the floor at nearly the speed of a darting cockroach.

Today’s augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies simulate a vivid interactive experience by altering the scene users see and the sounds they hear. But what if users could also feel their way through an experience?

Two Berkeley Engineering professors — mechanical engineering’s Grace Gu and EECS’ Raluca Ada Popa — were included in MIT Technology Review’s list of “innovators under 35” today. This honor is given annually to technologists whose work has great potential to change the world.

Today’s augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies simulate a vivid interactive experience by altering the scene users see and the sounds they hear. But what if users could also feel their way through an experience?

As the Fung Institute continues to grow, innovate, and strive for excellence we know that alumni and industry involvement is the backbone of our success. In this edition of the Alumni Magazine we highlight our efforts in that space and share the new and exciting opportunities for partner engagement and connecting the global MEng network.

ME Assistant Professor Grace Gu is a recipient of the 2019 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award (NTFA). This competitive award recognizes outstanding young faculty who were nominated by 3M researchers and selected based on their research, experience, and academic leadership. In addition, this award also provides financial support of $15,000 per year for up to three …

Koushil Sreenath, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley, received an honorable mention for the 2019 MEng Capstone Faculty Mentorship Award at the 2019 Berkeley MEng Capstone Showcase. The award recognizes the Capstone advisor who fosters intellectual independence, provides project support, and furthers professional development.

Proponents of legged robots say that they make sense because legs are often required to go where humans go. Proponents of wheeled robots say, “Yeah, that’s great but watch how fast and efficient my robot is, compared to yours.” Some robots try and take advantage of wheels and legs with hybrid designs like whegs or wheeled feet, but a simpler and …