News from Mechanical Engineering

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 …

Mechanical systems, such as gears and wheels, are core components of machines that we use daily. But these machines often require expensive maintenance or replacement because friction caused by physical contact — gears grinding or wheels rubbing against another material — can wear these systems down, causing them to malfunction or work inefficiently.

ME Professor of the Graduate School David B. Bogy has been awarded the 2019-20 Edward A. Dickson Emeriti Professorship. Edward A. Dickson served as a Regent of the University of California from 1913 to 1946, the longest tenure of any Regent. In 1955, Mr. Dickson presented the University with a gift endowment which enables each …

ME Professors Andrew Packard and Paul Wright received the prestigious Berkeley Citation during the Graduate Engineering Commencement on Tuesday, May 21. The Berkeley Citation is awarded to distinguished individuals whose contributions to UC Berkeley go beyond the call of duty and whose achievements exceed the standards of excellence in their fields. Professor Andrew Packard joined …

On Tuesday, May 21, ME student Gracielita Mendoza-Beginez took to the podium as the student speaker for the Berkeley Engineering undergraduate commencement ceremony. Mendoza-Beginez shared her own experience as a first-generation, low-income Latina engineering student and encouraged her fellow graduates to address the lack of diversity in engineering. “Representation in STEM matters, and we have …

Nearly 700 undergraduate students and 800 graduate students gathered with their families and friends at the Hearst Greek Theatre yesterday for the College of Engineering’s annual commencement ceremonies. During both events, speakers called on graduates to draw on their Berkeley education to promote equity as well as innovation.

New research by Berkeley engineers may soon make it more practical to use battery-powered vehicles and devices in extreme temperatures, such as icy-cold winters in Minnesota or stifling-hot summers in Death Valley. Led by Chris Dames, professor of mechanical engineering, the researchers developed a thermal regulator that can improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries outside of what’s …

Pranav Vaidhyanathan, an electrical engineering and computer sciences student, remembers summer blackouts in his hometown of Chennai, India. It wasn’t unusual for electricity to be out for as long as 20 hours. Mechanical engineering student Alex Yamada could commiserate. Growing up on Oahu, Hawaii, Yamada remembers how the island would frequently lose power — especially after a big …

A powerful new hydrogen fuel catalyst developed by Berkeley engineers relies on a surprising ingredient: gelatin, the same material that makes Jell-O desserts jiggle. Composed of nanometer-thin sheets of metal carbide, this catalyst works just as efficiently as platinum to generate hydrogen fuel from water, but at a much lower cost than the rare and …

The 2019 winner of the WiSTEM2D is Grace X. Gu. Part of the Mechanical Engineering faculty at UC Berkeley, Professor Gu has conducted pioneering work in the field of additive manufacturing, including recent work on a self-correcting 3D printer. 3D Printing Industry got in contact with Professor Gu to to learn more about this particular project, …

Hummingbirds are some of the most nimble fliers on Earth. Their speed and agility are spectacular, driven by the complex muscles that control their wings. This is a difficult system for robots to emulate, and in general, the small winged robots that we’ve seen have relied on compromises in control in order to be able …

Two years ago, Alice Agogino, a UC-Berkeley mechanical engineering professor, was working on a contract to build exploratory robots for NASA Ames. She had been recruited to help design what would eventually become a fleet of mobile, ultra-impact-resistant, remote-sensing robots that could protect sensitive scientific equipment during a drop from orbit onto the surface of …

Gracielita Mendoza-Beginez (B.S.’19 ME) will be this year’s undergraduate commencement speaker. A first-generation college student, Mendoza-Beginez initially came to Berkeley to pursue a degree in environmental science from the College of Natural Resources. But midway through her freshman year, she realized that she had an interest and talent for engineering and worked hard to transfer into …

The University of California, Berkeley and the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) are teaming up to establish a new educational program to accelerate the digitalization of infrastructure systems for sustainable energy. The partnership, finalized today, will help train technical DEWA professionals in state-of-the-art technologies relevant to modern infrastructure systems, particularly for electricity and water.

Robotic arm stacking layers of 2D tissues. (Photo courtesy of Gideon Ukpai, UC Berkeley)

Squishy Robotics was invited to demo at TechCrunch Robotics+AI on Thursday 18, 2019.