Washington Post: Large wildfires are happening more often because the hazards that trigger them — dry conditions, strong winds, plenty of stuff to burn — are becoming more common, says Michael Gollner, associate professor of mechanical engineering, who heads Berkeley’s Fire Research Lab.
Scientists develop parallel method for fog harvesting and water treatment
Fog harvesting offers regions devoid of lakes and rivers another source for freshwater, but in urban centers, where water is often scarce, there is the added challenge of air pollution. Now, researchers have developed a simple way to simultaneously collect water from fog and remove harmful contaminants, an advancement that could help provide millions of …
Combining superlative AI research with Berkeley’s next unicorn
Shelton AI, a San Francisco-based start-up, is making waves in the financial world with its groundbreaking AI for sovereign wealth funds. Since its inception, Shelton AI has had major success by combining Berkeley’s top engineering talent with the highly regarded industry expertise of C-level executives from top sovereign wealth funds and financial firms. A deep …
2023 Tillman Scholar: Gregory Zaborski Jr.
Gregory served as a infantry team leader in the Marine Corps, deploying in 2008 on the USS Tarawa with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and then in 2009 deploying to Helmand Province, Afghanistan for Operation Khanjar, the largest Marine offensive since the Battle of Fallujah and the biggest offensive airlift by the Marines since the …
Researchers achieve extremely fast charging speeds for commercial lithium-ion batteries
For consumers considering an electric vehicle (EV), long charge times, some up to 12 hours, can be a deal-breaker. But researchers may have discovered a way to reduce the charging time of the lithium-ion batteries used in EVs to less than 15 minutes. Led by Ravi Prasher, adjunct professor of mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley …
ME Professor Boris Rubinsky Helps Team With Advances in Cryopreservation
The rat kidney on the operating table in front of Joseph Sushil Rao looked like it had been through hell. Which it had—a very cold one. Normally a deep pink, this thumbnail-size organ was blanched a corpselike gray. In the past 6 hours, it had been plucked from the abdomen of a white lab rat, …
A Eureka-1 Moment
“Let’s light this candle!” yelled Benjamin Tait (B.S.’23 EECS), the since-graduated chief engineer for Space Enterprise at Berkeley (SEB). On the count of five, Eureka-1 shot up into the sky to the loud cheers of the undergraduate throng.
Keep it cool
Salt has been long used to prevent ice from forming on roads by lowering the freezing point of water. Now, mechanical engineering Ph.D. student Drew Lilley and adjunct professor Ravi Prasher, working with Berkeley Lab researchers, have used this same concept to develop a new method of heating and cooling. Known as ionocaloric cooling, the technique has the potential …
ME Professor Van Carey to Lead Machine Learning for Energy Tech Workshop at the 2023 ASME Summer Heat Transfer Conference in Washington, DC.
On July 11, 2023 ME Professor Van Carey will lead a workshop at the 2023 Summer Heat Transfer Conference on Use of Machine Learning Tools for Thermophysics and Heat Transfer Research and Energy Technology Development. The workshop will provide a summary of recent innovative uses of machine learning to enhance thermophysics research and develop adaptive …
Evolution on fast forward: Grace Gu engineers AI-optimized, bioinspired materials
The CITRIS principal investigator and assistant professor of mechanical engineering takes inspiration from nature and uses machine learning to create more efficient materials.
ME Associate Professor Michael Gollner Wins Early Career Award in Fire Science
ME Associate Professor Michael Gollner has won the Early Career Award in Fire Science by the International Association of Wildland Fire. This award is to recognize a promising early-career professional who has demonstrated outstanding ability in any field of wildland fire science. Congratulations, Professor Gollner!
ME Associate Professor Grace O’Connell Named ASME Fellow
ME Associate Professor Grace O’Connell has been named a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The ASME Committee of Past Presidents confers the Fellow grade of membership on worthy candidates to recognize their outstanding engineering achievements. Congratulations, Professor O’Connell!
ME Assistant Professor Hannah Stuart Wins NSF CAREER Award
ME Assistant Professor Hannah Stuart has won the NSF CAREER Award for Robotic Augmentation of Human Reflexes and Reach through Collaborative Grasping. Professor Stuart’s CAREER project will create a new generation of effective and affordable wearable robotic assistance for people with severe weakness or partial paralysis of the hands and arms, such as might arise …
International Fire Safety Consortium Releases Free, Open Access Video Webinar Series on Wildland Fires in Partnership with UL’s Fire Safety Research Institute and UC Berkeley
The International Fire Safety Consortium (IFSC), a network co-led by the University of California, Berkeley that brings together leading higher-education institutions and fire safety research organizations from around the world, has announced the release of a new series of free, open access educational video webinars on wildland fires, in partnership with UL’s Fire Safety Research Institute …
Join Us for a Commencement Celebration on May 17th!
Greetings, Mechanical Engineering 2023 Graduates: We are happy to invite you and your loved ones to this year’s Commencement Reception, hosted by the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The details are as follows: Date: May 17, 2023 Time: 11am – 2pm Place: Breezeway between Etcheverry and Soda/Jacobs Food and refreshments will be provided. See you there!
ME Professor Oliver O’Reilly Wins University of Galway 2023 Alumni Award
University of Galway has announced the winners of the 2023 Alumni Awards to be presented at a gala banquet on Friday June 16, 2023. The Alumni Awards recognize individual excellence and achievements among the University’s 128,000 alumni worldwide. These awardees are leaders who have demonstrated impact and excellence in their fields on a local, national, …
ME Professor Boris Rubinsky Awarded 2023 H.R. Lissner Medal
ME Professor of the Graduate School Boris Rubinsky has been awarded the 2023 H.R. Lissner Medal from the Bioengineering Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The H.R. Lissner Medal recognizes outstanding achievements in the field of Bioengineering in the form of (1) significant research contributions in bioengineering; (2) development of new methods …
ME Students Monica Li and Taylor Waddell Picked as Semi-Finalists in the 2023 Grad Slam Competition
We are excited to announce that two Department of Mechanical Engineering semi-finalists will compete in the 2023 Grad Slam on April 11th! Register to watch and cheer on Monica Li and Taylor Waddell: https://bit.ly/3zcfzeV. Congratulations, Monica and Taylor!
Capstone Spotlight: Optimizing Sorbent Material for Direct Air Capture
Each year, Berkeley MEng candidates embark on a two-semester capstone experience where they work with faculty or industry partners to bring solutions for real-world problems to life with engineering skills and leadership practices. Here, we place a spotlight on the capstone experience of the Direct Air Capture capstone team, which includes Daksh, Luca Aringsmann, Lauren …
New wind tunnel is installed in Hesse Hall
Berkeley Engineering’s new, state-of-the-art wind tunnel has gone live at Hesse Hall. The wind tunnel will enable students to replicate flight conditions, making it a vital part of the growing aerospace program that was launched in fall 2022. At 37 feet long, 13 feet wide and six feet high, the wind tunnel can generate air …
ME Alum Lavanya Jawaharlal Wins Mark Bingham Award for Excellence in Achievement by Young Alumni
The Berkeley community is filled with people pushing the edges of what’s possible — business leaders whose achievements have shaped entire industries and benefited humankind; alumni whose dedication to Berkeley has had a profound and lasting impact on students and faculty; and young alumni whose early achievements are already showing great promise for their fields …
ME Professor Tarek I. Zohdi’s New Book: Modeling and Simulation of Infectious Diseases
New Book: Modeling and Simulation of Infectious Diseases By Prof. Tarek Zohdi https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-18053-8 The COVID-19 pandemic that started in 2019-2020 has led to a gigantic increase in modeling and simulation of infectious diseases. There are numerous topics associated with this epoch-changing event, such as (a) disease propagation, (b) transmission, (c) decontamination, and (d) vaccines. It …
Evolution on fast forward: Grace Gu engineers AI-optimized, bioinspired materials
“CITRIS is really unique because it facilitates new collaborations in the UC system,” said Grace Gu, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and a principal investigator (PI) at the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS). “I wanted to explore a new …
Researchers develop innovative tool for measuring electron dynamics in semiconductors
At the heart of every mobile phone, laptop and autonomous vehicle is a tiny semiconductor whose properties and, ultimately, performance are determined by free electrons. Now, UC Berkeley researchers have developed a new way to measure these electrons that could lead to more energy-efficient semiconductor materials and electronics. As reported in Nano Letters, researchers demonstrated a …
New Faculty Spotlight: Thomas Schutzius
Meet the newest addition to the Department of Mechanical Engineering’s faculty, Dr. Thomas Schutzius! Dr. Schutzius joins us as an Assistant Professor in January 2023.
Click to learn more about Dr. Schutzius and his research.