University of California, Berkeley Mechanical Engineering

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 …

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 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.

ME Ph.D. student takes the road less traveled to UC Berkeley

For Ph.D. candidate and Chancellor’s Fellowship recipient Alexander Alvara, the path to UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering has been a long and winding road. As a teenager, he would help his six younger siblings get ready for school each morning, while his mother, a single parent, juggled two jobs. He never minded the extra responsibility, …

Berkeley Engineering alumni help achieve decades-long quest for nuclear fusion

On Dec. 5, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) achieved fusion ignition for the first time in history. This major breakthrough — in which a controlled fusion reaction produced more energy than was required to start it — was decades in the making. In the experiment, researchers directed powerful lasers emitting 2.05 megajoules …

Berkeley Lab Scientists Develop a Cool New Method of Refrigeration

Adding salt to a road before a winter storm changes when ice will form. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have applied this basic concept to develop a new method of heating and cooling. The technique, which they have named “ionocaloric cooling,” is described in a paper published Dec. 23 in …

Say Hello to the Toughest Material on Earth

Scientists have measured the highest toughness ever recorded, of any material, while investigating a metallic alloy made of chromium, cobalt, and nickel (CrCoNi). Not only is the metal extremely ductile – which, in materials science, means highly malleable – and impressively strong (meaning it resists permanent deformation), its strength and ductility improve as it gets …

Under the radar

Berkeley researchers have discovered a way to improve the wave-scattering abilities of piezoelectric materials, a finding that may lead to advances in noise cancellation, medical and stealth technologies. In a study published in the Journal of Applied Physics and selected as an editor’s pick, the researchers demonstrated that electro-momentum (EM) coupling, a newly discovered phenomenon …

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month, every month

Migdalia Sanchez, an undergrad mechanical engineering Cal NERDS student who was part of our cohort, shared some reflections on her experience, “As an Indigenous Zapotec woman in STEM, specifically in engineering, it is quite rare to find scholars and opportunities where my identity and passions intersect. It was wonderful to be able to have conversations …

The power of simplicity

When asked to describe her microfluidic device, Berkeley mechanical engineering professor Lydia Sohn keeps it simple. “Here’s what I tell my family: It’s like we’re taking a straw, and we’re drinking tapioca boba balls,” says Sohn, who holds the Almy C. Maynard and Agnes Offield Maynard Chair in Mechanical Engineering. “Some boba are bigger than …

Spotlight on Women in Engineering – Maritza Ruiz

Maritza is the director of process engineering at Velo3D and has been with the 3D printing company for nearly 5 years. As the director of process engineering, Maritza oversees the qualification of new metal alloys in the company’s Sapphire family of printers. She also develops new processes and techniques to improve the material properties of …

ME Student Group, Berkeley Combat Robotics, Competes on BattleBots

BattleBots is a Discovery Channel TV show that has been running since the 90s on various networks and airs in over 150 countries; it’s the highest level of combat robotics, in which 250lb robots rip each other apart for a chance to win the coveted Golden Bolt. Just over two years ago, a few incoming …

Graduate Diversity Admissions Fair: October 17th – 21st

If you’re considering a graduate degree, you won’t want to miss our virtual Graduate Diversity Admissions Fair at UC Berkeley, Oct. 17-21! Learn more about our application process and meet with individual programs in 80+ sessions during the week. Register free: https://bit.ly/admitdivfair

Goalkeeping Robot Dog Tends Its Net Like a Pro

The best professional football goalkeepers in the English Premiere League (we’re talking about the sport called soccer in North America) are able to save almost, but not quite, 80 percent of shots taken on goal. This is very good. But it’s not nearly as good as the 87.5 percent of shots that a 9kg quadrupedal robot …