News
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.
Read MoreME 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!
Read MoreME 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!
Read MoreME 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…
Read MoreInternational 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…
Read MoreJoin 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!
Read MoreME 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,…
Read MoreME 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…
Read MoreME 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!
Read MoreCapstone 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…
Read MoreNew 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…
Read MoreME 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…
Read MoreME 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…
Read MoreEvolution 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…
Read MoreResearchers 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…
Read MoreNew 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.
Read MoreME 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,…
Read MoreBerkeley 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…
Read MoreCITRIS researchers to help Northern California communities reduce wildfire risk with dynamic modeling and serious games
With $2.5 million from the National Science Foundation, an interdisciplinary, multicampus University of California research team is partnering with agencies and community organizations in the Bay Area to help residents respond to natural disasters more quickly — and more safely. The 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85 people and laid waste to more than 240…
Read MoreBerkeley 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…
Read MoreSay 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…
Read MoreUnder 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…
Read MoreWinning Silver Medal at Indy Autonomous Challenge Dallas Race — A Strong 2022 Finish for ROAR Racing and ROAR Academy
It can only be described as an understatement that winning a Top 3 ranking in 2022 season Indy Autonomous Racing has never been a topic discussed among our team members when we arrived at Dallas. We ARE a clear underdog, starting competing in AI racing events just in 2021 and going against a slew of…
Read MoreCelebrating 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…
Read MoreThe 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…
Read MoreSpotlight 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…
Read MorePatrick Cheng, MEng ’22 (ME): “You can’t grow without facing uncomfortable situations”
After graduating as a UCLA Bruin and working in industry for a couple of years, Patrick Cheng found he was destined to be a Golden Bear, joining UC Berkeley’s one-year Master of Engineering (MEng) program in 2021. There, he earned his master’s degree in mechanical engineering with a concentration on the control of robotic and…
Read MoreME 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…
Read MoreGraduate 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
Read MoreGoalkeeping 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…
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