University of California, Berkeley Mechanical Engineering

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‘Shoulders to stand on’: Statue of campus’ first Black professor unveiled

In 1952, Joseph Thomas Gier became the first tenured Black professor in the University of California system and the second at any highly-ranked predominantly white university. Despite his historical significance, the record of his existence as a UC Berkeley professor of engineering became lost over time. After uncovering details of his past, a sculpture now …

UC Berkeley’s Big Ideas Contest Builds Student-Led Social Innovations

Paige Balcom, the co-founder, co-CEO and CTO of Takataka Plastics, is changing Uganda — one plastic bottle at a time.  In 2017, Balcom, who earned her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, was settling into campus life after spending a year in Uganda on a Fulbright research grant. Only a month into …

‘Hidden Revolutionaries’: Campus alumni inducted into CA Hall of Fame

“Our state’s most revolutionary, innovative, and brightest” was the phrase Gov. Gavin Newsom used to describe the California Hall of Fame, according to a press release announcing its 16th class of inductees Aug. 14. Two of the seven remarkable inductees were UC Berkeley’s very own alumni — Olympic gold medalist and educator Archie Williams, ’39, …

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 …

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 …

Haitian-American engineer makes history as first Black president of Rice University

Reginald DesRoches is riding a wave of successes in his academic career, Five years ago, the renowned civil engineer joined Rice University’s School of Engineering. He followed the auspicious start with the promotion to vice provost two years later. On July 5, the fifth anniversary of his arrival on campus, he started his first day …

Lisa Anne Torres receives 2022 Outstanding GSI Award in Engineering

The Graduate Division and Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) Teaching and Resource Center recently presented Lisa Anne Torres with the Outstanding GSI Award in Engineering. The Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award honors over 200 UC Berkeley GSIs each year and recipients are nominated from within their teaching department. She received this award for the E295: Communications for Engineering …

Parallel Journeys, Lasting Legacies

When Reggie DesRoches assumes the presidency of Rice University on July 1, he will become the fifth Black leader of a top research institution. He will also be the third Black president in the 65-member Association of American Universities who attended the UC Berkeley College of Engineering, along with Gary May, now the chancellor of the …

Dream On

Hypothermia is one of the greatest factors in preventable infant mortality — particularly in low- and middle-income countries — contributing to the deaths of about one million newborns each year. Ideally, infants have skin-to-skin contact with their mother, but in some cases, that’s just not feasible. To help address this issue, civil and environmental engineering …

Nature’s unsung superheroes? Mushrooms!

While Fiat Vox is on summer break, we have been revisiting some of our favorite episodes. In this episode, first released in 2018, we talk with then-Ph.D. candidate Sonia Travaglini, who is now on staff at the Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership at Berkeley, about how we could use fungi to mitigate all sorts of …

The Art of Engineering: Berkeley Engineering alum blurs the line between art and science

Is engineering an art or a science? Most of us would place it firmly in the latter camp: with the careful application of specific rules and factors, it’s a broad discipline based on scientific and mathematic principles. But at least one Berkeley Engineering alumnus sees it differently. Alireza Lahijanian (B.S.’09, M.S.’10 ME) is the co-founder of …

Tam Union Board Renames Drake School for ME Alum Archie Williams

The trustees of the Tamalpais Union High School District have approved Archie Williams High School as the new name to replace Sir Francis Drake, the San Anselmo high school’s moniker for the past 70 years. The 5-0 vote on Tuesday, after more than an hour of public comment, followed last Thursday’s near-unanimous choice of Williams by the …

Cal Alumni Association Spotlight: Miller Allen

Alumni Spotlight Introducing… Miller Allen B.S. ’93, M.S. ’95 Ph.D. ’02 Mechanical Engineering I was born in Berkeley and raised in Oakland where I still live with my wife and two children. My parents, godmother, and uncle all attended Cal, and I wanted to attend Cal from as early as I can remember. I also …

ME Alum Negar Mehr Wins 2020 IEEE ITS Best Dissertation Award

ME Alum Negar Mehr has won the 2020 IEEE ITS Best Dissertation Award. The IEEE ITS Best Dissertation Award is given annually for the best dissertation in any ITS area that is innovative and relevant to practice. This award is established to encourage doctoral research that combines theory and practice, makes in-depth technical contributions, or …

The Clean Air Car Race Turns 50

This summer, as thousands of Americans drive their lower-emission cars on the nation’s roads and highways, very few of them are aware that this month marks the 50th anniversary of a seminal event that paved the way to the invention of their vehicles. On August 24, 1970, Berkeley’s College of Engineering students participated in the …

ME Alumni Spotlight: Boeing

Howard McKenzie was named vice president and chief engineer for Boeing’s Global Services business unit in May 2020. He is responsible for leading the alignment of 7,000 engineers into one cohesive engineering function that supports commercial and government customers worldwide.

ME Alumni Spotlight: Dr. Debbie Senesky

Debbie G. Senesky is an Associate Professor at Stanford University in the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department and by courtesy, the Electrical Engineering Department. In addition, she is the Principal Investigator of the EXtreme Environment Microsystems Laboratory (XLab). Her research interests include the development of nanomaterials for extreme harsh environments, high-temperature electronics, and robust instrumentation for …

ME PhD Graduates & Undergraduate Researchers Shield the Bay

Five UC Berkeley BESTies (Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. graduates – Jessica Granderson, Catherine Newman and Jaspal Sandhu – and undergraduate researchers – Resham Khanna in Cognitive Science & Psychology and Akhil Padmanabha in Mechanical Engineering) are producing face shields for Bay Area county hospitals and emergency response systems, to meet our local healthcare professionals’ need for personal protective equipment as we ramp up to the …

ME Alumni Spotlight: Andrew & Mark Ansell

“I’m Andrew Ansell and my twin brother Mark and I graduated from Cal, each with simultaneous degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration, in December 2019. Funnily enough, we now both work at Microsoft, as Mechanical Engineering Program Managers for different Surface products. We’re also considering attending Stanford University, where we both got in as …

Artificial Intelligence Gives Stethoscopes a Much-Needed Upgrade

Over its 200 years of existence, the stethoscope has emerged as the ultimate symbol for the medical community. Dangling from the neck of a doctor or nurse, the acoustic device seems to bestow upon the wearer an instant veneer of competence and credibility. But here’s something people might find surprising, perhaps even shocking: the health …

ME Alumnus Spotlight: Martin Sanchez Sendiz

Martin Sanchez Sendiz (ME 19′) was born in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Martin immigrated to the U.S. when he was four years old, arriving in South Lake Tahoe. Martin’s mother and father both worked in the hospitality industry in the resort town. Martin’s mother cleaned hotel rooms and his father worked multiple jobs as a prep …

ME Alumna Spotlight: Suzanne Singer

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 …