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UC Berkeley’s Omar Yaghi received a top sustainability prize on June 18 for his pioneering discoveries unlocking essential tools to combat the climate crisis. Yaghi won the Tang Prize for Sustainable Development in recognition of his groundbreaking efforts founding and advancing the field of reticular chemistry. He has proven that the ultra porous materials known as metal-organic frameworks and covalent organic frameworks can help address urgent global challenges like reducing planet-warming emissions, air pollution and water scarcity.

Campus leaders, faculty and community members of the UC Berkeley College of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS) celebrated the “topping out” of the new Gateway building on June 7. Construction workers placed the final steel beam onto the building, recognition of a major milestone for the future home of Berkeley’s first new college in 50 years. This state-of-the-art building, which will be located on Hearst Avenue at Arch Street at a prominent access point for the campus, will serve as a vibrant collaboration hub for more than 1,300 faculty, students, staff and researchers. “This is so important to the Berkeley community. It's core to our aspirations, our design, our work,” said Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ, standing next to the Gateway construction site.

California Governor Gavin Newsom and leaders representing technology, government, academia, labor, civic organizations and more convened at the Joint California Summit on Generative AI to collaborate on and examine this transformative technology. More than 100 changemakers came together at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco to discuss new ways generative artificial intelligence could better serve the public. “California is the globe’s artificial intelligence leader, and today’s summit continues to showcase the state’s commitment to innovation,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom. “It’s clear that GenAI has arrived and is moving quickly, and our innovation hubs and state leaders are evolving with the speed necessary to find ways it can be used equitably and responsibly so it benefits all of us and not just a select few.”

At the UC Berkeley College of Computing, Data Science, and Society’s two inaugural commencements on Thursday, speakers lauded the students’ resilience. “You have achieved an impressive feat, not only because you’ve completed a demanding curriculum, but also because you’ve been doing this during a time of historic change and challenge, beginning with a global pandemic and now — during your years here — widespread social unrest,” said Jennifer Chayes, dean of the new college that graduated its first class of these existing majors. “We know this has not been easy. We are so glad you chose to be here today so that we can celebrate your accomplishments.”

When Sana Pandey arrived at UC Berkeley four years ago, she wanted to be a doctor. It was how she was going to put the most good into the world, she said. But after she took her first computer science class, the joy of problem solving had her hooked. Now, Pandey sees the potential to help people at scale. She aims to develop AI systems that reflect and enable the best version of society – one that is diverse, engaged, equipped with credible information and open to listening to and learning from one another. “I realized with time that computer science, and specifically AI, has this potential that we're just starting to tap into now to shape the way that our world exists and how we interact within it,” said Pandey, who is graduating this spring with data science and cognitive science degrees. AI “is going to either reinforce or completely upend the status quos and paradigms of our society.”

Isabel Serrano knew what she enjoyed – the logic of math, the patterns of data, the power to help people through medicine – but for years she didn’t know how to make it a career. When an intern advisor proposed a PhD in computational biology, it clicked almost instantly. Serrano, who received her undergraduate degree from California State University, Fullerton, now helps increase awareness of this field for other CSU students. She also helps mentor and prepare them for the same ambitious path she took to study at UC Berkeley’s Center for Computational Biology. “We have presences at conferences every year. But if you’re already at these events, then you probably know what a PhD is. You have some sense of what comp bio is,” said Serrano, who will complete her PhD this spring. “What about the people who don’t – not because they’re not interested, but because they don’t have the language to figure out that this might be what they're interested in?”

UC Berkeley is joining an ambitious effort to advance open source research, education and public service across the University of California system. The Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS) will lead the university’s involvement in this initiative, launching an office to house the campus’s extensive open source expertise. This program office is one of six in the UC system that will work individually and collectively to benefit society through open source endeavors. "BIDS will serve as an interdisciplinary community hub where computing, data, science and society intersect," said Fernando Pérez, faculty director of the institute. "We are excited to collaborate with our UC partners to build a robust open source ecosystem within the UC system."

Francisca Vasconcelos, a doctoral student in UC Berkeley’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, has been chosen as a Paul and Daisy Soros fellow. She will receive up to $90,000 to support her graduate education as part of the Paul and Daisy Soros New American Fellowship, a merit-based program for immigrants and children of immigrants. Vasconcelos, whose parents immigrated from Portugal, is the first Soros fellow with Portuguese heritage. She is one of two Berkeley students included in the 30-person 2024 cohort from 2,323 applicants. The program has spent more than $80 million since 1998 supporting 805 fellows from 103 countries pursuing U.S. graduate degrees in fields from medicine to law.

Berkeley News: If left unchecked, powerful AI systems may pose an existential threat to the future of humanity, say UC Berkeley Professor Stuart Russell and postdoctoral scholar Michael Cohen. In a recent insights paper in the journal Science, they argue that tech companies should be tasked with ensuring the safety of their AI systems before these systems are allowed to enter the market. Berkeley News spoke with Russell and Cohen about the threat posed by AI, how close we are to developing dangerous AI systems, and what “red lines” AI should never be allowed to cross.

UC Berkeley’s computer science graduate program was ranked first in the nation for the second year in a row by U.S. News & World Report, according to 2024 rankings released April 8. Berkeley’s program in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences shared the top spot with computer science programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon University. Several other Berkeley graduate programs in business, public health, public affairs and more were listed in the top 20 for their disciplines. These rankings are based on a survey of academics at peer institutions, according to U.S. News.