News

The Berkeley Unboxing Data Science (BUDS) program nearly doubled its number of interns this summer, building off its 2020 inaugural success teaching data analysis skills to underprivileged high school students. Many of this year’s 23 interns entered the program with negative experiences in math and computing and no coding expertise, facilitators said. By the end of the internship, students were teaching each other data science...

Some UC Berkeley researchers are applying such tools to learn more about the past, like deciphering business and personal transactions recorded on clay tablets in ancient Sumer. Such tablets are drawing international attention with the news that the United States was returning 17,000 tablets and other ancient relics to Iraq at the end of July.

California is amidst a period of intensifying drought. As of July 8, Governor Gavin Newsrom (D-Calif.) had issued drought emergency declarations for 50 of the state's 58 counties and had urged local residents to voluntarily reduce their water use. Californians have seen dry periods like this before that prompted water scarcity concerns. But climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of these events, leading...

UC Berkeley and two others won a five-year, $20-million award to create the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Institute for Advances in Optimization , the National Science Foundation announced today. At the institute, UC Berkeley, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Southern California will develop algorithms using AI and operations research that make supply chains and electricity grids more resilient. They will also...

Growing up in Rochester, N.Y., Maria Smith got a close-up look at how the penal system perpetuated racially biased policies and decided to study law so she could make a difference. Her father, who has since passed away, struggled with addiction and had been incarcerated several times. In fact every male relative on her dad’s side has been incarcerated, “making it almost a rite of...

Our understanding, planning, and response to wildfires benefit from connections with data and computing sciences, UC Berkeley researchers say. Recent developments in machine learning and simulations can help first responders detect fires earlier, predict fires’ paths and limit blazes quickly. Through collaborations with practitioners in other fields like microbiology and forest management, these tools are answering previously intractable questions about fires that can inform policy...

Delivery services may be able to overcome snow, rain, heat, and the gloom of night, but a new class of legged robots is not far behind. Artificial intelligence algorithms developed by a team of researchers from UC Berkeley, Facebook, and Carnegie Mellon University are equipping legged robots with an enhanced ability to adapt to and navigate unfamiliar terrain in real-time.

At the National Data Science Education Workshop hosted virtually June 14-18 by UC Berkeley, many sessions focused on getting data science classes into universities and getting students into those classes. But one discussion within the larger program looked at helping teachers introduce human contexts into class instruction, with an eye toward using data science to advance social justice.

UC Berkeley’s Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS) has named four new associate deans, selecting pioneering academic researchers with backgrounds from computing to sociology. The appointments include Charis Thompson as associate dean for campus partnerships; Catherine Ceniza Choy as associate dean of diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice; Armando Fox as associate dean of online programs; and John DeNero, who was named associate...

UC Berkeley’s Data Science Undergraduate Studies program continues to cultivate the growth of data science education at colleges and universities across the country. Led by a dedicated adoption team at the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society, many institutions have been able to emulate and adapt Berkeley's pedagogy in establishing local programs.