Ion Stoica elected to National Academy of Engineering

UC Berkeley’s Ion Stoica has been named to the National Academy of Engineering, an honor that is among the highest that a professional engineer can receive. Stoica, a Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences professor and director of the Sky Computing Lab, received this distinction for his work on networked systems for large-scale data processing, analytics and machine learning. This is the latest recognition...

Berkeley alum seeks to create a new paradigm in assistive technologies

Designing devices for people with disabilities requires more than engineering know-how; it requires a desire to understand the different ways we all interact with the world. For Corten Singer (B.A.’17 CS, B.A.’17 CogSci, M.S.’18 EECS), a self-described maker, nothing is more fulfilling than developing assistive technologies that make an impact on people’s everyday lives. Now, he’s poised to do just that. With fellow Berkeley alum...

What experts are watching in 2024 related to artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence was called “the buzzword of 2023” by CNN and referenced by countless media reports. The technology became increasingly visible in society as business leaders used it to restructure workplaces, people chose it as their romantic partners, criminals used it to cloud the public’s sense of reality and more. AI has enabled striking scientific and technological breakthroughs for previously intractable problems. At UC Berkeley...

Kristen Williams joins CDSS as Assistant Dean and ED of Individual Giving

Kristen Williams has been selected as assistant dean for development and external relations and executive director of individual giving at UC Berkeley’s College of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS). She started in the new role on Jan. 3. Williams is a successful fundraising professional with nearly 20 years of experience at Berkeley, having served as assistant dean for external relations most recently at the...

Chemist Omar Yaghi wins Solvay Prize for climate, materials breakthroughs

UC Berkeley’s Omar Yaghi has been awarded the renowned Science for the Future Ernest Solvay Prize by Syensqo. The award honors chemistry leaders whose discoveries are shaping the future of the field and humanity. Yaghi is being recognized for pioneering reticular materials that can help combat the impacts of climate change, Syensqo announced. The ultra porous materials – known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent...

Computer science, data science, statistics majors move to new college

The computer science, data science and statistics undergraduate majors leading to Bachelor of Arts degrees are now administered by UC Berkeley’s first new college in more than 50 years. Following university approval in December, the College of Letters & Science transferred these majors and a statistics minor to the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society. The new college will oversee these programs as part...

Small solar sails could be the next ‘giant leap’ for interplanetary space exploration

Nearly 70 years after the launch of the first satellite, we still have more questions than answers about space. But a team of Berkeley researchers is on a mission to change this with a proposal to build a fleet of low-cost, autonomous spacecraft, each weighing only 10 grams and propelled by nothing more than the pressure of solar radiation. These miniaturized solar sails could potentially...

Cell types in the eye have ancient evolutionary origins

Karthik Shekhar and his colleagues raised a few eyebrows as they collected cow and pig eyes from Boston butchers, but those eyes — eventually from 17 separate species, including humans — are providing insights into the evolution of the vertebrate retina and could lead to better animal models for human eye diseases. The retina is a miniature computer containing diverse types of cells that collectively...

Dean’s Fund supports data science innovation that benefits society

UC Berkeley’s first new college in more than 50 years has launched a fund to support innovation in computing, data science and statistics that will benefit society. Contributions secured by the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS) Dean’s Innovation Fund will advance data science education and research in line with the vision of Jennifer Chayes, dean of the new college. The college’s mission...

Berkeley launches Agile Metabolic Health and open platforms initiative

Agile Metabolic Health aims to revolutionize the patient experience for millions of people with diabetes, catalyzing a new frontier of open-source, data-driven personalized healthcare. This initial project could help the more than 38 million Americans who are diagnosed with diabetes. But the college’s vision is much bigger. It aims to do much more than improve diabetes care. What the college is building in partnership with...