Two members of the CDSS community have been recognized with UC Berkeley Achievement Awards: John DeNero Ph.D. ’10 and Arjun Singh Ph.D. ’16. The awards will be presented by the UC Berkeley Foundation and Cal Alumni Association at the Berkeley Charter Gala on May 21.
John DeNero
DeNero, the recipient of the 2026 Fiat Lux Faculty Award, is faculty director of the Data Science Undergraduate Studies (DSUS) program and associate teaching professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS). He completed his Ph.D. degree at Berkeley EECS and joined the faculty after working at Google on natural language processing and Google Translate.
In 2018, he co-founded the Data Science major – currently ranked #1 in the country and the largest major at Berkeley in terms of student enrollment. Interest in data science extends well beyond the major: each semester, approximately one in five Berkeley undergraduate students take a data science course.
As a pioneering educator, DeNero co-developed essential introductory courses – Data 8: Foundations of Data Science and CS 61A: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs – to be accessible across disciplines and technical backgrounds. These popular Berkeley courses pair foundational components with real-world problems, empowering students to bring data science knowledge into diverse applications across disciplines, sectors and careers.
Among other projects, DeNero is a co-principal investigator for the Building Inclusive and Collaborative Foundations in Data Science project, collaborating with the California Learning Lab and community colleges to help make data science education more widely accessible and foster pathways for transfer students. His nomination for the award included comments from several former students who credited DeNero’s teaching and mentorship for their academic and career success.
“John is a staunch advocate for the transformative power of inclusive education, a perspective that has driven him to forge key strategic partnerships,” said Jennifer Chayes, dean of the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS). “He consistently exhibits extraordinary dedication to ensure students at Berkeley and beyond have access to the educational opportunities that will drive lasting and meaningful change.”
Arjun Singh
Singh, who received his Ph.D. in computer science from Berkeley in 2016, is a recipient of the 2026 Mark Bingham Award for Excellence in Achievement by Young Alumni. The award pays tribute to Mark Bingham ’93, who died on September 11, 2001, defending the United States on United Airlines Flight 93. The award is given to a young alum who graduated within the last 10 years and has made a significant contribution to their community, country or the world.
Based on his experience as a graduate student grading assignments, Singh co-founded Gradescope in 2014. Along with EECS professor Pieter Abbeel and Sergey Karayev, Ph.D. ’15, he developed an AI-assisted exam grading technology that speeds up grading tasks and provides teachers and students with instant feedback.
When Gradescope was acquired by Turnitin in 2018, 600 universities had used the technology. Today, more than 140,000 instructors and 3.2 million students at 2,600 universities worldwide have used Gradescope to grade over 700 million student responses.
“We started Gradescope to increase the meaning and value of teaching at Berkeley, by letting instructors spend their time directly with students, rather than with a red pen in hand for hours,” said Abbeel. “Arjun more than achieved that early vision and spread it well beyond Berkeley. His work embodies the spirit of this award: putting service to his community above personal interests.”
