Innovations Volume 2, Issue 5, May 2008 Archive
Dean’s MessageA Hub of SustainabilityThere were plenty of clues around campus that April was Earth Month: tree plantings, conferences and summits, awarding of Sustainability Awards and granting of Green Initiative grants. But the maturity of UC Berkeley as a hub of sustainability awareness and action goes far deeper; Berkeley marks Earth Day every day, and its efforts are being felt on campus and far beyond. In the global arena, CITRIS is now collaborating with the Copenhagen Climate Council to cosponsor next month’s C-GRACE, one of several strategic meetings for negotiating a new Kyoto Protocol. The event involves CITRIS with international scientists and government and industry leaders in exploring research priorities that can promote a low carbon future while still sustaining global growth and human prosperity. On the research front, the Energy Biosciences Institute and Joint BioEnergy Institute have put Berkeley on the map as a major center of energy research, but the campus also houses some 100 study programs and dozens of research centers focusing on environmental research of all stripes. Researchers in the college are engineering novel technologies—from solar photovoltaic panels and new-generation nuclear power plants to sensors that can power smart automotive engines, smart fueling stations and smart homes. At the same time they are searching for the most sophisticated approaches to help solve one of the oldest problems known to mankind: a clean and safe water supply. Go to the Berkeley Institute of the Environment website for detailed listings of the many centers doing outstanding sustainability research in the college and all across campus. I welcome your thoughts and ideas. S. Shankar Sastry Upcoming Events May 12 Spring Reception for Graduates: Come celebrate and enjoy refreshments with this year's engineering graduates. Alumni welcome! May 31 Tribute to Honor Jim Gray: Join the family and colleagues of Jim Gray in hosting a tribute to the legendary computer science pioneer, missing at sea since January 28, 2007. June 9 Special Southern California Alumni Event: Can Nuclear Energy Reduce Global Warming?: Meet College of Engineering Dean S. Shankar Sastry, hear a faculty lecture by Jasmina L. Vujic, Department Chair of Nuclear Engineering, and network with fellow Berkeley Engineering alumni in Los Angeles. |
In This Issue:Genealogical ConclusionsThere are about six billion base pairs in the human genome, and our family tree includes about six billion living humans. So, although DNA sequencing begins in a laboratory, it requires research-level computer science and statistics to crunch the resulting mass of data and make sense of the results. As EECS and statistics professor Yun Song remarks, “Just 15 years ago, it was very difficult for population genetics researchers to run their computationally intensive analyses on desktop computers. It’s thanks to relatively recent improvements in computers and algorithms that these problems have become tractable.” Read more. Building a Better MouseComputer mice are a weighty matter for BingYune Chen. Chen, a senior who graduates this month in bioengineering, is studying how weight affects the speed, accuracy and ease of use of a computer mouse. “It’s a new issue,” says the 22-year-old Chen, who helped conduct a pilot project as an undergraduate researcher at the UCSF–UCB Ergonomics Laboratory, where he is now an employee. While extensive research has been done on the design of computer mice, Chen says, little is known about mouse weight and its impact on performance. Read more. Wired for SuccessFor Berkeley-trained Sung-Mo "Steve" Kang, the work of a university chancellor is a lot like engineering. "Think of integrated circuits," says Kang (Ph.D. '75 EECS), who in March began his second year at the helm of UC Merced. Just as a chip relies on a network of connections to operate smoothly, so does a college campus. With that in mind, Kang is taking a collaborative approach to building his young institution into a world-class research university. Read more. |
Innovations is published online by the Marketing and Communications Office of the UC Berkeley College of Engineering. The Innovations mission is to illuminate groundbreaking research at the College of Engineering that will dramatically change our lives tomorrow.
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