Innovations Home Innovations Volume 1, Issue 1, December 2007 Archive
Dean’s MessageTechnology with ImpactI am pleased to introduce myself as the new dean of engineering. I am also pleased to introduce our new online digest, Innovations, and new website at www.coe.berkeley.edu. I graduated from UC Berkeley in 1981 and in my 30 years here I’ve seen the College evolve into an institution of impact. Since becoming Dean in July, I have given considerable thought to how we can continue this evolution. While deeply rooted in academic tradition, Berkeley’s greatest hallmark is that it defies the confines of academia to fully engage in every corner of the world to create novel technologies and new industries, drive economic growth and stimulate social change. The College’s role as a major sparkplug in Silicon Valley and the information technology revolution is just one example of this tradition. Berkeley’s approach is to not only educate engineers as superb technologists but also instill in them an urgent sense of how technologies can make a difference in the real world. My vision for the College will enhance this understanding by moving our curriculum beyond science and technology, beyond engineering industries, to include the disciplines of medicine, law, business, public policy, economics, social sciences, public and global health and the service industry. The problems we seek to address are social in nature and global in scope. Creating the solutions—new power sources like sustainable energies and biofuels to preserve our environment, new methods for improving health care delivery like low-cost cures for emerging infectious diseases—will not be enough. We must push beyond the technology to forge new collaborations that will help us open eyes, change behaviors and make a difference in the critical issues that affect us all. S. Shankar Sastry Upcoming Events Nov. 9 (live webcast) View from the Top: Kirk Hachigian, CEO Cooper Industry will share with students his secrets for being successful in industry. See the webcast of this event. November 27 & 28 Air...Water: What is Our Future? Engineering faculty members Bill Nazaroff and David Sedlak will discuss state environmental science and policy perspectives relating to energy and water issues. The speakers will appear in both Santa Monica and San Diego.
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In This Issue:
No cancer is good, but brain cancers are among the worst. The most common type, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), can strike at any age and is usually fatal. Bioengineering professor Sanjay Kumar is studying the deadly brain cancer in a promising new way and developing new forms of therapy that might halt it.
Using a device that's roughly the size and price of an upscale cell phone, Berkeley Engineers hope to halt the spread of diseases afflicting millions in the developing world. Dubbed SeroScreen, the handheld instrument will test blood and other bodily fluids for the presence of infection and deliver an on-site diagnosis within minutes for influenza, skin infections, mosquito-borne viruses and other ailments.
Steve Beck, 57, has harnessed his passion for video with a vengeance. A noted artist specializing in the use of electronic video, Beck is also the developer of more than 500 commercial electronic products ranging from an energy management system to electronic toys and video games. Beck, whose electronic art is in the collections of such prominent institutions as The Museum of Modern Art, New York, was named EECS Alumnus of the Year in 2003.
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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.
Media contact: Teresa Moore, Innovations Editor, Executive Director of
Marketing and Communications, tcmoore@berkeley.edu
Writers: Paul Spinrad, Abby Cohn, Patti Meagher
Web Manager & Designer: Susanna Spiro
Web Developer: Aleksandr Vladimirskiy
Subscribe or send comments to the Engineering Marketing and Communications Office: innovations@coe.berkeley.edu
© 2007 UC Regents