Berkeley Engineering

The Summer ’26 issue of Berkeley Engineer magazine is here! Our cover story centers on how Professor @Ken_Goldberg is redefining robot manipulation with creativity and code. Read the issue: engineering.berkeley.edu/magazine

Having survived nearly two millennia, Roman concrete structures are widely regarded as outstanding examples of durable ancient engineering. New research reveals that there might be more to the story. Read our story: bit.ly/4wzUxma

Drone-building skills? We’ve got that. ✅ Yesterday marked the first day of the multi-drone optimization challenge at Richmond Field Station! (Photos by Adam Lau/UC Berkeley Engineering)

Researchers from UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a way to electrically power nanophotonic lasers without disturbing light. Read our story: bit.ly/4flCr1p

"Through Berkeley Engineering and Air Force ROTC, I learned that the most impactful engineering solutions are the ones that serve others." — Nathan McNaughton (M.S.’26, Ph.D.’29 EECS) Full #VoicesOfBE profile: bit.ly/3ifpSXy

By combining AI with inexpensive optical sensors, UC Berkeley researchers have created a set of “smart eyes” for 3D printers that can spot moisture damage in real time. Read our story: bit.ly/4p51RE4

Paige Balcom (M.S.’18, Ph.D.’22 ME) is giving plastic waste a second life as co-founder and co-CEO of Takataka Plastics. It’s an entrepreneurial success that earned her UC Berkeley’s Mark Bingham Award for Excellence in Achievement by Young Alums!

#DidYouKnow Grimes Engineering Center’s Strauch Hypercube is a generative work that runs on algorithms. The light installation is inspired by scientific concepts drawn from Berkeley Engineering’s academic disciplines. Read our story: bit.ly/44yULhq

"The most important thing Berkeley taught me was not what engineering is, but how far curiosity can take you.” — Mia Wang (B.S.’26 MSE) The full #VoicesOfBE profile: bit.ly/3ifpSXy

The Agentic AI Summit returns to Berkeley on August 1–2! Researchers, builders and industry leaders — including Berkeley Engineering faculty — will offer keynotes, technical talks and panels, hands-on workshops and live demos. Learn more: bit.ly/4oYNxN9

A study by Professor Stefano Schiavon found that temperatures inside a Miami-area prison routinely reach dangerous levels for extended periods. His report is central to a lawsuit against the prison complex. Read the story: bit.ly/4xR7eul

@Cal_Engineer And...in June 1873, Elizabeth Bragg was a member of the student committee asked to chose a school color. When the committee split between Blue (in honor of the Yale alums on the faculty) and Gold (for the Golden State), it was Bragg who suggested the committee adopt both colors.

Berkeley researcher reveals Florida prison temperatures routinely hit lethal, dangerous levels for extended periods. Now, his findings are at the center of a major Eighth Amendment lawsuit over cruel & unusual punishment. bit.ly/3Spiq13

#DidYouKnow that in 1876, Berkeley Engineering had our first female graduate: Elizabeth Bragg, the first woman to receive a civil engineering degree from an American university. Learn more: bit.ly/2WJHOzV

A new proof-of-concept device created by @Cal_Engineer researchers could transform how food safety hazards are detected. The "electronic nose" identifies trace gases in the air, detecting signs of contamination before they're visible. bit.ly/4vczfL6

Our electronics and green energy technologies run on rare earth elements (REEs). The problem? Extracting these substances is a dirty process. Now, a Berkeley-led team may have solved this problem — thanks to a tiny virus. Read the story: bit.ly/3QFsKS2

ICYMI: Katherine “Kathy” Yelick, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences, is the ninth director of @BerkeleyLab! Learn more: bit.ly/4wauX85

To combat the thousands of wildfires in California each year, Michael Gollner, associate professor of mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley, is figuring out how to predict what urban wildfires will do next. Read our story: bit.ly/4vgBKfA

Today, @UofCalifornia President James Milliken published an op-ed in the Sacramento Bee urging support for SB 895, the proposed research bond “critical for scientific progress.” Read the op-ed: bit.ly/4ep2tiQ (Photos of researchers by Adam Lau / Berkeley Engineering)

Professor @Ken_Goldberg believes that the next leap in robotics capability will be the result of anchoring advances in AI training atop a foundation of “good old-fashioned engineering.” Learn more about how his AUTOLab is pushing robotics forward: bit.ly/43ovjuw

Have you ever seen data as a living sculpture? Watch the newly installed @Cal_Engineer Strauch Hypercube be in conversation with itself—parsing encoded data to create an infinite supply of unique visual patterns. bit.ly/4vlKuk2