Research Brief: Auto lubricant could rev up medical imaging
Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have built a device that could speed up medical imaging without breaking the bank. The key ingredient? An engine lubricant called molybdenum disulfide, or MoS2, which has been sold in auto parts shops for decades.
College launches new energy engineering major
The College of Engineering has launched a new major—driven largely by undergraduate interest—that focuses in a comprehensive way on the generation, transmission and storage of energy, with additional courses on energy policy.
Research Brief: Technology could bring high-end solar to the masses
Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed an inexpensive new way to grow thin films of a material prized in the semiconductor and photovoltaic industries, an achievement that could bring high-end solar cells within reach of consumer pocketbooks.
Paper-thin e-skin responds to touch, holds promise for sensory robotics and interactive environments
A new milestone by engineers at UC Berkeley can help robots become more touchy-feely, literally.
The Fold-Up Boat
Anton Willis (M. Arch '07) has reinvented kayaks for urban dwellers with his inception and production of "the world's first origami kayak." Willis launched Oru Kayak on Kickstarter with a successful campaign resulting in 473 boat orders and $43,806 in pledges.
Five new Bakar Fellows pursue path to marketplace
Five UC Berkeley scientists eager to take their lab-bench discoveries into the marketplace have been awarded Bakar Fellowships to help them achieve their goals.
First Patent Granted for Research at Energy Biosciences Institute
Research on improved sugar transport for biofuel production has been recognized with the first patent to be granted to the Energy Biosciences Institute since the collaboration’s establishment in 2007.
Students think big ideas in tackling societal problems
Closing out almost nine months of intense competition, UC Berkeley’s annual Big Ideas contest honored this year’s crop of outstanding social projects last week during a special awards celebration at the Blum Center for Developing Economies.
Packing Power
Tanja Cuk is testing how to optimize new devices for both power delivery and energy storage. Her focus is an alternative to conventional batteries, called a “supercapacitor,” which could deliver more power than current batteries.
UC Berkeley selected to build NASA’s next space weather satellite
NASA has awarded the University of California, Berkeley, up to $200 million to build a satellite to determine how Earth’s weather affects weather at the edge of space, in hopes of improving forecasts of extreme “space weather” that can disrupt global positioning satellites (GPS) and radio communications.
Creating a New Trail to Solve an Old Problem
Ants normally distinguish friend from foe by detecting colony-specific molecules called pheromones that coat their bodies. Neil Tsutsui has identified the recognition pheromones and other chemical signals, and has shown in experiments that the ants’ behavior can be tweaked by exposing them to identical, environmentally harmless synthetic pheromones.
Introducing the Dreambox
The Dreambox, a fabrication vending machine designed by industrial engineering and operations research Senior Will Drevno along with Haas Berkeley alumni David Pastewka and Richard Berwick, uses off-the-shelf fused deposition processes to print plastics as 3D objects.
3-D printer wows students at UC Berkeley
UC Berkeley alumni, David Pastewka and Richard Berwick, along with a current senior Will Drevno were featured on ABC7 News for their business and invention – the Dreambox.
Berkeley-led consortium gets $3.4 million for transit research
Researchers at the University of California Transportation Center (UCTC), a research consortium led by UC Berkeley that includes the UC and California State University systems, have received a $3.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
UC Berkeley chemistry professor Fréchet wins 2013 Japan Prize
Emeritus chemistry and CBE professor Jean Fréchet, a Professor of the Graduate School, has received a 2013 Japan Prize, one of the most prestigious international awards in science and technology.
USAID invests up to $20 million in UC Berkeley’s global development initiatives
UC Berkeley’s leadership in developing innovative and practical solutions for global problems is being recognized in a $20 million cooperative agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Sather Center targets transatlantic research
With several of its namesake’s descendants on hand for the occasion, UC Berkeley’s Peder Sather Center for Advanced Study is celebrating its launch today (Thursday) with a two-day campus conference.
Chancellor’s Final Back-to-School Briefing has the Ring of Success
UC Berkeley Skydeck Welcomes New Director, Gears Up for Fall
UC Berkeley Skydeck, a startup accelerator, is soaring to new heights with the appointment of a new full-time executive director,Jeff Burton, a member of the founding team of video game maker Electronic Arts.
Two UC Berkeley grads launch printable battery startup
With moral and monetary support from UC Berkeley and UC’s Office of the President, two UC grads – Christine Ho and Brooks Kincaid – have formed a company to create ‘printable’ batteries that are efficient, environmentally friendly and could be made as small as a postage stamp. The start-up is a tribute to the campus’s entrepreneurial environment and its innovative students.
Ashok Gadgil gets $100,000 award for global innovation
The Lemelson-MIT Program has awarded Ashok Gadgil, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the 2012 $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation. The award recognizes Gadgil, who is known for his work on affordable water disinfection systems and fuel-efficient cookstoves for developing nations, for “his steady pursuit to blend research, invention and humanitarianism for broad social impact.”
Voting-scenario startup wins CITRIS Big Ideas prize
Web-based startup Politify earned $20,000 for its first-place finish in the information technology category of the 2012 Big Ideas @ Berkeley innovation contest.
QB3, Pfizer expand support for translational research
Renewal spans four UC campuses, builds on success of 2009 agreement
New research suggests cap and trade programs do not provide sufficient incentives for energy technology innovation
According to a new study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, these programs are not enough to induce the private sector to develop innovative technologies to address climate change.
QB3 bioscience startups going strong at six-year mark
Incubator entrepreneurs launch 60 companies, generate 280 jobs, raise $226 million in follow-on funding
Berkeley gears up for new era of enterprise with Skydeck incubator
Skydeck forms the hub of Berkeley's efforts to foster a new generation of young entrepreneurs and forge a hotbed of collaborative innovation and enterprise in the East Bay.
Climate Change and Business Research Initiative Gains Traction
Environmentalists and corporations don’t always see eye-to-eye on climate change. But the Climate Change and Business Research Initiative has shown that the two sides’ objectives can not only co-exist, but be mutually beneficial.
Berkeley Engineering launches collaboration with Shanghai innovation hub
The College of Engineering at Berkeley is partnering with the Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park to develop a platform for expanding industrial and academic research collaborations in Asia and fostering global learning opportunities with Berkeley students.
UC Berkeley start-up creates energy-efficient buildings
In 2005, Charlie Huizenga and two UC Berkeley MBA graduates started Adura Technologies to install energy efficient wireless lighting systems in buildings. Their technology, based on innovations by UC Berkeley architects and engineers, has significantly reduced lighting costs in more than 2 million square feet of public and private buildings, including UC Berkeley’s undergraduate library.
UC Berkeley's Ali Javey Winner of APEC Science Prize for Innovation Research and Education
U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu awarded the 2011 APEC Science Prize to UC Berkeley Professor Ali Javey in San Francisco today. Professor Javey is well known for developing low-cost, flexible, and lightweight photovoltaic cells. He has also developed transistor arrays that use a fraction of the power of conventional silicon transistors.
GPS innovation wins DOT wireless competition
Prof-led team's project lets cars communicate with each other.
Deloitte offers to turn QB3 into “innovation ecosystem”
The California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), which has branches at UC Berkeley, UCSF and UC Santa Cruz, will work with Deloitte to improve the institute’s efforts to convert bioscience innovation into a driver for jobs, companies and improved health in California.
QB3, Deloitte collaborate to drive California bioscience innovation
The California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) has entered into a collaboration with Deloitte to help the institute in its efforts to convert bioscience innovation into a driver for jobs, companies and improved health in California.
QB3 symposium highlights job creation through innovation
The California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) celebrates a decade of driving the bioeconomy and spells out its goal of helping the state foster science and innovation to benefit society.
California Team to Receive up to $122 Million for Energy Innovation Hub to Develop Method to Produce Fuels from Sunlight
U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman announced a new award of up to $122 million to establish an Energy Innovation Hub aimed at developing revolutionary methods to generate fuels directly from sunlight.
UC Berkeley chemist, biologist, entrepreneur awarded $500,000 Lemelson–MIT Prize
Chemical biologist Carolyn Bertozzi will receive this year's $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize, which honors inventors and entrepreneurs. Bertozzi, a professor of chemistry, has developed innovative chemical reactions that can be performed on biological molecules, living cells and even in live animals without harming them.
Biotech incubator opens its doors at UC Berkeley
UC Berkeley's QB3 will launch a biotech incubator on May 6, hoping to duplicate the success of a similar incubator at QB3's Mission Bay outpost. UC Berkeley grad Wesley Chang, CEO of the start-up Aperys, LLC, is the first tenant of the QB3 Garage@Berkeley.