News

Cameron Rose's robotic birds mimic flight

EECS graduate student Cameron Rose is featured in a National Geographic article titled “Dreams of the World: Flight Simulation of Robotic Birds with Cameron Rose, UC Berkeley”. Cameron, who is Prof. Ron Fearing’sBiomimetic Millisystems Laboratory has helped design and build the mechanical bird called the H2 Bird. His research focuses on modeling and control of flapping-winged robots in flight away from equilibrium. He is also featured in a Berkeley Graduate News article titled“Graduate Student Mimics Flight of Birds with Robots”.

Ken Goldberg shows Rolling Stone how surgical robots are part of the AI revolution

Prof. Ken Goldberg’s “People and Robots” CITRIS (Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society) initiative is in Part 2 of Rolling Stone’s “Inside the Artificial Intelligence Revolution: A Special Report”. One of the projects Prof. Goldberg is working on is the development of surgical robots to do the tedious work, allowing surgeons to focus on the important tasks.

Michael Lustig's ham radio course featured in NAAR article

Courses related to ham radio taught by EE Associate Prof. Michael Lustig are featured in a National Association for Amateur Radioarticle titled “UC Berkeley Trains, Tests Hundreds of New Hams”. The entry-level course exposes newcomers to ham radio and the advanced course goes into the theoretical applications of digital signal processing, filter design, modulation/demodulation, decoding subcarriers, APRS audio interface techniques, and antenna design.

Pieter Abbeel shows Rolling Stone how machine learning is part in the AI revolution

Prof. Pieter Abbeel is featured in a Rolling Stone article titled “Inside the Artificial Intelligence Revolution: A Special Report, Pt. 1.”  Algorithms are the basis for modern day computing – data goes in, the computer does its thing, and the algorithm spits out a result. What’s new is that scientists have developed algorithms that reverse this process, allowing computers to write their own algorithms. This is called machine learning and is the idea behind the science of artificial Intelligence.

Jeff Bokor's research shows that magnetic chips can increase energy efficiency

Prof. Jeff Bokor is featured in a Berkeley News article titled “Experiments show magnetic chips could dramatically increase computing’s energy efficiency”. As computing increasingly moves into “the cloud”, electricity demands of the giant cloud data centers are multiplying, collectively taking an increasing share of this country’s and the world’s electrical grid. Prof. Bokor and UC Berkeley researchers have shown for the first time that magnetic chips can actually operate at the lowest fundamental energy dissipation theoretically possible under the laws of thermodynamics.

Papers from EECS research groups featured in Proceedings of Electronic Design Automation journal

A special issue of the Proceedings of the IEEE, the most highly cited general-interest journal in electrical engineering and computer science, on the evolution of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) and its future developments, features papers from a number of research groups in EECS. The issue, including Prof. Robert Brayton and Prof. Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli as guest editors, has brought together for the first time multiple perspectives on the future of EDA and the challenges ahead. The significant contributions from EECS professors, students, and alumni witness the groundbreaking, continuous role of Berkeley EECS faculty and students in shaping the field.

Charles Shank receives Enrico Fermi Award

EECS Prof. Emeritus and alumni (Ph.D. ’69) Charles Shank is one of two scientists to receive the Enrico Fermi Award, one of the federal government’s oldest and most prestigious awards for scientific achievement. He was also director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 1989-2004. Prof. Shank is recognized for “the seminal development of ultrafast lasers and their application in many areas of scientific research, for visionary leadership of national scientific and engineering research communities, and for exemplary service supporting the National Laboratory complex.”