Microsoft Research brought together top-notch computer science PhD student researchers who are about to embark on their careers with researchers and engineers who have proven research and technology impact for the 2-day Student Summit on Mobility, Systems, and Networking. During the summit, students presented their work to an ideal audience--their academic peers and a small group of Corporate Vice President-nominated engineers and researchers from Microsoft’s worldwide labs. Out of the 4 students recognized in the “Best Of” competition, two are from Berkeley EECS: Matthias Vallentin won Best Poster and Colin Scott received Honorable Mention.

The Mu Chapter of UC Berkeley has received the 2014-15 IEEE-HKN Outstanding Chapter Award.  This award is presented to IEEE-HKN chapters in recognition of excellence in their chapter administration and programs. Recipients are selected on the basis of improving professional development; raising instructional and institutional standards; encouraging scholarship and creativity; providing a public service, and generally further the established goals of IEEE-HKN.

11 EECS graduate students have been awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships (NSF GRFP). In EE they are Sidney Douglas Buchbinder, Regina Eckert, Laura Hallock, Sang Min Han, Michael Kellman, Efthymios Papageorgiou and Margaret Payne. In CS they are Abhishek Gupta, Grant Ho, Ethan Jackson and Gregory Kahn. The NSF GRFP program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited US institutions. Fellows benefit from a three-year annual stipend of $34,000 along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees.

Kay Ousterhout recently won the Google Ph.d. Fellowship. This is one of the highest honors a CS grad student can win. It is extremely selective, with only a small number universities invited to submit two nominees each. Kay is a 5th year student of Prof. Sylvia Ratnasamy. The Google Phd Fellowship was created in 2009 to recognize and support outstanding graduate students doing exceptional work in Computer Science (CS) and related disciplines.

In 2011 EECS partnered with the campus Division of Equity & Inclusion on a new strategic planning initiative to improve the numbers and create a more welcoming environment for women and underrepresented groups in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Today, thanks to the founding work of EECS Diversity Director Emerita Sheila Humphreys, the work of EECS Associate Director of Diversity & Achievement Tiffany Reardon's tireless efforts championing diversity and inclusion efforts, and the support and leadership of Prof. Tsu-Jae King Liu, the first woman Chair of EECS, over the past 4 years the percentage of undergraduate women in EECS has grown more than twice as fast as the growth of the overall student population, and the percentage of underrepresented minorities has been 3 to 5 times the overall rate.

Venture capital firm Pejman Mar Ventures has created a new competition for UC Berkeley entrepreneurs who demonstrate passion and dedication to making their vision a reality. They are offering $250,000 to back up a startup founded by a Berkeley student, faculty member or alum in exchange for 10 percent of the company. In the past 18 months they have funded 7 companies in which the founders were from Stanford, MIT and Carnegie Mellon. Applicants have until Oct. 1 to apply and a winner will be chosen by Oct. 30.