Profs. Shankar Sastry and Connie Chang-Hasnain are involved in the establishment of the Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (TBSI) that will offer a new dual-degree program designed to fuel economic growth through transdisciplinary and translational research. Established in October, 2015 this program will begin Fall 2016 and will allow students to spend 2.5 years pursuing a master’s degree in engineering at UC Berkeley and a master’s of science degree at Tsinghua.

The Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation has been named one of the nation’s top 10 examples of sustainable architecture and ecological design projects that protect and enhance the environment. “It Is devoted to introducing sustainable design innovation at the core of university life."  This award is presented by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on the Environment (COTE).

Prof. Armando Fox has been selected to receive the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) 2015 Karl. V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award. Recipients of this award are recognized for advancing new teaching methodologies; effecting new curriculum development or expansion in Computer Science and Engineering; or making a significant contribution to the educational mission of ACM. Prof. Fox was selected for his contributions to computing education through leadership and curriculum development in international online education; creating innovative courses, tools and inexpensive textbooks for software engineering; and outstanding teaching.

The latest rankings from U.S. News & World Report, “America’s Best Graduate Schools 2017” has placed our Electrical Engineering program at #1, tied with Stanford and MIT, and our “Computer Engineering” program ranked #2, tied with Stanford. For the U.S. News rankings of graduate engineering programs, 215 engineering schools that grant doctoral degrees were surveyed.

EECS alumni Jeffrey Forbes (Ph.D. ’00, advisor Prof. Stuart Russell) has been named Chair of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Education Policy Committee. Created in 2007, the ACM Education Policy Committee is a high-level committee of acclaimed computer scientists and educators dedicated to improving opportunities for quality education in computer science and computing education around the world. Prof. Forbes is an Associate Dean of the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences at Duke University and has served as Program Director for the Education and Workforce program in the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering.

An article featured in Bloomberg Business titled “Five of the Best Computer Science Classes in the U.S” has named EECS CS 61A in the top 5. The number of college graduates who got degrees in computer science in 2011 was 2,000% higher than it was in 1970 according to the U.S. Dept. of Education. This course is taught by Asst. Teaching Prof. John De Nero. A notable alumni of this program is Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, ’86.

A new documentary film titled “CODE: Debugging the gender gap” is premiering in NY next week. With 63% of college entrants female, why are on 18% majoring in computer science? And with Black and Latino enrollment in four-year colleges at an all-time high, why are less than 2% majoring in computer science? This documentary addresses the digital divide in the tech industry regarding gender and ethnicity. Prof. Dan Garcia was a key consultant for the producers. The film debuts April 19th at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

Another event related to this topic but separate from the film is “Breaking Through Gender Stereotypes with Dr. Jean-luc Doumont. In his talk, Dr. Doumont challenges received ideas about genders and about how one can fight stereotypes. This event is on Thursday, April 16, Noon-1:30pm, Banatao Auditorium, SD Hall.