EECS Professor Emeritus Kam-Yin Lau has won the IEEE/RSE James Clerk Maxwell Medal. The medal, named in honor of Scottish Physicist James Clerk Maxwell, recognizes groundbreaking contributions with exceptional impact on the development of electronics and electrical engineering, or related fields. The award consists of a gold medal, a bronze replica, a certificate, and an honorarium. Lau was honored “for spearheading high-speed semiconductor lasers and RF-over-Fiber Systems, enabling today’s wireline and wireless broadband access.”

EECS Professor Emerita Constance “Connie” Chang-Hasnain has won the IEEE Nick Holonyak Jr. Medal for Semiconductor Optoelectronic Technologies. The medal, named in honor of the late Nick Holonyak, Jr., recognizes individuals or teams that have made outstanding contributions to semiconductor optoelectronic devices and systems, including high-energy-efficiency semiconductor devices and electronics. The award consists of a gold medal, a bronze replica, a certificate, and an honorarium. Chang-Hasnain was cited “for pioneering contributions to vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) and VCSEL-based photonics for optical communications and sensing.” She is the inaugural recipient of this award.

EECS Department Chair and Professor Claire Tomlin has won the IEEE Mildred Dresselhaus Medal. The medal, named after the late Mildred Dresselhaus, is awarded to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the fields of science and engineering, significantly impacting the IEEE's areas of focus. The award comprises a gold medal, a bronze replica, a certificate, and an honorarium. The selection process prioritizes individuals with a proven track record of impactful technical advancements, leadership in achieving meaningful goals, and a notable body of work reflected in publications, patents, or other evidence. Tomlin was honored “for foundational work in the design and verification of cyber-physical systems with applications to safety in autonomous systems.”

EECS Professor Emeritus Theodore “Ted” Van Duzer passed away peacefully in his sleep on October 24th. He was 95. Ted was born in Piscataway Township, New Jersey in 1927. At 17, he joined the Navy as a radio technician, his entrée into a career in electrical engineering. With assistance from the G.I. Bill, he earned a bachelor's degree at Rutgers University, a master’s degree at UCLA, and a Ph.D. from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley where he served on the faculty from 1961 to 2014. Ted was co-author of two books, “Principles of Superconductive Devices and Circuits” and “Fields and Waves in Communications Electronics.” He was an IEEE Life Fellow, co-founder of Conductus, and an inductee into the National Academy of Engineering. In spite of his many professional honors, however, of most importance to him was his family and the many lifelong friendships with his Ph.D. students, visiting researchers, and ASC/IEEE colleagues. A memorial will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of Eureka on December 30th at 2:00 pm. In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family asks that donations be made to the church. If you would like to support the university in honor of Prof. Van Duzer, please reach out to gifts@eecs.berkeley.edu to learn more about the Ted Van Duzer Endowed Professorship.

CS Associate Professor Ren Ng has been elected as an Optica Fellow. Optica (formerly OSA) has inducted 129 members from 26 countries to the Society’s class of 2024 Fellows. Founded in 1916, Optica is a global society that works to advance the science and technology of light. Ng was honored “for pioneering work developing light field cameras, as well as seminal contributions in 3D view synthesis and human visual perception.” Ng was named a Sloan Fellow in 2017 and a Hellman Fellow in 2019, the same year that he received the Jim and Donna Gray Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching of Computer Science.

CS Associate Professor Alvin Cheung has won the 2023 Very Large Data Bases (VLDB) Early Career Research Contribution Award. The award, which includes a $2,000 prize, recognizes researchers who have made a significant impact through a specific contribution to the field since completing their Ph.D. Separately, a paper by CS Professors Joseph Gonzalez and Joseph Hellerstein, co-authored by Yucheng Low, Aapo Kyrola, Danny Bickson, and Carlos Guestrin, received the 2023 VLDB Test of Time Award. Their paper, "Distributed Graphlab: A framework for machine learning in the cloud," was published at VLDB 2012. The authors were nominated for this award by the research community, and the winner was selected based on the paper's impact through its consequent products and services, and follow-through research by the community. The VLDB awards recognize excellence in the field of database research and development. The awards are presented annually at the VLDB conference, which is one of the premier conferences in the database field.

We need your help!  An effort is underway to restore the legacy of Berkeley EE Prof. Joseph Gier to the campus community. Gier, who was the first African American professor to earn tenure at the University of California, taught and ran a lab in Cory Hall between 1939 and 1958.  He held eight patents, ran a company that produced a variety of instruments to measure and harness solar radiation, and presented a paper at the first-ever international conference on solar energy. Raised in Oakland by a single mother who worked as a domestic, Gier earned two degrees at Berkeley before becoming a lecturer.  He remained at Berkeley for almost his entire career and was honored for his work as a civil rights activist. Yet despite being the first tenured Black professor to teach in a STEM field at a top tier, primarily white university in America, Joseph Gier disappeared from our record books until four years ago. We are asking the EECS community to come together to help us give this extraordinary man the recognition he deserves. Donations to the Joseph Gier Memorial Fund will sponsor a statue of Gier, created by Oakland artist Dana King, to be unveiled in the Blum Hall courtyard on September 20th.  Please help us correct an historical oversight and restore Gier to his rightful place in the Berkeley narrative!

EECS Professor Emerita Ruzena Bajcsy was awarded the Berkeley Citation, the university’s highest honor, at a special event on Tuesday, Sept. 5. The surprise announcement was made at the end of a special event to commemorate The Past and Future of Robotics and Machine Learning Based on 250 Years of Research Experience. Tsu-Jae King Liu, dean of the College of Engineering, presented the award. The Berkeley Citation is awarded to distinguished individuals whose contributions to UC Berkeley go beyond the call of duty and whose achievements exceed the standards of excellence in their fields. Bajcsy, whose storied career spans over 50 years, conducted seminal research in the areas of human-centered computer control, cognitive science, robotics, computerized radiological/medical image processing, and computer vision. Among her numerous awards and firsts, Bajcsy was the first-ever woman to receive a Ph.D. in electrical engineering in the United States. She is renowned for her intellectual leadership, tireless work ethic, and inspiring approach to research and mentorship. Bajcsy is widely considered the foremost role model of generations of educators and researchers in computer science and engineering.

A team of researchers from UCSF and Berkeley EECS have developed an implantable AI-powered device that can translate brain signals into modulated speech and facial expressions. The device, a multimodal speech prosthesis, and digital avatar, was developed to help a woman who had lost the ability to speak due to a stroke. The results have the potential to help countless others who are unable to speak due to paralysis or disease. The breakthrough study, published in the journal Nature, was led by UCSF neurosurgeon Edward Chang, EE Assistant Professor Gopala Anumanchipalli and Ph.D. student Kaylo Littlejohn. “This study heavily uses tools that we developed here at Berkeley, which in turn are inspired by the neuroscientific insights from UCSF,” said Gopala. “This is why Kaylo is such a key liaison between the engineering and the science and the medicine — he’s both involved in developing these tools and also deploying them in a clinical setting. I could not see this happening anywhere else but somewhere that is the best in engineering and the best in medicine, on the bleeding edge of research.”