Outstanding Graduate Student Instructors Honored at Annual Award Ceremonies
More than 200 GSIs recognized for their exemplary teaching.
Honors and Awards
Meet the 2019 Philip Brett LGBT Studies Fellow: Tara Gonsalves
Brett Fellowship helps propel research on international transgender identity and activism.
Congratulations to 2019 Mellon/ACLS Fellows!
Two students receive a prestigious dissertation-writing fellowship.
Another Student Trio Becomes Switzer Fellows
Three more Berkeley students bring home $15,000 Switzer Environmental Fellowship awards to help them tackle environmental challenges.
American Fellowships Awarded to Three at Berkeley
Fellows are recognized for their scholarly excellence and active commitment to helping women and girls through service in their communities, professions, or fields of research.
International House Announces Eleven Gateway Fellows
The Gateway Fellowship Program provides annual fellowships to UC Berkeley doctoral students in collaboration with the Graduate Division and the recipient’s academic program.
Meet the 2018 Philip Brett LGBT Studies Fellow: Mark Leinauer
An interdisciplinary research project investigates anti-gay bias in child custody courts.
Doctoral Student Receives the Paul Crissey Graduate Student Research Award
Social Welfare PhD student honored for study on child maltreatment.
Celebrating ARCS Scholars
Thirteen doctoral students who are honored ARCS recipients were feted at the Ritz Carlton by the Foundation.
Elizabeth Thelen Awarded Two Prestigious Fellowships
Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History, receives the Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation award and a Phi Beta Kappa Fellowship.
Brandon Callender is Awarded the 2017 Philip Brett LGBT Studies Fellowship
Exploring the black queer past leads a young scholar to imagine the future.
Shilpa Raja Awarded High Honors by the Material Research Society
Shilpa Raja, who recently received her doctoral degree from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was awarded “Graduate Student Gold” for quality research.
MacArthur “Genius” Reflects on His Graduate Student Years at Berkeley
Ethic Studies PhD alumnus Josh Kun highlights how campus funding empowered him as a graduate student and how awards — in his case, a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship — validate working in non-traditional fields.
Outstanding Graduate Student Instructors Honored at Annual Award Ceremonies
On May 3, 2016, more than 200 GSIs were recognized for their exemplary teaching at the annual Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor (OGSI) Award Ceremony.
Josefina Lundblad-Janjic Wins the 2016 Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
Josefina Lundblad-Janjic was selected by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation as a Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellow for 2016.
Emily Yette Wins the 2016 Philip Brett LGBT Studies Fellowship
This spring Emily Yette, a doctoral candidate in Epidemiology, became the fourth recipient of UC Berkeley’s Philip Brett LGBT Studies Fellowship.
Faculty Recognized by Mentorship Awards
On April 13, 2016, five faculty members were honored with the Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Award and Graduate Assembly Faculty Mentor Award.
Rewarding Berkeley’s Aspiring Scientists
Seven Berkeley doctoral students traded in lab coats for formal wear to attend the 45th Annual Scholar Awards Luncheon of ARCS on October 29, 2015.
Yu-Hui Lin is Celebrated as this Year’s Una Fellow
Yu-Hui (Amy) Lin, a Ph.D. candidate in Ethnic Studies was awarded this year’s Una Fellowship. The Una fellowship is awarded each year to an outstanding woman graduate student studying history at Berkeley.
Annual European Exchange Program Broadens Students’ Horizons
An exchange program between Belgium and Berkeley offers students a chance to conduct research on their dissertations and make friends around the world.
U.S. Department of Energy Awards Student for Wind Energy Outreach
ERG student, Joe Rand, recently received national recognition for his contribution to wind energy deployment.
GSIs and their Teaching Mentors are Celebrated at Spring Award Ceremonies
GSIs and faculty mentors were honored for their excellence with various award ceremonies and presentations this spring.
Big Ideas@Berkeley Announces 2014-2015 Contest Winners
Nearly 50 winning projects were celebrated at this month’s Big Ideas@Berkeley student innovation contest.
Visiting Scholar Stops Destructive Myanmar Dam, Wins Goldman Prize
After studying documentary photography at the Graduate School of Journalism, Myint Zaw used his skills to save his hometown.
Journalism Alums Win Pulitzer Prizes
Journalist alumni earn their marks reporting on this year’s biggest news stories like the Ebola epidemic.
The ‘Woz’ Steve Wozniak Awarded Alumnus of the Year
Apple co-founder and alumnus Steve Wozniak has been a big supporter of Cal for nearly three decades.
UC Berkeley Faculty Recognized by Mentorship Awards
This year, five exceptional professors were honored as some of the top mentors on campus.
2015 Berkeley Distinguished Graduate Fellows Reception
Once a year, graduate fellows celebrate their accomplishments at an annual event hosted at the International House.
Research & Innovation Award Winners Help Marginalized Communities in Developing Nations
USAID recently partnered with Berkeley to offer fellowships for research in developing nations.
First-Year Graduate Student Takes on the Biggest Story of Her Life
When journalism student Harriet Rowan began researching campaign reports at UC Berkeley, she didn’t realize it would land her in the media spotlight.
Berkeley, a Top Host for Mexican Doctorate Scholars
Did you know that UC Berkeley is a top host for Mexican doctoral students?
Six Interdisciplinary Faculty/ Student Pairs Named Arts Research Center (ARC) Fellows
ARC announced the selection of fellows for the 2015 ARC Fellows Program for UC Berkeley Graduate Students and Faculty.
Jessica Reilly Sails Around Latin America with International Fellowship
Energy and Resources Group Ph.D. student studies the impact of rising sea levels on coastal life.
Berkeley Graduates are Named in “Forbes 30 Under 30”
Recent graduates were recognized in “Forbes” magazine for their innovations in the energy and healthcare industries.
National Attention to Doctoral Students’ Projects
Berkeley doctoral students’ outstanding projects and research were recently featured in publications and at a local summit.
Anti-Malarial Drug and DNA-Editing Technique Earn Two Cal Profs Academic Invention Honors
Cal professors named National Academy of Inventor fellows.
Student Fellowship Program Provides Food Sustainability Solutions
Two graduate students receive the UC Global Food Initiative Student Fellowship to address local and international food and nutrition issues.
Philosophy Alum Snags Arlt Award in Humanities
The Arlt Award is given to a recent doctorate recipient who authored a book on the topic of humanities.
Former Marine at Cal is Awarded for Work in STEM
Doctoral student Bradley Wheeler received one of only 11 prestigious graduate research fellowships made by the NSF for military veterans contributing to STEM fields.
PhD Candidate Takes Break from Cal to Work at White House
UC Berkeley PhD candidate Dan Hammer is taking a year off from school, but his reason may surprise you.
Haas-Berkeley Team Wins Tech Challenge for Parking Alert System
Ever pray to the parking gods? Haas team wins a Tech Challenge for an alert system that helps drivers find parking.
Fellowship Offers Outstanding Research Opportunities in Social-Behavioral Sciences
The annual Hornaday Graduate Fellowship allows students to conduct research related to social and emotional well-being.
President Barack Obama Honors Berkeley Faculty Members for Scientific Contributions
President Barack Obama recently named three faculty members as recipients of the National Medal of Science Award for their outstanding contributions.
ASLA Honors M.L.A. Student For Design of 16th Street Station in Oakland
An M.L.A. student has been honored by the ASLA for his design of the 16th Street Station in Oakland.
Fellowship Allows Students to Inform Change in Higher Education
by helping faculty collect and analyze data that could inform curriculum development.
Siebel Scholars Award Creates Unmatched Networking Community
In September this award was granted to eight Berkeley graduate students for excellence in their field.
History Student Elena Kempf is Honored as Una Fellow
Being an Una Fellow is one of the highest honors at UC Berkeley.
Two Social Welfare Alumni Win Research Awards
Two UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare alumni were recently awarded research awards. Carly Devlin (’14) was awarded the American Clinical Social Work Association‘s (ACSWA) Judith Holm Memorial Student Awards, including a $2,000 grant and a $1,000 Snooks Prize grant … Continued
UC Berkeley Alumna Wins MacArthur Fellowship
UC Berkeley alumna, Tami Bond, was recently named a 2014 MacArthur Fellow for her work on measuring black carbon emissions on human health and the atmosphere.
J-School Alumni and Lecturers Earn Eight Emmy Nominations and Three Wins
Several J-School alumni and others with strong ties to the Graduate School of Journalism were among the red carpet glitterati …
Kurtis Heimerl Named MIT Technology Review Innovator Under 35
At 30, Kurtis Heimerl has held many titles. Computer scientist. Ex-Googler. Postdoctoral researcher. Humanitarian. CEO. This year, he created a new technology that has the potential to provide low-cost, community-owned cellular networks to the estimated 1 billion people currently living … Continued
Distinguished Poetry Professor, Robert Hass, Wins Wallace Stevens Award
Robert Hass, a distinguished Professor in Poetry and Poetics at UC Berkeley, is a recipient of the prestigious Wallace Stevens Award for his demonstrated mastery of poetry. The $100,000 award from The Academy of American Poets is part of the … Continued
Innovation Gives Users a Say in Energy Consumption
McCormick, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, is the recipient of this year’s Echoing Green Climate Fellowship for his innovation that empowers people and business to control their own energy choices.
Researcher Michael Jordan Wins $100,000 Rumelhart Prize for Cognitive Science
Michael Jordan, a leading UC Berkeley faculty researcher in the fields of computer science and statistics, is the 2015 recipient of the David E. Rumelhart Prize, a prestigious honor reserved for those who have made fundamental contributions to the theoretical foundations of human cognition.
Berkeley Grad Recognized for Promoting Social Change
Mimi Kim, a Ph.D. student who recently graduated from the School of Social Welfare, received an honorable mention at this year’s Thomas I. Yamashita Prize award ceremony.
Newsroom in a Pocket: Berkeley Student Wins a Digital Journalism Scholarship
A newly established scholarship for students who pursue degrees at the intersection of journalism and computers has been awarded to a Berkeley graduate student for her innovative project to connect children to journalism.
Berkeley Professor Wins International Award in Renewable Energy
Jay Keasling, a professor in the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and the Department of Bioengineering, has won the 2014 Eni Award prize in Renewable Energy for his achievements in the microbial production of hydrocarbon fuels.
Berkeley Students Recognized by NAEd/Spencer Fellowship
Four UC Berkeley students were awarded National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship for their research in the field of education. Each recipient was given a $25,000 cash prize for the 2014-15 academic year and an opportunity to network with members of NAE and other senior scholars during a retreat.
Berkeley Grad Wins Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation
Kelly Clancy, a graduate student in Biophysics, has won the Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation, a newly established award with only two winners each year. As the reward, Clancy took home a trophy and a $50,000 cash prize. UC Berkeley will also receive an award to support a seminar series.
Seven Students Win Phi Beta Kappa Graduate Fellowships
Each year the Phi Beta Kappa Alpha of California Chapter awards fellowships to PBK members who are currently enrolled as doctoral students at UC Berkeley. The seven winners of the 2014 fellowship awards of $5,000 each are: Emily S. Cibelli, Linguistics … Continued
Graduate Students Win the Tech-to-Market Innovation Challenge
Three Berkeley graduate students collaborated to win the Tech-to-Market Innovation Challenge on May 8, 2014. Kiki Lui and Dirk de Wit, both School of Information students, teamed with Charles Guo, an MBA student at the Haas School of Business to … Continued
Women’s Hackathon Honors I-School Students
Four Master’s students from the School of Information competed in the one-day Women’s Hackathon at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park in April. The four designed a new Facebook feature that allows users to save and organize especially interesting content from their own timeline or from elsewhere on Facebook. Later they can “relive” that saved content in its social context.
Graduate Student Wins Chancellor Award
In early May, Margaret Rhee, a doctoral candidate in Ethnic Studies with a Designated Emphasis in New Media Studies, was awarded the Chancellor’s Award for Public Service in the category of Campus-Community Partnership for her project “From the Center.”
Two Journalism Students Recognized by the Dorothea Lange Fellowship
The fellowship committee awarded Jason Jaacks as the 2014 Dorothea Lange Fellowship winner and honored Sean Havey as a second place winner.
Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Winners Announced
The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship recently named five UC Berkeley School of Optometry students and one School of Public Health student as this year’s recipients. Ka Yee So won for her proposal to employ a bilingual, telemedicine approach as a screening … Continued
AERA Awards Two Berkeley Professors
The American Educational Research Association (AERA) — the largest national professional organization devoted to the scientific study of education — recently recognized two Berkeley graduate school professors for excellence in education research. Janelle Scott, an assistant professor in the Graduate … Continued
Alumna Wins on “Wheel of Fortune”
Haas School of Business alumna, Melody Akhtari, appeared on the popular televised show “Wheel of Fortune” on March 20, 2014, and went home a champion. Soon after graduating from Haas School of Business in 2011, Akhtari applied to become a … Continued
Education Ph.D. Student Wins the 2014 K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award
Jennifer King Chen’s dissertation research investigates science instruction designed to support students in making informed choices and its impact on successfully directing their independent inquiry and learning.
Meet the Winners of the 2014 Distinguished Fellows Video Contest
Earlier this year, we asked winners of the Berkeley, Chancellor’s and a few other fellowship programs to submit short videos about why they chose Berkeley for graduate study. See what they had to say.
Investigative Reporting Program Wins Prestigious DuPont Award
The Investigative Reporting Program (IRP) at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism recently won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for broadcast and digital news for the documentary “Rape in the Fields.”
Berkeley Professor (and Grad Alumnus) Wins E.O. Wilson Award
Integrative Biology professor Tyrone Hayes’ research has focused on the threat of pesticides and other pollutants in the decline of amphibian species worldwide.
UC Berkeley Group Wins United Nations Award
United Nations SEED grant for sustainable energy development grant will fund a pilot energy project of a solar-based microgrid in an island community in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta.
Alumnus Rebecca Solnit (M.J. ’84) on the Berkeley Wall of Fame
A journalist, philosopher, and activist, Solnit refuses to be confined by anything but her own wildly roaming passions.
Meet David Spiciarich, UC Berkeley Chemistry Student and Lindau Fellow
Spiciarich was nominated in 2012 to represent the US at the annual meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany, along with a selected group of graduate students.
Graduate Students in Hermanowicz Lab Named Odebrecht Finalists
Graduate students in CEE Professor Slav Hermanowicz’s Lab and collaborators received second place in 2013 Odebrecht Award for Sustainable Development. The award, which includes cash prizes totaling $65,000, invites university students to search for innovative technologies and methods to promote sustainable and … Continued
Alumnus Patrick Awuah (M.B.A. ’99) on the Berkeley Wall of Fame
Recently, the Berkeley Wall of Fame welcomed UC Berkeley alumnus Patrick Awuah, who received his M.B.A in 1999.
UC Berkeley Student Wins AAUW Career Development Grant
Débora Silva is a graduate student in Broadcast Journalism with an emphasis in Television.
Berkeley Alumnus Wins PEN Literary Award
Last month UC Berkeley alumnus Leonard Mlodinow was awarded the PEN: E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award for his book Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior.
J-School Alumna Nominated for Emmy Award
Carrie Ching has received recognitions for the graphic novel she directed and produced.
Law Student Wins Baylor’s Top Gun National Mock Trial Competition
Collin Tierney prevailed in a rigorous competition to win the 2013 Top Gun National Mock Trial Competition.
PhD student receives two grants for a campus restoration project
Dylan Chapple’s project, “Fitting Plant to Space,” will measure soil characteristics and landscape factors at each site along the campus’s Strawberry Creek before planting new vegetation. The project will engage 500 volunteers.
J-School student wins WHCA Scholarship and meets President Obama
Angela Hart, a student in the Graduate School of Journalism, was a recipient of the 2013 White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) Student Scholarship. In April, Hart attended the WHCA awards dinner in Washington D.C. and a luncheon with President Obama.
Minh Dang, MSW ’13, named by White House as a Champion for Change
Recognized by the White House as a Champion of Change, Dang has become nationally known for fighting the commercial sexual exploitation of children — helping many heal the pain and shame associated with it.
Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellows chosen
UC Berkeley doctoral candidate Roi Livne and alumna Elham Mireshghi were among 22 fellows selected to receive a Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship.
J-School student wins Dorothea Lange Fellowship
Molly Oleson, a student in the Graduate School of Journalism, is this year’s winner of the Dorothea Lange Fellowship, on the merits of a five-photograph submission.
Brett Fellow explores LGBT theology and Filipino queerness
Second annual award from the Philip Brett LGBT Fund, to support a Berkeley graduate students pursuing LGBT-related scholarship in any field, is made to Ethnic Studies Ph.D. student Darren Arquero.
Meet the Winners of the 2013 Distinguished Fellows Video Contest
Earlier this year, we asked winners of the Berkeley, Chancellor’s and a few other fellowship programs to submit short videos about why they chose Berkeley for graduate study. See what they had to say.
Berkeley Alumna Frances Arnold Wins National Medal of Technology and Innovation
With a 1985 Berkeley chemical engineering Ph.D., Frances Arnold is now a professor at Caltech and finding ways to produce fuels that can help lower carbon dioxide emissions. Her work brought her a medal from President Barack Obama in February.
Ms. Cowan gets a Una Fellowship — and, for one brief evening, Una’s necklace
Although from a small high school in Kentucky that was not academically oriented, Sarah Cowan applied to top colleges around the country, utilizing “a tenacity and hunger than overshadowed fear, uncertainty, and perhaps common sense.”
Brett Fellowship’s Numero Uno seeks an Italian Studies Ph.D.
The first-ever fellowship award from the Philip Brett LGBT Fund was made this spring by a faculty committee choosing from a highly competitive field of 19 applicants. The winner was Chris Atwood, a Ph.D. student in Italian Studies. He is … Continued
Berkeley Academic Senate’s 2012 top honor goes to former chancellor Robert Berdahl and professor-alumna Marian Diamond
At a dinner in May, the UC Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate gave its highest honor, the Clark Kerr Award, to two people with high-profile connections to the Berkeley campus, Robert M. Berdahl, who was Berkeley’s eighth chancellor, and Marian C. Diamond, professor emeritus of integrative biology and a world-renowned brain researcher.
GSIs (and their mentors) are central to Berkeley’s teaching mission
Dear Graduate Students, As the spring semester drew to a close, I enjoyed several opportunities to celebrate great teaching by graduate students. At the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award ceremony on the first of May at International House, we acknowledged … Continued
Out of thousands of dedicated GSIs, 276 are named especially outstanding
Their departments nominate them, a GSI-related faculty committee selects them, and colleagues, family, and friends come together to honor them in a commencement-like ceremony. What it all means is that they’re already pretty darn good teachers.
GSI honors for a dozen new ways of helping people learn
These 12 people, in some ways the crème de la crème of this year’s top graduate student instructors, have effectively, and often cleverly, identified, addressed, and documented a teaching problem they encountered and, for the benefit of all, told how they solved it. Read, for instance, how Sonja Schwartz reinvented the bean jar.
The key to totally surprising a mentor: no leaks
So far, nobody’s let the cat out of the bag, so the surprise has been total in every case. Despite Berkeley’s long tradition of protest and California’s reputation for spontaneity, faculty members here simply don’t expect to be interrupted by outsiders while they’re teaching a class. When it dawns on them that the invasion brings unexpected but happy news for them personally, decorum goes out the window.
Sociology’s Nazanin Shahrokni receives a Woodrow Wilson Women’s Studies Dissertation Fellowship
Nazanin Shahrokni, a doctoral candidate in sociology at Berkeley, has been awarded one of six national 2012 Woodrow Wilson Women’s Studies Dissertation Fellowships. Shahrokni’s dissertation is titled “Gender Segregated Spaces: Traversing the “Public” in the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Since … Continued
Grad alum Ricardo Cortez, now at Tulane, wins the prestigious Blackwell-Tapia Prize
Tulane University math professor Ricardo Cortez, who is internationally regarded as a leading researcher in fluid dynamics and mathematical modeling, has been chosen as the 2012 recipient of the Blackwell-Tapia Prize, which will be presented in November. In 2010, Cortez … Continued
Berkeley doctoral candidates Mont Allen, Robert Harkins, Bruno Reinhardt, and Bharat Venkat win prestigious Newcombe Fellowships
Out of a field of 550 applicants, 21 winners of the 2012 Newcombe Fellowship were just announced, and Berkeley graduate students won four, nearly a fifth of the total.
Mentoring comes of age at Berkeley
Not all aspects of a dean’s job bring smiles; it’s hardly possible to please everyone all the time. That said, there are events during the year that irresistibly bring a smile to my face, and make a lot of people … Continued
Grad-student-led project gets a first prize in the Big Ideas @ Berkeley contest
Acopio, a social venture that translates from the Spanish as “harvest,” picked up the $10,000 first-place prize in the Big Ideas scaling-up category, which helps previous contest winners advance existing projects. The information technology-based, development venture aims to improve the … Continued