Blog

Yuan T. Lee with family

January 21, 2011

Chemistry, 1980 or thereabouts

The trip back to 1980 (or so) in this photo is fascinating enough. It takes us right into the clothing and hair styles of the era, and the equipment, and the scientists' oneness with with the apparatus. But a lot has happened since then.

January 21, 2011

Optometry’s cheerful greeter

This jolly bronze of optometry pioneer Meredith Morgan, seasonally attired at the end of last year, is normally capless — but equally genial — as it stands at eye level, day in and day out, in the lobby/reception area of the School of Optometry's Minor Hall clinic.
word nanotechnology from dictionary

January 18, 2011

Berkeley graduate students have many outlets to showcase their work

For the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative (BERC), the word "collaborative" is key. The graduate-student-led organization brings together people across campus — in the sciences, business, law, and policy — to address pressing energy and natural resource issues. BERC also helps to link the Berkeley campus to other professionals working in these areas.

December 17, 2010

Safeguarding your academic integrity

In conversation with some graduate students recently, they encouraged me to address an important if unpleasant subject: academic misconduct — cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, facilitation of academic dishonesty, misrepresentation in records, etc. (Some categories and examples are discussed online.) My hope…
Steve Chu

December 17, 2010

Energy Secretary Steven Chu is named Cal’s Alumnus of the Year

Steven Chu, who received his physics Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 1976, has been selected as the 2011 Alumnus of the Year by the Cal Alumni Association. The U.S. Secretary of Energy and Nobel Laureate is being recognized for his groundbreaking contributions to the fields of biophysics and atomic physics, his commitment to addressing climate change, and his transformative leadership in energy research and policy.
AIF Fellowship

December 15, 2010

Upcoming Graduate Funding Opportunities

Find out more about the Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, SRC Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowships, NRC Research Associate Awards, Founder Region Fellowship, EbenTisdale Fellowship and Dell Thurmond Woodard Fellowship, and the Phi Beta Kappa Graduate Fellowships.
UCPD

December 15, 2010

Stay Safe and Prevent Campus Theft: UCPD’s Winter Break Tips

The change in campus activity during the curtailment period affects how you need to think about safety. If you see something suspicious, call the police immediately using the non-emergency number, 510-642-6760. For emergency situations—any imminent threat to life or property—make an emergency call from campus, by dialing 9-1-1 from any landline phone, or 510-642-3333 from a cell phone.
NSF

December 15, 2010

National Science Foundation announces new rules for NSF Fellowships starting in 2011

The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) recently announced two policy changes regarding their fellowship: Starting in the academic year 2011-2012, no employment will be allowed during fellowship tenure, with the exception of NSF approved off-site internships or research experiences requiring travel. Fellows wanting to…
Una Fellowship

December 15, 2010

A duo of recipients for Una’s Fellowship

At the Faculty Club in November, two quiet ceremonies took place on different evenings, virtually out of the campus eye, but united by history and an unusual item of neckware. Each marked the presentation of the Una Fellowship, given to an outstanding woman graduate student in the field of history to “foster the spirit of inquiry and individuality” so characteristic of the woman for whom the fellowship is named, Una Smith Ross.
Sather Gate with Cal Colors

December 15, 2010

And Lo, there was light

The ostensible reason was to help boost spirit during Big Game Week, but given the outcome in the stadium we’ll maintain the illusion that the special lighting on the Campanile, the University Library, and Sather Gate was there to foreshadow holiday cheer.
Susan Desmond-Hellmann

December 15, 2010

The head of UCSF, a Cal alum, is named in a fierce Top Ten list

The chancellor of UC-San Francisco since mid-2009, Susan Desmond-Hellmann, a Berkeley alumna (M.P.H.’88) who already has a passel of distinctions, has been named by the daily industry newsletter Fierce Biotech as one of the Top Ten Women in Biotech.

November 24, 2010

Michael P. Wilson, (M.P.H. ’98, Ph.D. ’03) Wins Coveted Switzer Prize

Michael P. Wilson has been a member of the Switzer Network since receiving a Switzer Foundation fellowship in 2002. He is on the cutting edge of the emerging field of green chemistry. A product of the environmental health sciences program at the School of Public Health (M.P.H. '98, Ph.D. '03), he has been a research scientist at the school's Center for Occupational and Environmental Health since receiving his doctorate.
Admission

November 12, 2010

Inside the evolution of Jazzee

A sea change will take place over the next year in the way the Berkeley campus deals with the thousands of graduate student applications it receives. The process of taking in the annual avalanche of "apps" and then reviewing and making decisions on them is complex, and has been that way for a long, long time.
Berkeley-Taiwan Partnership

November 12, 2010

Berkeley and Taiwan form an educational partnership

The China Post, a major English-language daily newspaper published in Taiwan, led the news this way: "The No. 1 public research university in the United States recently sealed an unprecedented cooperative partnership with 15 academic institutions in Taiwan to increase the international experience and exposure of talented local humanities and social sciences scholars through government-sponsored graduate studies."
Emmanuel Saez, Economist

November 12, 2010

Two more “geniuses” for Berkeley

Thanks to two young faculty members — and, of course, the MacArthur Foundation — the already-sizeable total of active Berkeley campus MacArthur "genius" Fellows grew to 32 at the end of September.

November 9, 2010

Engaging Graduate Alumni

Graduate alumni are pursuing the most astonishing array of careers, and it's a pleasure for Dean of the Graduate Division Andrew Szeri to interact with them, especially given their warm feelings for their alma mater—UC Berkeley.
E-Skin

October 29, 2010

Threesomes get noticed

Two trios of grad students made the news recently, not for their trinity but for the interesting work they've been doing in very different fields.

October 20, 2010

UC Berkeley among top of recently released NRC rankings

The National Research Council's Data Based Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs has been released. Berkeley did very well in the assessment, with illustrative rankings that put many of our programs at or near the top.