Honors & awards archive
SubscribeHot tech-startup idea? Apply to Venture Lab contest
April 10, 2013: Campus students and post docs who seek to launch and grow a tech startup are invited to apply for funding, workspace and guidance from the Venture Lab competition. The contest deadline is April 17.
Bakar Fellows Program: Probing the cell’s ‘everywhere’ molecule
April 10, 2013: “Ubiquitin” is the apt term for a molecule that plays a vital role in every cell in our body. Associate Professor Michael Rape, winner of a 2012 Bakar Fellowship, is now on the trail of a potential drug to interrupt excessive ubiquitin production and prevent uncontrolled cell division, a hallmark of cancer.
Excellence in Management nominations due April 12
April 10, 2013: The Excellence in Management award,now in its 25th year, allows career employees to honor exemplary campus managers and supervisors. This year’s theme, “Agents of Positive Change,” recognizes outstanding efforts to help employees navigate changes in the workplace. Nominations are due Friday, April 12.
Contest winners shine new light on Fiat Lux
April 9, 2013: The Fiat Lux Remix contest invited students, faculty and staff members to revisit images of UC campuses commissioned in the mid-1960s by then-President Clark Kerr and taken by legendary photographer Ansel Adams – and published in the book Fiat Lux – and give them their own spin.
One librarian. Eight words. One big win in New Yorker cartoon caption contest
April 8, 2013: The prize doesn’t come with a parking place. But UC Berkeley University Librarian Tom Leonard is still tickled to win The New Yorker’s weekly cartoon caption contest.
Centro Legal de la Raza to honor Birgeneau
March 26, 2013: Centro Legal de la Raza, a Bay Area organization that supports the rights of immigrant, low-income and Latino communities, has named Robert Birgeneau as recipient of a “visionary-leadership award,” for his efforts on behalf of undocumented students. The chancellor will be honored April 12 at the center’s 44th-anniversary gala.
Bakar Fellows explore brain-machine interface
March 26, 2013: Neuroengineer Jose Carmena and bioengineer Michel Maharbiz are working to develop a brain-machine interface, an emerging technology for retraining the brain to operate a prosthetic device such as an artificial limb. They are supported by the campus’s Bakar Fellows Program, which helps early-career faculty pursue innovative research with commercial promise. The program is currently accepting applications for 2013/14.
Berkeley English grad named Gates Scholar
March 20, 2013: After a stint in the Navy, Justin Park encountered an Old English poem that piqued a fascination with medieval literature. Park pursued that interest while earning his B.A. at Berkeley and now has been named a Gates Scholar. He plans to study Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic lit at Cambridge.
Nominate ‘Agents of Positive Change’ for BSA awards
March 18, 2013: The Excellence in Management award, now in its 25th year, provides an opportunity for career employees to acknowledge the exemplary contributions of their managers and supervisors.
Berkeley’s top teaching honor goes to five faculty 
March 18, 2013: Among the many illustrious faculty at UC Berkeley, five have been ben selected as winners of the prestigious 2012 Distinguished Teaching Award, which recognizes teaching that incites intellectual curiosity in students, engages them thoroughly in the enterprise of learning and has a lifelong impact.
Chancellor receives CASE CEO award
March 12, 2013: Chancellor Birgeneau has received the 2013 Chief Executive Officer Leadership Award from District VII of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
Berkeley Law students win two of six diversity scholarships offered nationwide
March 8, 2013: Berkeley Law students Cristina Sepe and Criselda Haro will each receive a $10,000 scholarship after being named Latham & Watkins Diversity Scholars. They are two of just six law students chosen from more than 300 applicants nationwide.
John Hartwig honored for work in synthetic chemistry
March 6, 2013: The American Chemical Society awarded UC Berkeley chemist John Hartwig its Herbert C. Brown Award For Creative Research In Synthetic Methods “for the creative discovery and insightful development of fundamentally new, broadly utilized” chemical reactions, such as syntheses using transition metals as catalysts.
Economists, computer scientists awarded prestigious Sloan fellowships
February 19, 2013: UC Berkeley economists Frederico Finan and Yuriy Gorodnichenko and computer scientists Björn Hartmann and Michael Lustig are among 126 young scholars awarded prestigious Sloan Research Fellowships for 2013.
Two UC Berkeley faculty members named to NAE
February 7, 2013: UC Berkeley faculty members David Dornfeld and Ashok Gadgil have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, one of the most prestigious professional distinctions accorded to an American engineer.
Academic Senate names Kerr Award winner
February 5, 2013: The Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate has announced the winner of its 2013 Clark Kerr Award for Distinguished Leadership in Higher Education. He is Ricardo Romo, president of the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Nominations sought for public-service awards
February 5, 2013: Later this spring, the campus will honor outstanding public-service contributions in research, service learning, civic engagement and campus-community partnerships. The deadline to nominate students, faculty or staff is March 4.
German-born Michael Rape awarded prize honoring young immigrant scientists
February 5, 2013: German-born Michael Rape, associate professor of molecular and cell biology, is one of three recipients of the 2013 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science, which is awarded every year to immigrant scientists under 39 who have demonstrated outstanding achievement. The prize and $35,000 will be presented in April in New York City.
National Medal of Science awarded to psychology prof emerita Anne Treisman
February 4, 2013: Anne Treisman, professor emerita of psychology at UC Berkeley and Princeton University, is among 12 researchers to receive the National Medal of Science. One of the highest honors granted by the U.S. government, the annual award recognizes people who have made outstanding contributions to chemistry, engineering, computing, mathematics, or the biological, behavioral/social and physical sciences.
Chemist Jean Frechet to receive Japan Prize
January 30, 2013: Emeritus professor Jean Fréchet, a Professor of the Graduate School in chemistry and chemical and biological engineering, has received a 2013 Japan Prize, one of the most prestigious international awards in science and technology.
The making of a ‘lifetime mentor award’ winner
January 28, 2013: Mechanical-engineering professor Alice Agogino has been named winner of the AAAS Lifetime Mentor Award. In a Q&A with the NewsCenter, she talks about her influences and her efforts to transform a profession, from human-centered design to blogging and Barbies.
Public Health neuroscientist a winner of prestigious prize for dementia research
January 25, 2013: For his research on beta-amyloid plaques in the brain, Dr. William J. Jagust of UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health has been named a winner of the 2013 Potamkin Prize for Research in Pick’s, Alzheimer’s and Related Diseases by the American Academy of Neurology and the American Brain Foundation. The $100,000 prize is an internationally recognized tribute for advancing dementia research.
Physics society honors Birgeneau for ‘statesmanship in science’
January 24, 2013: The American Institute of Physics has awarded Chancellor Robert Birgeneau the 2012 Karl Taylor Compton Medal for Leadership in Physics. The medal honors Birgeneau’s advocacy for women in science as well as his research.
Berkeley ranked one of Kiplinger’s ‘best-value’ top 10
January 15, 2013: In its new ranking of 100 “best-value” colleges and universities, based on academic quality and affordability, “Kiplinger” magazine ranks UC Berkeley among the top 10.
New biomed center wins ‘go beyond’ sustainability award
January 14, 2013: The Li Ka Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences has garnered a “Going Beyond Award” from the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories. The award recognizes the architect, engineer, builder, and project teams that best exemplify a whole-building approach to sustainable design.
Berkeley named a Fulbright ‘top producer,’ twice over
January 10, 2013: California Hall won kudos this week for being a “top producer” of student and faculty Fulbright scholars. The achievement is due in part to the campus’s robust support for those applying for funding from the State Department’s flagship scholarly international-exchange program.
Barclay Simpson honored with Berkeley Medal
January 10, 2013: Berkeley alumnus, businessman and philanthropist Barclay Simpson has been awarded the Berkeley Medal, the university’s top honor.
Haas professor named top under-40 finance scholar
January 8, 2013: Berkeley-Haas Finance Professor Ulrike Malmendier has been awarded the 2013 Fischer Black Prize from the American Finance Association, which honors the top finance scholar under the age of 40 years old. The prize was announced to the public Jan. 7, 2013.
Intellectual-property-law honor for Berkeley Law student
January 3, 2013: A Berkeley Law student has won a national student-writing award for his paper on the potential impact of the Supreme Court’s recent decision involving patents covering natural processes.
Calling all outstanding staffers; award nomination deadline is coming up
January 2, 2013: Got a co-worker, boss or supervisee whose accomplishments deserve recognition? Nominations for the annual Chancellor’s Outstanding Staff Awards are now open, and the deadline is Feb. 6.
