SubscribeForty young U.S. scholars — four of them with a UC Berkeley pedigree — have been named to receive the 2012 Gates Cambridge Scholarship, a prestigious award that pays the full cost of a graduate degree in any field of study at Cambridge University.
People archive
Four from Berkeley win prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarships
February 22, 2012:
Campus celebrates Black History Month
February 22, 2012: The annual monthlong commemoration of African American contributions to American society draws to a close with a series of events.
Cal Corps’ Megan Voorhees garners statewide honor
February 22, 2012: Megan Voorhees, director of Berkeley’s Cal Corps Public Service Center, has been named winner of the 2012 Richard E. Cone Award. The California Campus Compact, a statewide professional association, bestows the honor annually on an individual who has made important contributions to partnerships between communities and institutions of higher education.
Social Welfare emeritus James Leiby, 89
February 22, 2012: School of Social Welfare Professor Emeritus James Leiby, a faculty member since 1961, passed away at his home in Berkeley at age 89.
To campus’s town-gown envoy, bridges are for building, not for burning
February 17, 2012: To Julie Sinai, a “policy junkie” who recently ended a nine-year stint as Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates’ chief of staff, the time was right for a return to education, which she believes “is under siege right now.”
The world according to musicologist Richard Taruskin
February 16, 2012: Music professor Richard Taruskin, best known for his six-volume “Oxford History of Western Music,” was honored at a recent professional conference in Princeton. In tribute to a man known to suffer no fools, a colleague offered a serenade: “My fearsome valentine/big scary valentine/you make me quake in my boots.”
Through engineering prof, girls meet ‘the science of better’
February 16, 2012: Rhonda Righter, professor of industrial engineering, is tackling a new assignment: serving as a volunteer role model to 35 middle-school girls. During a recent presentation at Oakland’s American Indian Public Charter School, she talked about her field: “Industrial engineering is all about making things better,” Righter said. “We’re like detectives who solve puzzles.”
Two faculty named Sloan Research Fellows
February 15, 2012: Faculty members Sylvia Ratnasamy and Allan Sly are among 126 young scholars awarded prestigious research fellowships this year from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The $50,000 research award recognizes “rising stars” early in their careers. Read a Q&A with each.
Q&A: Allan Sly on probability theory and random processes
February 15, 2012: Newly awarded a 2012 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, Allan Sly, assistant professor of statistics, talks about his research into probability theory, his students and his own days a UC Berkeley graduate student.
Q&A: Sylvia Ratnasamy on helping students build their own networks
February 15, 2012: Newly awarded a 2012 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, Sylvia Ratnasamy, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences in UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering, talks about her passion for improving the Internet and for helping students build their own networks.
Carlos Bustamante honored with Vilcek Prize
February 15, 2012: Carlos Bustamante, a professor of molecular and cell biology and of physics and chemistry, has been awarded the 2012 Vilcek Prize, given annually to individuals born abroad who have made lasting contributions to American society. Born in Peru, Bustamante uses magnetic beads, atomic-force microscopes and laser “tweezers” to explore the inner workings of the cell and DNA.
Valentine’s Day shines spotlight on campus love 
February 14, 2012: Campus couples talk about the challenges and rewards of working together and reveal their favorite romantic places at UC Berkeley.
Granholm hosts nightly political show, ‘The War Room’
February 13, 2012: Former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, a faculty member at Berkeley in law and public policy, now hosts a prime-time political show. “The War Room with Jennifer Granholm” airs Monday through Friday on Current TV.
Scott Shenker elected to National Academy of Engineering
February 9, 2012: Engineering professor Scott Shenker joins the ranks of the National Academy of Engineering, bringing to 92 the total number of UC Berkeley faculty members given the prestigious honor.
I School dean talks tech innovation on Canadian radio 
February 3, 2012: AnnaLee Saxenian, dean of the School of Information and author of The New Argonauts: Regional Advantage in a Global Economy, talks about what happened in Silicon Valley to make it the world’s tech innovation center, and how the future of growth and innovation will depend on the new Argonauts — experts who move information fluidly between creative hubs all over the world.
Berkeley’s writing requirement? Bold vision, endless revision
January 31, 2012: College Writing Programs, or CWP, has come a long way from its 19th-century origins, when students were schooled in Subject A, “Oral and Written Expression.” The 21st-century Berkeley program offers more than 20 courses in everything from public speaking, creative nonfiction and travel writing to new media.
Community celebrates Ed Roberts Day
January 24, 2012: On Jan. 23, the campus honored the father of the independent-living movement, Ed Roberts, during an outreach event for local high-school students with special needs.
Ashok Gadgil wins Zayed lifetime-achievement award
January 20, 2012: Ashok Gadgil, a UC Berkeley engineering professor and a division director at Lawrence Berkeley Lab, has won the Lifetime Achievement Award of the 2012 Zayed Future Energy Prize, given for innovation, leadership and vision in renewable energy and sustainability. Gadgil was recognized for his sustainable humanitarian work in Darfur, providing healthier, energy-efficient “Berkeley-Darfur” cooking stoves. More than 1,100 nominations were submitted for prize.
Indian Country comes to Berkeley (and vice versa)
January 20, 2012: Berkeley faculty, staff and alumni — and participants from as far away as Alaska — collaborate on a four-day, first-of-its-kind Native American Museum Studies Institute designed to give Indians the tools to “tell their own stories, and to tell the stories from their perspective.”
NAS honors Robert Powell’s work on nuclear deterrence
January 19, 2012: UC Berkeley political scientist Robert Powell has been awarded the National Academy of Sciences Award for Behavioral Research Relevant to the Prevention of Nuclear War.
Berkeley biologist Michael Eisen: Don’t hinder access to publicly funded research
January 11, 2012: Michael Eisen, professor of molecular and cell biology, argues in a New York Times op-ed that the government should require free access to all published scientific results that were obtained with funds from taxpayers. A bill before Congress would prevent the National Institutes of Health from requiring that all publications be freely available through the National Library of Medicine Web site.
Howard Bern, expert on effects of hormones, has died at 91
January 10, 2012: Howard A. Bern, professor emeritus of integrative biology at the UC Berkeley, and a pioneer in understanding how hormones affect development, including that of the human fetus, died Jan. 3 at his home in Berkeley after a nine-month battle with cancer. He was 91.
Western bluebirds: Rx for vineyards plagued by insect pests?
January 6, 2012: Research by Berkeley postdoc researcher Julie Jedlicka suggests that encouraging bluebirds to nest in vineyards can help control insect pests. The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/06/HO9H1MJ6UG.DTL#ixzz1ijIxLms9
Botanical art as ‘capturing a plant’s soul’
January 6, 2012: A camera can record a plant, but a botanical artist captures its soul, says botanical illustrator Catherine Watters in an audio interview with Paul Licht, director of the UC Botanical Garden. Works by Watters and other artists, along with classes and programs, will be featured at the Garden’s third-annual Plants Illustrated exhibition, Jan. 14 to Feb. 3.
From homeless barracks to UC Berkeley
January 2, 2012: Unbeknownst to most of his peers and teachers in Riverside’s North High School, Jamal Samuel spent his junior and senior years living at King Hall, a homeless shelter located on the barren grounds of a former Air Force base. Now a sophomore at UC Berkeley, the determined 19-year-old plans to graduate with a degree in architectural engineering and go on to an elite graduate school.
Nutritional investigator Barbara Laraia maps the food environment
January 2, 2012: Why would women with less access to nutrient-dense food be more at risk for weight gain? Barbara Laraia, a new associate professor in the School of Public Health, teases out answers to such questions, as part of her research on food policy, the food environment, and health.
Berkeley 2011 — the year in pictures 
December 22, 2011: Beyond the protests, the story — as always — is one of engagement, passion and perseverance in the face of challenges, whether institutional or personal.
Hong Kong businessman honors father, Woo Hon Fai, with major gift to UC Berkeley
December 19, 2011: David Woo, who began his career in 1967 as an architect working on the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, has chosen to honor his late father, Woo Hon Fai — and to celebrate the now-historic structure — with a major gift to the campus.
Extremism, in the name of fashion, is her advice
December 19, 2011: Getting dressed is a daily adventure for überstylish undergraduate adviser Jane Paris. The College of Letters and Science staffer writes about each new fashion statement in her blog, “What I Wore Today.”
New UC Berkeley financial-aid plan targets squeeze on middle-class students
December 14, 2011: Thousands of UC Berkeley undergraduates from middle-income families will get a helping hand from a new, far-reaching financial-aid plan hailed by Chancellor Robert Birgeneau as “the first program of this sort at any public university in the United States.”
