-
engineeringNews
4 engineeringNews
POPQUIZ
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING • UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
engineeringNews
10394.qxd:Layout 1 8/7/07 6:07 PM Page 1
UC Berkeleywill estab-lish the firstendowedfacultychair
attheBerkeleyCenter
for NewMediawith adona-
tion of $1.6million from craigslist, one
of the world’s most popular websites. The dona-tion will support
research, symposia and lectures.It will be matched with $1.5
million from theWilliam and Flora Hewlett Foundation for a totalof
$3.1 million. The craigslist donation establish-es the Center for
New Media as a major researchcenter, said Chancellor Robert J.
Birgeneau.
Published biweekly on Fridays during the academic year by
theEngineering Marketing and Communications Office, College
ofEngineering, University of California, Berkeley.
Copy deadline is 4:00 p.m. on the Monday preceding
publication.
Celeste Altusacting managing editor and writer
Patti Meaghercopy editor
S. Shankar Sastrydean
Teresa Mooreexecutive director, office of marketing and
communications
Legos and kids still fit
University of CaliforniaEngineering News312 McLaughlin
HallBerkeley, California 94720-1704Phone: 510 642.5857Fax: 510
643.8882
[email protected]
www.coe.berkeley.edu/engnews/index.html
FEBRUARY 15, 2008
CELESTEALTUS
PHOTO
Robot-building contest held on Berkeley campus
Berkeley Engineering stu-dent group West CountyRobotics
partnered with MEhonor society Pi Tau Sigma inDecember to present
the sev-enth annual FIRST Lego tourna-ment. The competition is
spon-sored by Dean Kamen’s interna-tional charity, For
Inspirationand Recognition of Science andTechnology (FIRST), and
Lego,manufacturer of the timelesschildren’s building blocks.Kamen,
known for the Segwayhuman transporter and otherinventions, founded
FIRST in1989.
Sixteen teams of kids fromgrades four to eight used Lego
Mindstorms kits andprogramming soft-ware to buildautonomously
con-trolled Lego robotsthat could complete aseries of missionsbased
on a globaltheme: This year wasabout energy conser-vation.
This was the firsttime that the tourna-ment has taken placeon
the Berkeley cam-pus. The engineeringstudents served ashosts.
PHOTOSCOURTESY
OFWEST
COUNTY
ROBOTICS
issue 3S February 15.qxp 2/13/2008 10:16 AM Page 1
Johanes MaEECS senior
“Engineers are very busy.I haven’t seen any games,so I want to
go to a Cal
game, as a student.”
Kayte FischerBioE Ph.D. student
“I would like to studyabroad, in India.”
Michelle VuEMS freshman
“To lie on the grasswhenever it’s nice
outside.”
Michael LinBioE junior
“Move out of the dorms,attend a UCB symphonyorchestra concert
andbefriend a professor.”
From bugs to blood
A team ofCal undergrad-uates hasdemonstratedhow
geneticallymodified E. colibacteria mightbe convertedinto a
cheapand safe bloodsubstitute. Theengineeredproduct,
called“Bactoblood,”addresses a
global shortage of human blood for transfusions,particularly in
developing countries and emer-gency situations, the young
developers say.
“Bactoblood is universally compatible, diseasefree and
inexpensive, and you can reproduce itlike crazy,” explains Samantha
Liang, a BioE jun-ior involved in the recent interdisciplinary
proj-ect. “I thought it was a really great idea.”
So, apparently, did judges at the annualInternational
Genetically Engineered Machinecompetition (iGEM) held last fall at
MIT. Facing
FINALISTS: The Berkeley iGEM team hassome fun displaying the
blood-substituteproject Bactoblood, which won a goldprize at the
MIT contest last fall.
What
do you want
to do before
you graduate?
Continued on page 2
FEBRUARY 15, 2008 VOL. 78 , NO. 3S
PHOTOCOURTESY
OFAUSTIN
DAY
EECS junior Brian Zimmer, with GSI Kevin Peterson,
removes a chip from circuitry in EECS192, Mecha-
tronics Design Lab, where students design and build
robotic race cars. The class meets in Cory Hall’s Nat-
ional Instruments Embedded Systems Lab, improved
last year through a $1.5 million N.I. grant. Mechatronics
is one of several EE classes, like embedded systems and
robotics, that offer a major design element.
MECHALOMANIACS
Blood substitute emerges from E. coli
-
3engineeringNews
Get the complete College calendar
atwww.coe.berkeley.edu/events.
2 engineeringNews
10394.qxd:Layout 1 8/7/07 6:07 PM Page 3
Imagine working in a lab for yourday job, then spending your
week-ends visiting ancient villages andbeach islands.
ME senior Kavon Hooshiar didjust that when he took a
summerinternship at Hong Kong Poly-technic University (HKPU)
throughthe International Association forthe Exchange of Students
forTechnical Experience (IAESTE).
The San Carlos native graduatesin May and wanted to spend
hissummers as an upperclassmandoing research, so he found a sum-mer
internship through IAESTE. Byusing the mid-year break to intern,he
was able to stay on track aca-demically and see the world as
well.
“I saw this as a great way to travelabroad and not get behind
inschool,” Hooshiar says.
The 21-year-old senior workedunder the guidance of an
HKPUprofessor on a nanomaterials project.
“It was very materials-sciencebased,” Hooshiar says. The
projectgoal was to test the mechanicalproperties of copper that had
beenmodified to reduce the surfacegrain size to the nanometer
scale.
Hooshiar interned with 40 othercollege students, mostly
fromEurope, who worked in other HKPUdepartments. They stayed in
thedorms and traveled together on theweekends.
“We took many trips to every sec-tion of Hong Kong, from
ancientvillages, to authentic Hong Kongrestaurants … to playing
ping pongand racquetball and snooker, to bar-becues on the beach,
to amusementparks, to hiking trails,” he recalls.“We did as many
things as possible.It was like extensive tourism.”
IAESTE is an international net-work that coordinates
on-the-jobtraining for students in the fields ofengineering, math
and the sci-ences. Since its inception in 1948,IAESTE United States
has linked stu-dents with employers in more than70 countries.
more than 50 undergraduate teams from 19countries, the
Bactoblood squad was one ofsix finalists in the prestigious
synthetic biol-ogy event.
Berkeley’s entry was different from theothers, says BioE junior
David Tulga, anotherteam member. “Our project was very
com-petitive. It's really a complete system. Thinkof it as a
computer. A lot of people at iGEMare building components, like a
keyboard ora hard drive. We were trying to build thewhole
computer,” Tulga explains.
The competition “really motivates a lot ofpeople to get in the
field,” says John Dueber,a postdoctoral fellow at the California
Ins-titute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) and an adviser on the
project. Bactoblood“sounds crazier than it actually is,” he
adds.
Despite its dreaded association with seri-ous food poisoning,
the E. coli used in theBactoblood experiment was modified toremove
its toxicity and help it live longer inthe bloodstream. This was
accomplishedusing a process developed by Chris Ander-son, a
recently appointed assistant professorof bioengineering at
Berkeley.
To produce Bactoblood, the students killed the bacteria’s DNA,
creating what were essentially empty shells of protein.They
inserted genes to produce hemoglobin,the protein in red blood cells
that carriesoxygen. When the substance turned red, thestudents knew
hemoglobin was being manu-factured and transporting oxygen.
Furthermodifications were made so the bacteriacould be freeze-dried
to extend its shelf life.
The idea for Bactoblood was developed byAustin Day, a senior in
chemical biology. Theteam included half a dozen
undergraduatesstudying bioengineering, biochemistry andeven
anthropology, three high school stu-dents and graduate and faculty
advisers.
Liang’s assignment was to engineer thegenetic “self-kill” switch
that destroyed thebacteria’s DNA to ensure it wouldn't repro-duce
in the bloodstream.
With the competition now behind them,work on Bactoblood is on
hold. But the par-ticipants remain upbeat about its potentialfor
commercialization, pointing to the sub-stantial progress they made
in just a fewmonths of lab time. “It was like a full-timejob,”
Liang says.
BactobloodContinued from page 1
FEBRUARY 15, 2008
www.iaesteunitedstates.org
East meets West
http://parts.mit.edu/igem07/index.php/Berkeley_UC
IAESTE offers international engineering internships
SUDOKU
Enter digits from 1 to 9 into theblank spaces. Every row must
con-
tain one of each digit. So mustevery column, as must every
3x3square.The answer will appear in
the next issue. Below is the answer to last issue’s puzzle.
PHOTOCOURTESY
OFKAVON
HOOSHIAR
PICTURESQUE SUMMER: IAESTE internsrelax under a Hong Kong
pagoda. By Abby Cohn
issue 3S February 15.qxp 2/13/2008 10:16 AM Page 3
Engineers’ Week is here!By the time you read this Berkeley will
be in the throes ofEngineers’ Week, the annual celebration of
engineering,February 19 through 22! All kinds of events are planned
for E-Week 2008, including daily barbecues at the
Campanileesplanade, tabling at Bechtel, info sessions, receptions
andother nighttime activities. Be sure to be there to meet your
fel-low classmates and celebrate the joys of being an engineer!
Give to the Senior Gift CampaignThe 2008 Engineering Senior Gift
Campaign is now in fullswing! The goal is to break all past records
and achieve a 50percent participation rate. Give any amount and
receive a spe-cial appreciation gift. Give $35 or more and receive
a BerkeleyEngineering license plate frame. Get more details online
atwww.coe.berkeley.edu/giving/seniorgift or visit the Senior
GiftCampaign table at the Campanile esplanade during E-Week.
What first inspired you to go into engi-neering?I’ve always been
a tinkerer. When I wasyoung, I liked taking stuff apart and trying
toput it back together. My typical birthdaypresents lasted about
two hours before theywere destroyed. Around age 12 or 13, myparents
gave me an electronics kit and thatwas pretty much it. I knew I
wanted to be anelectrical engineer.
To date, what has been the most mem-orable moment in your
career?I was working in industry at this startup we’d
Roberts leads CEE grad seminarThe next CEE graduate seminar,
“High ReliabilityOrganizations,” is scheduled for 5 to 6 p.m.
Wednesday,February 20, in 212 O'Brien Hall. Karlene Roberts, a
professorin the Haas School of Business, is leading the seminar.
Forinformation on other upcoming sessions, visit their website
atwww.ce.berkeley.edu/seminars/index.php?type=epm. The seriesruns
through May 7.
Those aren’t freshmen Several Berkeley Engineering societies
have teamed up to pres-ent Engineering for Kids day, 9:30 a.m. to 3
p.m. Saturday,February 23. Students from fourth to sixth grade will
be oncampus for a multitude of hands-on activities designed
topresent engineering principles. For more information,
[email protected].
WITH EECS PROFESSOR VIVEK SUBRAMANIAN
Subramanian received his B.S. in electrical engineering from
Louisiana State University in1994 and his M.S. and Ph.D. in
electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1996 and1998,
respectively. He cofounded Matrix Semiconductor in 1998, then in
2000 joined theEECS faculty, where he is currently an associate
professor. He is also a founding technicaladvisor of Kovio, Inc.
Subramanian has authored or coauthored more than 100
researchpublications and patents and won the NSF Career award.
founded. We were working on a new type ofmemory. I remember the
first time we gotthe whole memory to work, we knew thenwe’d be able
raise money and make a prod-uct. It was a really nice feeling.
If you had a few extra hours, whatwould you do with them?I’m a
woodworker. I have a fully set-upworkshop and build contemporary
art piecesand furniture. It’s important to me to be ableto work
with my hands. Woodworking keepsme sane!
What should students do to ensure asuccessful career?Our
tendency as engineers is to run newexperiments rather than think
about theresults we’ve already achieved. But I’d
encourage students to look carefully at whatthey’ve already
done, whether it’s a home-work set or an experiment, and think
aboutit. You’ll learn more in taking the time toanalyze those
results.
What are you currently reading?I just finished The Kite Runner
by KhaledHosseini. It was phenomenal, one of the bestbooks I’ve
read in the last few months.
What is one thing you would like tolearn how to do?I used to
scuba dive so I’d like to get backinto it and get formally
qualified.
If you would like us to profile your favoriteprofessor, please
email his or her name [email protected].
PEGSKORPIN
SKI PHOTO
FEBRUARY 15, 2008
-
3engineeringNews
Get the complete College calendar
atwww.coe.berkeley.edu/events.
2 engineeringNews
10394.qxd:Layout 1 8/7/07 6:07 PM Page 3
Imagine working in a lab for yourday job, then spending your
week-ends visiting ancient villages andbeach islands.
ME senior Kavon Hooshiar didjust that when he took a
summerinternship at Hong Kong Poly-technic University (HKPU)
throughthe International Association forthe Exchange of Students
forTechnical Experience (IAESTE).
The San Carlos native graduatesin May and wanted to spend
hissummers as an upperclassmandoing research, so he found a sum-mer
internship through IAESTE. Byusing the mid-year break to intern,he
was able to stay on track aca-demically and see the world as
well.
“I saw this as a great way to travelabroad and not get behind
inschool,” Hooshiar says.
The 21-year-old senior workedunder the guidance of an
HKPUprofessor on a nanomaterials project.
“It was very materials-sciencebased,” Hooshiar says. The
projectgoal was to test the mechanicalproperties of copper that had
beenmodified to reduce the surfacegrain size to the nanometer
scale.
Hooshiar interned with 40 othercollege students, mostly
fromEurope, who worked in other HKPUdepartments. They stayed in
thedorms and traveled together on theweekends.
“We took many trips to every sec-tion of Hong Kong, from
ancientvillages, to authentic Hong Kongrestaurants … to playing
ping pongand racquetball and snooker, to bar-becues on the beach,
to amusementparks, to hiking trails,” he recalls.“We did as many
things as possible.It was like extensive tourism.”
IAESTE is an international net-work that coordinates
on-the-jobtraining for students in the fields ofengineering, math
and the sci-ences. Since its inception in 1948,IAESTE United States
has linked stu-dents with employers in more than70 countries.
more than 50 undergraduate teams from 19countries, the
Bactoblood squad was one ofsix finalists in the prestigious
synthetic biol-ogy event.
Berkeley’s entry was different from theothers, says BioE junior
David Tulga, anotherteam member. “Our project was very
com-petitive. It's really a complete system. Thinkof it as a
computer. A lot of people at iGEMare building components, like a
keyboard ora hard drive. We were trying to build thewhole
computer,” Tulga explains.
The competition “really motivates a lot ofpeople to get in the
field,” says John Dueber,a postdoctoral fellow at the California
Ins-titute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) and an adviser on the
project. Bactoblood“sounds crazier than it actually is,” he
adds.
Despite its dreaded association with seri-ous food poisoning,
the E. coli used in theBactoblood experiment was modified toremove
its toxicity and help it live longer inthe bloodstream. This was
accomplishedusing a process developed by Chris Ander-son, a
recently appointed assistant professorof bioengineering at
Berkeley.
To produce Bactoblood, the students killed the bacteria’s DNA,
creating what were essentially empty shells of protein.They
inserted genes to produce hemoglobin,the protein in red blood cells
that carriesoxygen. When the substance turned red, thestudents knew
hemoglobin was being manu-factured and transporting oxygen.
Furthermodifications were made so the bacteriacould be freeze-dried
to extend its shelf life.
The idea for Bactoblood was developed byAustin Day, a senior in
chemical biology. Theteam included half a dozen
undergraduatesstudying bioengineering, biochemistry andeven
anthropology, three high school stu-dents and graduate and faculty
advisers.
Liang’s assignment was to engineer thegenetic “self-kill” switch
that destroyed thebacteria’s DNA to ensure it wouldn't repro-duce
in the bloodstream.
With the competition now behind them,work on Bactoblood is on
hold. But the par-ticipants remain upbeat about its potentialfor
commercialization, pointing to the sub-stantial progress they made
in just a fewmonths of lab time. “It was like a full-timejob,”
Liang says.
BactobloodContinued from page 1
FEBRUARY 15, 2008
www.iaesteunitedstates.org
East meets West
http://parts.mit.edu/igem07/index.php/Berkeley_UC
IAESTE offers international engineering internships
SUDOKU
Enter digits from 1 to 9 into theblank spaces. Every row must
con-
tain one of each digit. So mustevery column, as must every
3x3square.The answer will appear in
the next issue. Below is the answer to last issue’s puzzle.
PHOTOCOURTESY
OFKAVON
HOOSHIAR
PICTURESQUE SUMMER: IAESTE internsrelax under a Hong Kong
pagoda. By Abby Cohn
issue 3S February 15.qxp 2/13/2008 10:16 AM Page 3
Engineers’ Week is here!By the time you read this Berkeley will
be in the throes ofEngineers’ Week, the annual celebration of
engineering,February 19 through 22! All kinds of events are planned
for E-Week 2008, including daily barbecues at the
Campanileesplanade, tabling at Bechtel, info sessions, receptions
andother nighttime activities. Be sure to be there to meet your
fel-low classmates and celebrate the joys of being an engineer!
Give to the Senior Gift CampaignThe 2008 Engineering Senior Gift
Campaign is now in fullswing! The goal is to break all past records
and achieve a 50percent participation rate. Give any amount and
receive a spe-cial appreciation gift. Give $35 or more and receive
a BerkeleyEngineering license plate frame. Get more details online
atwww.coe.berkeley.edu/giving/seniorgift or visit the Senior
GiftCampaign table at the Campanile esplanade during E-Week.
What first inspired you to go into engi-neering?I’ve always been
a tinkerer. When I wasyoung, I liked taking stuff apart and trying
toput it back together. My typical birthdaypresents lasted about
two hours before theywere destroyed. Around age 12 or 13, myparents
gave me an electronics kit and thatwas pretty much it. I knew I
wanted to be anelectrical engineer.
To date, what has been the most mem-orable moment in your
career?I was working in industry at this startup we’d
Roberts leads CEE grad seminarThe next CEE graduate seminar,
“High ReliabilityOrganizations,” is scheduled for 5 to 6 p.m.
Wednesday,February 20, in 212 O'Brien Hall. Karlene Roberts, a
professorin the Haas School of Business, is leading the seminar.
Forinformation on other upcoming sessions, visit their website
atwww.ce.berkeley.edu/seminars/index.php?type=epm. The seriesruns
through May 7.
Those aren’t freshmen Several Berkeley Engineering societies
have teamed up to pres-ent Engineering for Kids day, 9:30 a.m. to 3
p.m. Saturday,February 23. Students from fourth to sixth grade will
be oncampus for a multitude of hands-on activities designed
topresent engineering principles. For more information,
[email protected].
WITH EECS PROFESSOR VIVEK SUBRAMANIAN
Subramanian received his B.S. in electrical engineering from
Louisiana State University in1994 and his M.S. and Ph.D. in
electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1996 and1998,
respectively. He cofounded Matrix Semiconductor in 1998, then in
2000 joined theEECS faculty, where he is currently an associate
professor. He is also a founding technicaladvisor of Kovio, Inc.
Subramanian has authored or coauthored more than 100
researchpublications and patents and won the NSF Career award.
founded. We were working on a new type ofmemory. I remember the
first time we gotthe whole memory to work, we knew thenwe’d be able
raise money and make a prod-uct. It was a really nice feeling.
If you had a few extra hours, whatwould you do with them?I’m a
woodworker. I have a fully set-upworkshop and build contemporary
art piecesand furniture. It’s important to me to be ableto work
with my hands. Woodworking keepsme sane!
What should students do to ensure asuccessful career?Our
tendency as engineers is to run newexperiments rather than think
about theresults we’ve already achieved. But I’d
encourage students to look carefully at whatthey’ve already
done, whether it’s a home-work set or an experiment, and think
aboutit. You’ll learn more in taking the time toanalyze those
results.
What are you currently reading?I just finished The Kite Runner
by KhaledHosseini. It was phenomenal, one of the bestbooks I’ve
read in the last few months.
What is one thing you would like tolearn how to do?I used to
scuba dive so I’d like to get backinto it and get formally
qualified.
If you would like us to profile your favoriteprofessor, please
email his or her name [email protected].
PEGSKORPIN
SKI PHOTO
FEBRUARY 15, 2008
-
engineeringNews
4 engineeringNews
POPQUIZ
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING • UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
engineeringNews
10394.qxd:Layout 1 8/7/07 6:07 PM Page 1
UC Berkeleywill estab-lish the firstendowedfacultychair
attheBerkeleyCenter
for NewMediawith adona-
tion of $1.6million from craigslist, one
of the world’s most popular websites. The dona-tion will support
research, symposia and lectures.It will be matched with $1.5
million from theWilliam and Flora Hewlett Foundation for a totalof
$3.1 million. The craigslist donation establish-es the Center for
New Media as a major researchcenter, said Chancellor Robert J.
Birgeneau.
Published biweekly on Fridays during the academic year by
theEngineering Marketing and Communications Office, College
ofEngineering, University of California, Berkeley.
Copy deadline is 4:00 p.m. on the Monday preceding
publication.
Celeste Altusacting managing editor and writer
Patti Meaghercopy editor
S. Shankar Sastrydean
Teresa Mooreexecutive director, office of marketing and
communications
Legos and kids still fit
University of CaliforniaEngineering News312 McLaughlin
HallBerkeley, California 94720-1704Phone: 510 642.5857Fax: 510
643.8882
[email protected]
www.coe.berkeley.edu/engnews/index.html
FEBRUARY 15, 2008
CELESTEALTUS
PHOTO
Robot-building contest held on Berkeley campus
Berkeley Engineering stu-dent group West CountyRobotics
partnered with MEhonor society Pi Tau Sigma inDecember to present
the sev-enth annual FIRST Lego tourna-ment. The competition is
spon-sored by Dean Kamen’s interna-tional charity, For
Inspirationand Recognition of Science andTechnology (FIRST), and
Lego,manufacturer of the timelesschildren’s building blocks.Kamen,
known for the Segwayhuman transporter and otherinventions, founded
FIRST in1989.
Sixteen teams of kids fromgrades four to eight used Lego
Mindstorms kits andprogramming soft-ware to buildautonomously
con-trolled Lego robotsthat could complete aseries of missionsbased
on a globaltheme: This year wasabout energy conser-vation.
This was the firsttime that the tourna-ment has taken placeon
the Berkeley cam-pus. The engineeringstudents served ashosts.
PHOTOSCOURTESY
OFWEST
COUNTY
ROBOTICS
issue 3S February 15.qxp 2/13/2008 10:16 AM Page 1
Johanes MaEECS senior
“Engineers are very busy.I haven’t seen any games,so I want to
go to a Cal
game, as a student.”
Kayte FischerBioE Ph.D. student
“I would like to studyabroad, in India.”
Michelle VuEMS freshman
“To lie on the grasswhenever it’s nice
outside.”
Michael LinBioE junior
“Move out of the dorms,attend a UCB symphonyorchestra concert
andbefriend a professor.”
From bugs to blood
A team ofCal undergrad-uates hasdemonstratedhow
geneticallymodified E. colibacteria mightbe convertedinto a
cheapand safe bloodsubstitute. Theengineeredproduct,
called“Bactoblood,”addresses a
global shortage of human blood for transfusions,particularly in
developing countries and emer-gency situations, the young
developers say.
“Bactoblood is universally compatible, diseasefree and
inexpensive, and you can reproduce itlike crazy,” explains Samantha
Liang, a BioE jun-ior involved in the recent interdisciplinary
proj-ect. “I thought it was a really great idea.”
So, apparently, did judges at the annualInternational
Genetically Engineered Machinecompetition (iGEM) held last fall at
MIT. Facing
FINALISTS: The Berkeley iGEM team hassome fun displaying the
blood-substituteproject Bactoblood, which won a goldprize at the
MIT contest last fall.
What
do you want
to do before
you graduate?
Continued on page 2
FEBRUARY 15, 2008 VOL. 78 , NO. 3S
PHOTOCOURTESY
OFAUSTIN
DAY
EECS junior Brian Zimmer, with GSI Kevin Peterson,
removes a chip from circuitry in EECS192, Mecha-
tronics Design Lab, where students design and build
robotic race cars. The class meets in Cory Hall’s Nat-
ional Instruments Embedded Systems Lab, improved
last year through a $1.5 million N.I. grant. Mechatronics
is one of several EE classes, like embedded systems and
robotics, that offer a major design element.
MECHALOMANIACS
Blood substitute emerges from E. coli