UC Berkeley College of Engineering
![]() McLaughlin Hall, the college's administration building | |
Type | Public professional school |
---|---|
Established | 1931 |
Parent institution | University of California, Berkeley |
Dean | Tsu-Jae King Liu |
Academic staff | 249 (Spring 2022)[1] |
Undergraduates | 4041 (Spring 2022)[1] |
Postgraduates | 2,790 (Spring 2022)[1] |
Location | , , U.S. |
Website | engineering |
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The University of California, Berkeley College of Engineering, branded as Berkeley Engineering, is the engineering school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California.
Established in 1931, the college is considered one of the most prestigious and selective engineering schools in the world.[1][2][3] Berkeley Engineering is particularly well known for producing many successful entrepreneurs; among its alumni are co-founders and CEOs of some of the largest companies in the world, including Apple, Boeing, Google, Intel, and Tesla.
The college occupies fourteen buildings on the northeast side of the main campus and also operates the 150-acre (61 ha) Richmond Field Station. Together with the Haas School of Business, the college confers joint degrees and advises the university's resident startup incubator, Berkeley SkyDeck.
Departments
- Aerospace Engineering
- Bioengineering (BioE)
- Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)
- Development Engineering (DevEng)
- Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS)
- Engineering Science
- Energy Engineering
- Engineering Mathematics and Statistics (EMS)
- Engineering Physics
- Environmental Engineering Science (EES)
- Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR)
- Materials Science and Engineering (MSE)
- Mechanical Engineering (ME)
- Nuclear Engineering (NE)
![](../I/Hearst_Memorial_Mining_Building_at_UC_Berkeley_(52081227414).jpg.webp)
The College of Letters and Science (L&S) also offers a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science, which requires many of the same courses as the College of Engineering's Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS), but has different admissions and graduation criteria. It is one of the university's most selective undergraduate programs, along with the College of Engineering's EECS program; acceptance rates have been at or below 5% for both freshman and transfer applicants in recent years -- 5.2% for Fall 2020 EECS freshman applicants, 2.9% for Fall 2022 L&S CS freshman applicants, and 3.97% for 2021 L&S CS transfer applicants.[4][5] Berkeley's chemical engineering department is under the College of Chemistry.
Students
There are approximately 4,100 undergraduates in the College of Engineering, which for the 2021-2022 application cycle had an acceptance rate of 7.6%,[2] while Berkeley as a whole had a 14% acceptance rate. The Management, Entrepreneurship & Technology (M.E.T.) program, a dual-degree track offered in collaboration with the Haas School of Business, is even more selective, with an acceptance rate of less than 3%.[6][7][8] Applicants to the college may apply directly to one of the departments and enter with a declared major or may apply as an undeclared matriculant; major declaration is required at the end of sophomore year.[9] Once within the college, it is possible to change majors with the approval of Engineering Student Services. It is extremely difficult for undergraduates in other colleges at Berkeley to transfer into Engineering, as they can only be admitted if a current engineering undergraduate drops.[10] The college accepts transfer applications, although only 9% of the over 2,300 junior transfer applicants were admitted for the 2015–16 academic year.[11][12]
Over 81% of undergraduates receive a bachelor's degree in four years, with over 90% doing so within six years. 85% of undergraduates admitted to the college graduate from the college, and 91% graduate from some college or school at Berkeley.[13][14] The college has a 4-year graduation policy, with extra semesters approved only in certain cases. Engineering Student Services provides academic advising, peer tutoring, and career services to engineering students. Various student organizations are run in conjunction with the college, including Pioneers in Engineering, Hackers @ Berkeley, Berkeley Engineers and Mentors, and the Open Computing Facility. Many students belong to the student chapters of their corresponding professional organizations (e.g. the American Nuclear Society, American Society of Civil Engineers, or Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers).[15]
Graduate admissions in the College of Engineering is administered by department. During the 2021-22 academic year, the college had 2,513 graduate students and awarded 228 master's and 244 doctorate degrees as well as 889 professional master's degrees.[1][16]
The college's enrollment is approximately 32% women. Berkeley has one of the oldest, most active and most award-winning sections of the Society of Women Engineers; established in 1975, it has been recognized as a "Gold" "Outstanding Collegiate Section" for the past seven years. Among Berkeley engineering alumnae are a 2018 Nobel laureate, a 2008 Turing Award winner, a 2012 Turing Award winner, the first woman to receive a bachelor's degree in engineering from an American university, and the co-founders of Marvell Technology, Atheros Communications, and many other technology companies.[1][13][17][18]
Research units
All research facilities are managed by one of five Organized Research Units (ORUs):
- Earthquake Engineering Research Center - research and public safety programs against the destructive effects of earthquakes
- Electronics Research Laboratory - the largest ORU; advanced research in novel areas within seven different university departments, organized into five main divisions:
- Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center
- Berkeley Wireless Research Center
- Berkeley Northside Research Group
- Micro Systems Group
- Engineering Systems Research Center - focuses on manufacturing, mechatronics, and microelectro mechanical systems (MEMS)
- Institute for Environmental Science and Engineering - focuses on applying basic research to current and future environmental problems
- Institute of Transportation Studies - sponsors research in transportation planning, policy analysis, environmental concerns and transportation system performance
Major research centers, institutes, and programs
- Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS)
- Berkeley Institute of Design[19]
- Berkeley Multimedia Research Center
- Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence (CHAI)
- Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS)
- Center for Intelligent Systems - developing a unified theoretical foundation for intelligent systems.
- Consortium on Green Design and Manufacturing
- Digital Library Project
- Institute of Transportation Studies
- International Computer Science Institute - basic research institute focusing on Internet architecture, speech and language processing, artificial intelligence, and cognitive and theoretical computer science
- Intel Research Laboratory @ Berkeley
- Integrated Materials Laboratory - facilities for research in nano-structure growth, processing, and characterization
- Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation[20]
- Joint BioEnergy Institute
- Microfabrication Laboratory
- The Millennium Project - developing a hierarchical campus-wide "cluster of clusters" to support advanced computational applications
- Nokia Research Center @ Berkeley
- Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center
- Power Systems Engineering Research Center
- Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing
- Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute
Notable projects
- BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution)
- Berkeley Astrophysical CFD Results
- Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton
- Multigate device (FinFET)
- RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks)
- SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuits Emphasis)
- RISC-V (An open Reduced Instruction Set Computing Instruction set architecture)
- Apache Spark (A large-scale data processing engine)
Notable faculty
- Richard Karp, Turing Laureate for contributions to the field of algorithms
- William Kahan, Turing Laureate for fundamental contributions to numerical analysis
- Stuart Russell, author of Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
- Ruzena Bajcsy, leader in computer vision and robotics
- Michael I. Jordan, most influential computer scientist in the world in 2016 according to Semantic Scholar[21]
- Lotfi Zadeh, founder of fuzzy mathematics
- Jitendra Malik, leader in computer vision and graphics
- David Patterson, Turing Laureate for contributions to computer architecture, founder of reduced instruction set computing (RISC)
- Ken Goldberg, leader in robotics
- Christos Papadimitriou, leader in complexity theory
- Eli Yablonovitch, founder of the field of photonic crystals
- Scott Shenker, leader in networking research
- Jan Rabaey, pioneer in digital integrated circuit design
- Carlo H. Séquin, pioneer in processor design
- Claire J. Tomlin, leader in hybrid systems and control theory
- S. Shankar Sastry, Dean and leader in robotics and control theory
- Homayoon Kazerooni, leader in robotics
- Alice Agogino, leader in engineering diversity
- Paul K. Wright, leader in rapid prototyping
- Ashok Gadgil, environmental policy leader
- Luke Pyungse Lee, pioneer in bionanophotonics and integrated molecular diagnostics systems
- Jay Keasling, pioneer in synthetic biology
- Peidong Yang, leader in nanomaterials
- Ramamoorthy Ramesh, leader in ferroelectric materials
- Paul Alivisatos, authority on the synthesis of nanocrystals
- Ion Stoica, co-founder of Databricks, Conviva, and Anyscale, leader in networking and systems research
Notable alumni
- Steve Wozniak (BS 1986) - co-founder of Apple Inc.
- Bill Joy (MS 1979, EECS) - computer engineer and venture capitalist; co-founder of Sun Microsystems
- Eric Schmidt (MS 1975, PhD 1982) - executive chairman and former CEO of Google/Alphabet Inc.
- Marc Tarpenning (BS 1985) - co-founder of Tesla Inc.
- Douglas Engelbart (MS 1953, PhD 1955) - founder of the field of human-computer interaction, inventor of the computer mouse
- Rube Goldberg (BS 1904) - known for Rube Goldberg machines
- Paul E. Jacobs (BS 1984, MS 1986, PhD 1989) - executive chairman of Qualcomm
- Sehat Sutardja (MS 1985, PhD 1988 EECS), Weili Dai (BA), and Pantas Sutardja (BS 1983, MS 1985, PhD 1988 EECS) - founders of Marvell Technology
- Peyman Milanfar (joint bachelor degree in mathematics and electrical engineering, 1988) - principal scientist/director at Google Research
- Peter Norvig (PhD 1985) - director of research at Google, co-author of Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
- Andrew Ng (PhD 2002) - co-founder and executive chairman at Coursera, chief scientist at Baidu
- Craig Federighi (BS 1991, MS CS 1993) - senior vice president of software engineering at Apple Inc.
- Tony Xu (BS IEOR) - Cofounder and CEO of DoorDash
- Eleven Turing Laureate Alumni (most of any school) -- Barbara Liskov, Butler Lampson, Charles P. Thacker, Dana Scott, Douglas Engelbart, Jim Gray, Ken Thompson, Leonard Adleman, Niklaus Wirth, Shafi Goldwasser, Silvio Micali
Student organizations
- Eta Kappa Nu (HKN)
- Pioneers in Engineering[22]
- Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics[23]
- Design for America[24]
- Society of Women Engineers
- BESSA[25]
- Robotics @ Berkeley[26]
- Machine Learning @ Berkeley [27]
- Mobile Developers of Berkeley [28]
See also
References
- UC Berkeley College of Engineering (2022-01-28). "Facts and figures". University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
- "Berkeley Engineering Undergraduate Admissions - Prospective freshman FAQs: How many students are admitted into engineering?". Berkeley Engineering. Archived from the original on 2022-06-13.
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- "2023 Best Engineering Schools". usnews.com. Archived from the original on 2023-03-12.
- "Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs". usnews.com. Archived from the original on 2023-03-13.
- "World University Rankings 2022 by Subject: Engineering". Times Higher Education. 13 September 2021.
- "2022 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects: Electrical and Electronic Engineering". Academic Ranking of World Universities.
- "2022 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects: Computer Science & Engineering". Academic Ranking of World Universities.
- "QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022: Engineering & Technology". QS World University Rankings.
- "Berkeley EECS - By the Numbers". Berkeley Engineering. 19 December 2017. Archived from the original on 2022-04-15.
- "Berkeley EECS - Undergraduate Admissions & Programs". eecs.berkeley.edu. 25 April 2016.
- "UC Berkeley freshman admission profile". University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
- "University of California - Campuses & majors: UC Berkeley", universityofcalifornia.edu, September 8, 2021, archived from the original on 2021-09-08
- Kim Girard (August 23, 2017). "Inaugural class of M.E.T. students prepare to study business and engineering". Berkeley Haas Newsroom.
- "UC Berkeley Undeclared Information". University of California, Berkeley. 2014-06-12. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
- UC Berkeley College of Engineering. "Change of College (into COE)". University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
- UC Berkeley College of Engineering (2014-06-16). "Prospective Transfer FAQ". University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
- Shahani, Aarti (19 July 2013). "University of California Not Producing Enough Engineers, Cal Dean Charges". KQED. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
- "Facts Brochure 2022" (PDF). Berkeley Engineering.
- UC Berkeley College of Engineering. "Prospective Freshmen FAQ". University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
- UC Berkeley College of Engineering. "Engineering Student Organizations & Competition Teams". University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
- UC Berkeley Graduate Division. "Berkeley Graduate Profile". University of California, Berkeley.
- "About". swe.berkeley.edu.
- "A History of the Society of Women Engineers at Berkeley". gwe.berkeley.edu.
- "Index | Berkeley Institute of Design". bid.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
- "Jacobs Institute Homepage". Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
- "Who's the Michael Jordan of computer science? New tool ranks researchers' influence |". bid.berkeley.edu. 2016-04-19. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
- "Teams and organizations". 2014-06-20.
- "oSTEM @ UC Berkeley". berkeley.ostem.org. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
- "UC Berkeley @ Design for America". designforamerica.com. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
- "Black Engineering and Science Student Association". ucberkeleybessa.com. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
- rab.berkeley.edu
- ml.berkeley.edu
- "Mobile Developers of Berkeley - Home". mobiledevsberkeley.org. Archived from the original on 2015-09-18.