News

Francisca Vasconcelos, a doctoral student in UC Berkeley’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, has been chosen as a Paul and Daisy Soros fellow. She will receive up to $90,000 to support her graduate education as part of the Paul and Daisy Soros New American Fellowship, a merit-based program for immigrants and children of immigrants. Vasconcelos, whose parents immigrated from Portugal, is the first...

Berkeley News: If left unchecked, powerful AI systems may pose an existential threat to the future of humanity, say UC Berkeley Professor Stuart Russell and postdoctoral scholar Michael Cohen. In a recent insights paper in the journal Science, they argue that tech companies should be tasked with ensuring the safety of their AI systems before these systems are allowed to enter the market. Berkeley News...

UC Berkeley’s computer science graduate program was ranked first in the nation for the second year in a row by U.S. News & World Report, according to 2024 rankings released April 8. Berkeley’s program in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences shared the top spot with computer science programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon University. Several other...

Thirty years after a United Nations convention combating climate change entered into force, the dangers of increasing human-caused, planet-warming emissions are on full display. Severe droughts strain water reserves, surging temperatures threaten food supplies and rising sea levels turn whole villages into climate refugees. Scientists warn it will get much worse. But climate change isn’t the only phenomena that’s accelerating. The science and technology needed...

An advanced math curriculum in high school is essential for preparing California students for science and technology majors in college, University of California, Berkeley experts wrote in a recent EdSource op-ed. The authors credited a recent report from a UC Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) workgroup that recommends “only courses that require knowledge of advanced algebra should validate the Algebra II/ Math...

UC Berkeley experts are developing a trailblazing infrastructure to translate cutting-edge AI and behavioral economics healthcare research into powerful real-world advances in patient outcomes and drastically reduced medical costs. The Center for Healthcare Marketplace Innovation is being launched by the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society and the Haas School of Business to act as a force multiplier for top-tier technological innovation and economic...

Three UC Berkeley experts have been named as Schmidt Sciences’ AI2050 Early Career Fellows, a cohort that will conduct ambitious artificial intelligence research to benefit society. Computer Science Assistant Professor Nika Haghtalab, Statistics and Computer Science Assistant Professor Jacob Steinhardt and incoming Statistics Assistant Professor Amanda Coston are among this year’s 19-person group. Each will receive up to $300,000 over two years to fund their...

Omar Yaghi, a UC Berkeley professor of chemistry and co-director and chief scientist for the Bakar Institute of Digital Materials for the Planet, has received the 2024 Fiat Lux Faculty Award from the Cal Alumni Association as a part of this year's Achievement Awards. The Berkeley community is filled with people pushing the edges of what's possible — business leaders whose achievements have shaped entire...

Rebecca Gloyer left her first El Camino College computer science class feeling discouraged. She had already been nervous that she didn’t have a background in the subject, but when she walked into the classroom she realized she was also the only girl. Gloyer is far from the only woman to experience isolation in these fields. According to a National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics...

Ziad Obermeyer believes that artificial intelligence can help doctors and others in the healthcare system make better decisions, improving health and reducing cost. He also thinks that without strong oversight, much could go wrong. On February 8, Obermeyer, Blue Cross Distinguished Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management at Berkeley Public Health and an affiliated faculty member for the UC San Francisco-UC Berkeley Joint Program...