Eyes Toward Tomorrow Program Enhancing Collaboration, Connections, and Community Using Bioinspired Design (Integrative and Comparative Biology, Volume 61, Issue 5, November 2021, Pages 1966–1980)
The goal of our Eyes Toward Tomorrow Program is to enrich the future workforce with STEM by providing students with an early, inspirational, interdisciplinary experience fostering inclusive excellence. We attempt to open the eyes of students who never realized how much their voice is urgently needed by providing an opportunity for involvement, imagination, invention, and […]
There’s an earthquake coming!
One Saturday afternoon a few years ago, Richard Allen was riding Bay Area Rapid Transit between Berkeley and Oakland when the train suddenly stopped. “We’ve had an alert for an earthquake,” the conductor announced. “We’re going to assess the situation and decide what to do.” Allen, the director of the Seismological Laboratory at the University […]
Curious About Big Ideas?
One of my favorite parts about attending UC Berkeley is being challenged to learn and think in fun and unexpected ways. There are so many opportunities for this, including one I particularly enjoyed: Big Ideas Courses from the College of Letters & Science (L&S). …
Misinformation in and about science
Public engagement and understanding of science should be a priority for all scientists. This is not a matter of just teaching more astronomy or biology. Rather, it involves nurturing innate curiosity and teaching people to understand how science works, how to consider evidence when making conclusions, and how popular media distorts these conclusions. In our […]
Sign Up for Discovery
It wasn’t until her third year at Berkeley that computer science major Elicia Ye learned about the University’s fascinating Discovery Courses. …
Toward a life of meaning: In conversation with UC Berkeley professor Dacher Keltner
I’d been intrigued by his talk on happiness during my Golden Bear Orientation. Keltner teaches the Human Happiness class (LSC160V/PsychC162) here on campus, and his lab, the Berkeley Social Interaction Lab, investigates positive emotions like compassion, awe and gratitude, among others. …
The Next Big One—Earthquake Technology
Allen teaches Berkeley’s oldest course on earthquakes. He calls it “Earthquakes in Your Backyard.” The name couldn’t be more appropriate, because the Hayward is a particularly dangerous fault. It hasn’t spawned a major earthquake since 1868. Sometime soon, it could go. …
Cal Advantages: Freshman Seminars
I have had many incoming students on my tours as me for advice for UC Berkeley freshman. This is a hard question to answer – being a large research university, opportunities at UC Berkeley are nearly endless. No two paths are identical, and it is impossible to generalize life at Cal. This being said, I […]
New course to tap UC Berkeley’s diversity and maker spirit
Robert Full wants to tap the diverse experiences of UC Berkeley undergraduates to teach them the fun of discovering biology’s secrets and the innovations that can spring from hacking them. …
Nobel Prize Recipient Talks About Academic Life at UC Berkeley: An Interview with Professor Randy Schekman on the Undergraduate Experience
Dr. Randy Schekman is a Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. At Berkeley, he developed a genetic and biochemical approach to the study of eukaryotic membrane trafficking. Dr. Schekman, James Rothman and Thomas Sudhof shared the 2013 Nobel Prize in […]