The University of California, Berkeley College of Engineering, branded as Berkeley Engineering, is the engineering wing of the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, a public research university in Berkeley,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. Established in 1931, the college is considered one of the most prestigious and selective engineering schools in the world, ranked third by '' U.S. News & World Report'' and with an undergraduate acceptance rate of 7.6%. Berkeley Engineering is particularly well known for producing many successful entrepreneurs; among its alumni are co-founders and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

s of some of the largest companies in the world, including

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ances ...

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the devel ...

, and Tesla. The college is currently situated in 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 Walter A. Haas School of Business, also known as Berkeley Haas, is the business school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. It was the first business school at a public university ...

, the college confers joint degrees and advises the university's resident startup incubator, Berkeley SkyDeck.

Departments

Aerospace Engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

Bioengineering Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically-viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number o ...

(BioE) *

Civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

and

Environmental Engineering Environmental engineering is a professional engineering discipline that encompasses broad scientific topics like chemistry, biology, ecology, geology, hydraulics, hydrology, microbiology, and mathematics to create solutions that will protect and ...

(CEE) * Development Engineering (DevEng) * Electrical Engineering and

Computer Sciences Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includin ...

( EECS) * Engineering Science **

Energy Engineering Energy engineering or Energy Systems Engineering is a broad field of engineering dealing with energy efficiency, energy services, facility management, plant engineering, environmental compliance, sustainable energy and renewable energy ...

Engineering Mathematics Engineering mathematics is a branch of applied mathematics concerning mathematical methods and techniques that are typically used in engineering and industry. Along with fields like engineering physics and engineering geology, both of which may b ...

and Statistics (EMS) **

Engineering Physics Engineering physics, or engineering science, refers to the study of the combined disciplines of physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, and engineering, particularly computer, nuclear, electrical, electronic, aerospace, materials or mechanical en ...

** Environmental Engineering Science (EES) *

Industrial Engineering Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information an ...

and

Operations Research Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve dec ...

(IEOR) * Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) *

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...

(ME) *

Nuclear Engineering Nuclear engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the application of breaking down atomic nuclei (fission) or of combining atomic nuclei ( fusion), or with the application of other sub-atomic processes based on the principles of nu ...

(NE) The College of Letters and Science also offers a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includin ...

, which requires many of the same courses as the College of Engineering's

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

in EECS, but has different admissions and graduation criteria. Berkeley's

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials in ...

department is under the College of Chemistry.

Students

There are approximately 3,200 undergraduates in the College of Engineering, representing all departments. Undergraduate admissions to the College of Engineering is the most selective in the university as a whole. For the 2016-2017 application cycle, the acceptance rate has continued to stay at a low 6.4%, largely a result of increased nonresident interest. The campus as a whole had a 17.5% acceptance rate that year. Applicants apply directly to one of the departments and enter as declared majors within their department. It is also possible to apply as Engineering Undeclared and enter the college; major declaration is required at the end of sophomore year. 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 UC Berkeley to change college into Engineering, as they can only be admitted if a current engineering undergraduate drops. The College of Engineering accepts junior transfer applications for those who have completed at least 60 semester units at another college or university. Preference is given to students at California Community Colleges. Only 9.2% of the over 2,300 junior transfer applicants were admitted for the 2015–16 academic year. Dean Shankar Sastry has stated that the disparity between the college's and the university's acceptance rates is due to the university's failure to respond to the rise in demand for engineering degrees. 85% of undergraduates admitted to the college graduate from the college, and 91% graduate from some college at UC Berkeley. 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 Pioneers in Engineering (PiE) is a student-run organization that promotes the study of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, collectively known as STEM fields. The organization was established in 2008 as a non-profit corporation by ...

, 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 The American Nuclear Society (ANS) is an international, not-for-profit organization of scientists, engineers, and industry professionals that promote the field of nuclear engineering and related disciplines. ANS is composed of three communities ...

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

, or

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operat ...

). Graduate admissions in the College of Engineering is administered by department. In Fall 2015, there were 492.5 master's and 1,337 doctorate students in the college. The college's enrollment is approximately 26% women. Although the proportion of women has increased over time, issues of gender disparity in the college remain. According to a 2011 survey, female engineers reported a high number of instances of passive harassment, discrimination, and judgment. The college's administration has taken steps to prevent this sexism. The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is one of the student groups representing women in the college.

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 Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ...

mechatronics Mechatronics engineering also called mechatronics, is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering that focuses on the integration of mechanical, electrical and electronic engineering systems, and also includes a combination of robotics, electronics, ...

, and microelectro mechanical systems (

MEMS Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), also written as micro-electro-mechanical systems (or microelectronic and microelectromechanical systems) and the related micromechatronics and microsystems constitute the technology of microscopic devices, ...

) *Institute for Environmental Science and Engineering - focuses on applying

basic research Basic research, also called pure research or fundamental research, is a type of scientific research with the aim of improving scientific theory, theories for better understanding and prediction of natural or other phenomena. In contrast, applied ...

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 and programs

Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation The Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation is a building on the campus of UC Berkeley, part of the UC Berkeley College of Engineering. Construction began in August 2014 with a $20 million gift from the Paul and Stacy Jacobs Foundation. The ribbon- ...

*Berkeley Institute of Design *Berkeley Multimedia Research Center * 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 * Hearst Memorial Mining Building *UCSF/Berkeley Ergonomics Program *International Computer Science Institute - basic research institute focusing on Internet architecture, speech and language processing,

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...

, and

cognitive Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought ...

and theoretical

* Intel Research Laboratory @ Berkeley *Integrated Materials Laboratory - facilities for research in nano-structure growth, processing, and characterization *Microfabrication Laboratory *The Millennium Project - developing a hierarchical campus-wide " cluster of clusters" to support advanced computational applications *

Nokia Research Center Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...

@ Berkeley *Pacific

Earthquake Engineering Earthquake engineering is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering that designs and analyzes structures, such as buildings and bridges, with earthquakes in mind. Its overall goal is to make such structures more resistant to earthquakes. An earth ...

Research Center *Partners for Advanced Transit & Highways - researching ways to improve the operation of

California's state highway system The state highway system of the U.S. state of California is a network of highways that are owned and maintained by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Each highway is assigned a ''Route'' (officially ''State Highway Rout ...

*Power Systems Engineering Research Center

Notable projects

BSD The Berkeley Software Distribution or Berkeley Standard Distribution (BSD) is a discontinued operating system based on Research Unix, developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) at the University of California, Be ...

(Berkeley Software Distribution) * Berkeley Astrophysical CFD Results * Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton *

Multigate device A multigate device, multi-gate MOSFET or multi-gate field-effect transistor (MuGFET) refers to a metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) that has more than one gate on a single transistor. The multiple gates may be control ...

(

FinFET A fin field-effect transistor (FinFET) is a multigate device, a MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor) built on a substrate where the gate is placed on two, three, or four sides of the channel or wrapped around the channel, ...

) *

RAID Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to: Attack * Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground * Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business * Panty raid, a prankish raid by male colleg ...

(Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) *

SPICE A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices a ...

(Simulation Program with Integrated Circuits Emphasis) *

RISC-V RISC-V (pronounced "risk-five" where five refers to the number of generations of RISC architecture that were developed at the University of California, Berkeley since 1981) is an open standard instruction set architecture (ISA) based on establi ...

(An open Reduced Instruction Set Computing

Instruction set architecture In computer science, an instruction set architecture (ISA), also called computer architecture, is an abstract model of a computer. A device that executes instructions described by that ISA, such as a central processing unit (CPU), is called an ...

)

Notable faculty

Richard Karp Richard Manning Karp (born January 3, 1935) is an American computer scientist and computational theorist at the University of California, Berkeley. He is most notable for his research in the theory of algorithms, for which he received a Turing A ...

, Turing Laureate for contributions to the field of algorithms *

William Kahan William "Velvel" Morton Kahan (born June 5, 1933) is a Canadian mathematician and computer scientist, who received the Turing Award in 1989 for "''his fundamental contributions to numerical analysis''", was named an ACM Fellow in 1994, and induc ...

, 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 *

Lotfi Zadeh Lotfi Aliasker Zadeh (; az, Lütfi Rəhim oğlu Ələsgərzadə; fa, لطفی علی‌عسکرزاده; 4 February 1921 – 6 September 2017) was a mathematician, computer scientist, electrical engineer, artificial intelligence researcher, an ...

, founder of fuzzy mathematics *

Jitendra Malik Jitendra Malik is an Indian-American academic who is the Arthur J. Chick Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. He is known for his research in computer vision. Academic biograph ...

, leader in computer vision and graphics * David Patterson, Turing Laureate for contributions to computer architecture, founder of

reduced instruction set computing In computer engineering, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) is a computer designed to simplify the individual instructions given to the computer to accomplish tasks. Compared to the instructions given to a complex instruction set compu ...

(RISC) * Ken Goldberg, leader in robotics *

Christos Papadimitriou Christos Charilaos Papadimitriou ( el, Χρήστος Χαρίλαος "Χρίστος" Παπαδημητρίου; born August 16, 1949) is a Greek theoretical computer scientist and the Donovan Family Professor of Computer Science at Columbia Un ...

, leader in complexity theory *

Eli Yablonovitch Eli Yablonovitch (born 15 December 1946) is an American physicist and engineer who, along with Sajeev John founded the field of photonic crystals in 1987.M.Kapoor (2013Electromagnetic Band Gap Structures page 58 He and his team were the first t ...

, founder of the field of photonic crystals *

Scott Shenker Scott J. Shenker (born January 24, 1956 in Alexandria, Virginia) is an American computer scientist, and professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also the leader of the Extensible Internet Group at the Intern ...

, leader in networking research * Carlo H. Séquin, pioneer in processor design * Claire J. Tomlin, leader in hybrid systems and control theory *

S. Shankar Sastry S. Shankar Sastry is the Founding Chancellor of the Plaksha University, Plaksha University, Mohali and a former Dean of Engineering at University of California, Berkeley. From 1996-1999, he was the director of the Electronics Research Labora ...

, Dean and leader in robotics and control theory * Homayoon Kazerooni, leader in robotics *

Alice Agogino Alice Merner Agogino (born 1952) is an American mechanical engineer known for her work in bringing women and people of color into engineering and her research into artificial intelligence, computer-aided design, intelligent learning systems, an ...

, leader in engineering diversity *

Paul K. Wright Paul Kenneth Wright is a mechanical engineer best known for his work on the UC Berkeley-based CyberCut/CyberBuild project, which established a set of standards that streamlined the conversion of creative manufacturing designs into rapid prototyping ...

, 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

Notable alumni

Steve Wozniak Stephen Gary Wozniak (; born August 11, 1950), also known by his nickname "Woz", is an American electronics engineer, computer programmer, philanthropist, inventor, and technology entrepreneur. In 1976, with business partner Steve Jobs, he c ...

, co-founder of

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

(B.S. 1986) *

Eric Schmidt Eric Emerson Schmidt (born April 27, 1955) is an American businessman and software engineer known for being the CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011, executive chairman of Google from 2011 to 2015, executive chairman of Alphabet Inc. from 2015 to 2 ...

, Executive Chairman and former CEO of

(M.S. 1975, PhD 1982) *

Marc Tarpenning Marc Tarpenning (born June 1, 1964) is an American engineer and technology entrepreneur who is the co-founder of Tesla Inc. with Martin Eberhard in 2003. Tarpenning served as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Vice President of Engineering ...

, co-founder of Tesla Inc. (B.S. 1985) *

Douglas Engelbart Douglas Carl Engelbart (January 30, 1925 – July 2, 2013) was an American engineer and inventor, and an early computer and Internet pioneer. He is best known for his work on founding the field of human–computer interaction, particularl ...

, founder of the field of human-computer interaction, inventor of the

computer mouse A computer mouse (plural mice, sometimes mouses) is a hand-held pointing device that detects two-dimensional motion relative to a surface. This motion is typically translated into the motion of a pointer on a display, which allows a smooth ...

(M.S. 1953, PhD 1955) *

Rube Goldberg Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970), known best as Rube Goldberg, was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor. Goldberg is best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated gadge ...

, known for

Rube Goldberg machine A Rube Goldberg machine, named after American cartoonist Rube Goldberg, is a chain reaction-type machine or contraption intentionally designed to perform a simple task in an indirect and (impractically) overly complicated way. Usually, these machi ...

(B.S. 1904) * Paul E. Jacobs, Executive Chairman of Qualcomm (B.S. 1984, M.S. 1986, PhD 1989) *

Peter Norvig Peter Norvig (born December 14, 1956) is an American computer scientist and Distinguished Education Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI. He previously served as a director of research and search quality at Google. Norvig is ...

, Director of Research at

, co-author of Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (PhD 1985) * Andrew Ng, co-founder and Executive Chairman at

Coursera Coursera Inc. () is a U.S.-based massive open online course provider founded in 2012 by Stanford University computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller. Coursera works with universities and other organizations to offer online cour ...

, chief scientist at

Baidu Baidu, Inc. ( ; , meaning "hundred times") is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products and artificial intelligence (AI), headquartered in Beijing's Haidian District. It is one of th ...

(PhD 2002) * Craig Federighi, Senior vice president of Software Engineering at

(B.S. 1991, M.S. CS 1993) * Eleven Turing Laureate Alumni (most of any school) --

Barbara Liskov Barbara Liskov (born November 7, 1939 as Barbara Jane Huberman) is an American computer scientist who has made pioneering contributions to programming languages and distributed computing. Her notable work includes the development of the Liskov s ...

Butler Lampson Butler W. Lampson, ForMemRS, (born December 23, 1943) is an American computer scientist best known for his contributions to the development and implementation of distributed personal computing. Education and early life After graduating from the ...

, Charles P. Thacker,

Dana Scott Dana Stewart Scott (born October 11, 1932) is an American logician who is the emeritus Hillman University Professor of Computer Science, Philosophy, and Mathematical Logic at Carnegie Mellon University; he is now retired and lives in Berkeley, C ...

, Jim Gray,

Ken Thompson Kenneth Lane Thompson (born February 4, 1943) is an American pioneer of computer science. Thompson worked at Bell Labs for most of his career where he designed and implemented the original Unix operating system. He also invented the B programmi ...

Leonard Adleman Leonard Adleman (born December 31, 1945) is an American computer scientist. He is one of the creators of the RSA encryption algorithm, for which he received the 2002 Turing Award, often called the Nobel prize of Computer science. He is also know ...

Niklaus Wirth Niklaus Emil Wirth (born 15 February 1934) is a Swiss computer scientist. He has designed several programming languages, including Pascal, and pioneered several classic topics in software engineering. In 1984, he won the Turing Award, generally ...

Shafi Goldwasser en, Shafrira Goldwasser , name = Shafi Goldwasser , image = Shafi Goldwasser.JPG , caption = Shafi Goldwasser in 2010 , birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S. , birth_date = , death_dat ...

Silvio Micali Silvio Micali (born October 13, 1954) is an Italian computer scientist, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the founder of Algorand. Micali's research centers on cryptography and information security. In 2012, he receive ...

Student organizations

* Eta Kappa Nu (HKN) *

* Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics * Design for America *

Society of Women Engineers The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is an international not-for-profit educational and service organization. Founded in 1950 and headquartered in the United States, the Society of Women Engineers is a major advocate for women in engineering and ...

* BESSA * Robotics @ Berkeley * Machine Learning @ Berkeley * Mobile Developers of Berkeley

References

External links

* {{California engineering colleges with ABET-accredited programs University of California, Berkeley Engineering universities and colleges in California Educational institutions established in 1931 Science and technology in the San Francisco Bay Area 1931 establishments in California