An unprecedented analysis of 300 stars captured by the Gemini Planet Imager, or GPI, has discovered a "sweet spot" where Jupiter-like planets tend form in new galaxies. The analysis “is a milestone,” said Eugene Chiang, a UC Berkeley professor of astronomy and member of the collaboration’s theory group. “We now have excellent statistics for how frequently planets occur, their mass distribution and how far they are from their stars. It is the most comprehensive analysis I have seen in this field.”
June 12, 2019
June 11, 2019
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
For Martha Olney, a teaching professor of economics at UC Berkeley, coming out didn’t happen all at once. As a graduate student in 1980, she met her wife, Esther Hargis. A few of their friends knew they were together, but “it wasn’t something you told people.” Esther was a Baptist pastor, so she needed to be careful at the time to protect her career. It wasn’t until the couple decided to adopt their son, Jimmy, nearly two decades later, that they decided they had to live their lives fully out.
June 5, 2019
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
Louise George Clubb, professor emeritus of Italian studies and comparative literature, recalls her memories of learning that her father had taken part in the storming of Omaha Beach.
May 31, 2019
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
Two decades ago, UC Berkeley mathematician Paulo Ney De Souza co-authored a book, Berkeley Problems in Mathematics. That sparked a lifelong fascination with math for the Cuban-born Felix Gotti, who this month finished his dissertation and earned his Ph.D. in mathematics.
May 28, 2019
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
Growing up in New York City, UC Berkeley ethnic studies professor Catherine Ceniza Choy remembers seeing a lot of nurses dressed in their crisp white uniforms. But she also noticed that many of the nurses were Filipino. Years later, as a graduate student at UCLA, Choy began to wonder: Why were there so many Filipino nurses in the U.S.? What she found took her back to the early 20th century after the Philippines became a U.S. colony.
May 23, 2019
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
Paula Fass, who spent 36 years teaching history at UC Berkeley, came out of retirement this month to become the new faculty director at The Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art.
May 21, 2019
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
Growing up in rural Ethiopia, Lelisa Bera knew that getting an education wasn’t a given. It was a privilege that many parents couldn’t afford to give their children. But now he will graduate on Wednesday, May 22, with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. And without a teacher who gently encouraged him to think bigger, he might never have made it to where he is today.
May 17, 2019
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
David Hollinger, a UC Berkeley professor emeritus of history, has been named to the advisory board of a project to produce an ambitious oral history of former President Barack Obama’s life, from growing up in Honolulu to managing the Great Recession to overseeing the raid to kill Osama bin Laden. The project, launched by the Obama Foundation and Columbia University, will inclu
May 15, 2019
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
Pouya Amin, a triple major, will be graduating in May with degrees in molecular and cell biology — immunology and pathogenesis; nutritional sciences — physiology and metabolism; and psychology.
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
Beatriz Hernandez, who will graduate with a degree in media studies this May, says she’s at her most truthful and vulnerable when she’s performing for an audience. She has worked for Cal Performances as an assistant front of house manager for the past three semesters.
May 13, 2019
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
Matt Walker, a UC Berkeley professor of psychology and neuroscience, presented a TED Talk at the organizaton's April 15-19 conference in Vancouver, Canada. The video of Walker’s 19-minute “Sleep is your superpower” talk was just posted on the TED Talks website and received more than 1 million views in the first 72 hours.
May 3, 2019
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
Four faculty members, including history professor Ethan Shagan and physics professor Robert Littlejohn were selected for one of UC Berkeley’s highest honors, the Distinguished Teaching Award. It recognizes faculty members who stand out for teaching that “incites intellectual curiosity in students, engages them thoroughly in the enterprise of learning and has a lifelong impact.”
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
Raka Ray, professor of sociology and South and Southeast Asian studies, was named Friday to be the next dean of the Division of Social Sciences in the College of Letters and Science. Chancellor Carol Christ and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Paul Alivisatos issued the following message to the campus community.
May 2, 2019
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
Emi Nakamura, a UC Berkeley economist, is this year’s recipient of the prestigious John Bates Clark Medal , widely viewed as second only in prestige to the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. She is the fourth woman to win the medal since its inception in 1947.
April 29, 2019
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
Jill Banfield, a professor of earth and planetary science and of environmental science, policy and management will deliver the 2019 Faculty Research Lecture on Tuesday, April 30. A mineral physicist by training and a gem lover, Banfield is a pioneer of metagenomics, a relatively recent field of study that involves sequencing the DNA in a natural environment and using it to reconstruct the genomes of all the organisms living there.
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
Less than two weeks have passed since fire hit Notre Dame de Paris, incinerating the distinctive gothic spire and destroying the cathedral’s roof. Nearly a billion dollars has poured in to help rebuild the famed cathedral. But what will the rebuilt cathedral look like? Henrike Lange, assistant professor in UC Berkeley’s departments of History of Art and Italian Studies, weighs in on some speculative options.
April 25, 2019
L&S Office of Undegraduate Advising is seeking Ph.D. graduate students from the areas of Arts & Humanities, Biological Science, Interdisciplinary Studies, Mathematics & Physical Science, and Social Sciences to mentor L&S undergraduates. Graduate mentors support undegraduates' exploration of a broad-based liberal arts education through the development, implementation and delivery of programs, workshops, and multimedia. Help students explore their interests and plan for their future while gaining valuable work experience yourself!
April 18, 2019
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
Elwyn Berlekamp, a UC Berkeley mathematician and game theorist whose error-correcting codes allowed spacecraft from Voyager to the Hubble Space Telescope to send accurate, detailed and beautiful images back to Earth, died April 9 from complications of pulmonary fibrosis. He was 78.
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
The Royal Society of London, the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence, announced their newest fellows this week, among them three L&S faculty - developmental biologist Richard Harland, climate scientist Inez Fung plant biologist Brian Staskawicz.
UC Berkeley NewsCenter
Political science alumnus Darrin Bell, who started cartooning for the Daily Cal in 1995, became the first African American to be awarded the editorial cartooning Pulitzer, which has been handed out since 1922. He is a freelance cartoonist whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Tribune and Washington Postand who is a contributing cartoonist to the New Yorker.