Early in Stephanie L. Canizales’ recent book about unaccompanied migrant children in L.A., she introduces a boy named Tomás. When he was 2, Tomás lived in poverty in Guatemala and helped his sister shine shoes. Abandoned at 10, he dreamed of having clothes, food and shelter. He joined his sister in the U.S. at 14, but soon left when she feared his undocumented status might draw attention from authorities and risk her U.S.-born child’s future.
This week, MTI announced the recipients of its 2025 MTI Innovator Awards, honoring six scientists for their transformative approaches to therapeutic discovery. MTI was founded to reinvent drug discovery at the interface of academia and biotech, drawing on UC Berkeley’s unique strengths: a...
UC Berkeley Geography students, faculty and alumni were recognized for their groundbreaking work in the field of geography at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG).
The AAG is a nonprofit educational society aimed at providing “students, educators, practitioners, and partners with the resources they need to enter the field, develop their careers, and form professional friendships that can last a lifetime.” Its annual meeting gathers geographers from around the nation for “high-profile sessions, as well as many...
What do human movement, climate variability and social structures have in common? They are all essential components in understanding the spread of infectious diseases, according to UC Berkeley Demography Professor Ayesha Mahmud.
Mahmud’s research uses data-driven modeling and behavioral analysis to investigate how diseases spread in different environments — urban and rural, humid and dry, connected and isolated.
Her current projects focus on how individual behavior and large-scale population movements interact with...
At its core, Michael Burawoy believed the science of sociology was, even when encased in the stodgy halls of academia, a study of possible solutions to improve the world. As such, it was natural for theories from the profession to be used to advocate for social change.
Not all of his colleagues believed sociologists should be personally on the picket lines or protesting.
But Burawoy was different because that’s exactly what he was doing toward the end of his life.
In February, the legendary Berkeley sociologist was...
UC Berkeley's College of Letters & Science is proud to announce the recipients of the 2025 L&S Faculty Awards. This distinguished award recognizes each awardee's exceptional scholarship, service to the College and community, and transformational teaching. These extraordinary individuals not only embody the excellence of the College of Letters & Science, but they also serve as an inspiration to the entire campus community. The recipients will be honored at a private ceremony on Wednesday, May 14....
Deans maintain heavy workloads and busy calendars, so colleges tend to excuse them from teaching.
At UC Berkeley’s College of Letters & Science, however, two deans increased their course load this year. Steven Kahn, head of the Division of Mathematical & Physical Sciences, is currently teaching a cosmology course following a fall Freshman Seminar on big science experiments. Dean Richard Harland of the Division...
It’s hard to pinpoint when synesthesia, the rare neurological condition where a stimulus that affects one sense prompts a response in a different sense, was first documented. Scientific literature marks its beginning in 1812, when it appeared as an aside in a Bavarian medical student’s dissertation. Toward the end, there’s a small section where he detailed how he associated musical tones and letters with colors.
“He enumerates the colors he sees in connection with the letters of the alphabet. A and E: vermilion, I: white, O:orange and so forth,” says UC Berkeley French...
The campus's highest honor for teaching excellence, the Distinguished Teaching Award underscores the profound impact instructors have on their students’ learning experiences and future careers.
Five UC Berkeley instructors have received the 2025 Distinguished Teaching Award, the campus’s highest honor for teaching excellence. The Academic Senate’s Committee on Teaching announced the selection on March 10, highlighting that this year’s recipients are “tremendously effective...
UC Berkeley’s Department of History is recognizing one of its most beloved professors with a new speaker series devoted to African American history. The series extends the legacy of Leon Litwack, a trailblazing scholar who taught generations of students to peer behind the curtain of whitewashed narratives and learn difficult truths about their country’s past.
Few areas of scholarship are as contentious — and...
