Giving

Henry Sohn didn’t know what he wanted to do in college. At first, he was considering medical school, but an eye-opening hospital experience and a serendipitous internship at Apple altered the course of his life. Taking two breaks from UC Berkeley, Sohn ultimately completed his bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1992.

It was a good time to enter the Bay Area’s tech scene. Sohn leveraged his Apple internship into jobs at...

When Professor Gül Dölen joined UC Berkeley’s neuroscience and psychology departments in January 2024, the influential scientist got to work designing her new lab and office. Now, after an extensive renovation, Dölen can finally reveal the results, complete with dinosaur brain replicas, a wall-to-wall bookshelf, colorful floor tiles, trippy Beatles posters, and all manner of octopus paraphernalia.

As a postdoctoral physics researcher, Elizabeth Dresselhaus had found many excellent networking groups for young women scientists — but she longed for a structured environment to learn professional skills and strategies. So, when she received an email about joining UC Berkeley’s Shining Lights Program’s first cohort, she thought it was the perfect opportunity. The semester-long leadership development fellowship aims to help more...

Minoo Moallem was getting her master’s degree at Tehran University when the Iranian revolution swept the country. At first, she enjoyed new civil liberties, but as those were curtailed, Moallem left to pursue her Ph.D. abroad.

Moallem is now a professor of gender and women’s studies and the new faculty director for the UC Berkeley Initiative for Iranian Studies.