Social Impact

Governor Newsom announces “Quantum California” — strengthening the Golden State’s leadership in next-generation technology

November 10, 2025

Group of people stand inside a conference room, with a large screen projecting "The Birth of Quantum Mechanics"

California leaders gathered at UC Berkeley today for the official launch of Quantum California, a new statewide initiative to align university researchers, industry leaders, and government partners around a shared strategy for quantum innovation and job creation.

“California has always been the place where the future...

"Put Yourself Out There": Brandon '18 on Finding Your Career and Community at UC Berkeley

October 29, 2025
L&S Alum Spotlight:
Brandon Weiss '18 (he/him) Major: Integrative Biology: Ecology, Evolution & Organismal Biology

"College is just as much about figuring out who you are as a person as it is learning in the classroom," shares Brandon Weiss '18. From discovering a passion for veterinary medicine in the Pre-Vet Club at Berkeley, to meeting and proposing to his fiancé on campus, and now thriving in a meaningful career in emergency and critical care medicine for animals, Brandon has built a life full of joyful community and enduring connections.

University of California sets world record with five Nobel Prizes in one week

October 16, 2025

The University of California made history this week, as its faculty and alumni won five Nobel Prizes across medicine, physics and chemistry — the most ever awarded to a single institution in one year.

On Monday, Frederick Ramsdell, a UC San Diego and UCLA alumnus, shared the...

Governor Newsom congratulates California Nobel laureates, underscoring the state’s global dominance in science and innovation

October 14, 2025

This announcement originally appeared on the official website for Governor Gavin Newsom on October 13, 2025.


SACRAMENTO –
Five California scientists were honored among this year’s Nobel laureates, commemorating their groundbreaking contributions in physics, chemistry, and physiology/medicine. Home to more Nobel laureates than any country in the world aside...

The history of vaccine hesitancy, from smallpox to COVID-19

September 26, 2025

Vaccine policy made national headlines last week when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine guidance committee met and scaled back recommendations around the COVID-19 booster and the combined MMRV shot. It’s far from the first time government vaccine policies have sparked heated discussion; since at least the turn of the...

Andrew Dillin on CURED, UC Berkeley’s new approach to advance medicine and global health

October 1, 2025

Andrew Dillin is a professor of immunology and molecular medicine in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology (MCB). He would be in the Department of Neuroscience, too, if he wasn’t so dang busy.

In addition to his regular teaching and research duties, Dillin is developing the Division of Immunology and Molecular Medicine’s new curriculum while serving as the faculty co-director of the Robinson Life Science,...

UC Berkeley ranked No. 1 public school in the U.S. by the Wall Street Journal

September 30, 2025

Sather Gate with students in foreground

In new rankings released today (Monday, Sept. 29) by the Wall Street Journal and College Pulse, UC Berkeley was named the No. 1 public college in the country — the second year in a row it received the distinction.

Monday’s ranking comes one...

Dacher Keltner, UC Berkeley psychologist, receives prestigious lifetime achievement award

September 23, 2025

Keltner, a distinguished professor of psychology at Berkeley, has led the discipline's study of human emotion, power and the concept of awe throughout his career.

Screenshot of Academic Review video featuring Dacher Keltner

Dacher Keltner, a UC Berkeley distinguished professor of psychology who has led the discipline’s study...

AI revolutionizes weather prediction to help farmers in India

September 17, 2025

Co-developed by UC Berkeley's William Boos, an artificial intelligence-based weather model delivered a timely prediction of a stalled monsoon this season, helping farmers decide when to plant their crops.

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing weather prediction around the world, as evidenced by the successful prediction this spring of a delayed onset of the monsoon in northeastern India.

The prediction gave millions of smallholder farmers the option of postponing planting to take better advantage of the rains or to plant different crops. Based on a preliminary...

How the US became a science superpower

September 15, 2025

America is awesome at science. For as long as most of us have been alive, United States scientists have published more research, been cited more often by other scientists, earned more patents, and even won more Nobel Prizes than any other nation.

All that scientific expertise has helped make the U.S. the most prosperous nation on Earth and led to longer and easier lives here and around the world. But until World War II, the U.S...