EECS Outreach Programs

Undergraduate Research

National Outreach Programs

Postdoctoral Professional Development

College of Engineering Diversity Programs

UC Systemwide Outreach Programs

EECS Archived Programs

Pre-College Outreach

BFOIT - Berkeley Foundation for Opportunities in Information Technology

BFOIT is a combination of a middle school computer science and engineering discovery program (SCI-FY), and a year-round, advanced high school programming and college coaching Institute. The 2009 BFOIT and SCI-FY Summer Institutes will bring over fifty students from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds to UC Berkeley.s campus for two weeks. Students will be exposed to the fundamentals of computer programming (using Alice in middle school, and jlogo/JAVA/Turtle Graphics in high school), attend workshops, interact with university administrators and high tech professionals, go on fantastic fieldtrips and become more familiar with a university environment.

Contact: Orpheus Crutchfield, orpheus@bfoit.org

Expanding Your Horizons Conferences for Girls in Grades 7-12

Expanding Your Horizons in Science and Mathematics™ conferences are designed to nurture girls' interest in science and math courses and to encourage them to consider science and math-based career options such as engineering, computer science and physical science. EECS women annually present a hands-on workshop at the Mills College EYH Conference, which attracts 500 girls for a day of encouragement to study science and mathematics.

Contact: Barbara Hightower, bhtower@cs.berkeley.edu

HOPE - Hands On Program in Electronics

The UC Berkeley IEEE Student Branch develops and facilitates its Hands on Practical Electronic (HOPE) classes for both university and high school audiences. Based on the principle that building a circuit on a breadboard is an intuitive and exciting way to introduce electrical engineering, each lesson features fundamental theory combined with a simple but elucidating circuit. After a short PowerPoint presentation, students are equipped with a soldering iron, multimeter, board, and various electronic components from which they construct a circuit clearly demonstrating the current lesson. Thus after each lesson, the student leaves not only with new knowledge but also a physical manifestation of that knowledge in the form of their breadboard project. Be it in a night light, solar cell battery charger, thermometer, or digital lock, the projects show that electrical engineering is not just abstract equations accessible to only a few, but rather the power to control and design exciting real world applications accessible to all.We currently offer the class, composed of 12 one and half our lessons, every semester to UC Berkeley undergraduates, with enrollment priority given to freshmen engineers and liberal arts majors. We also offer the same class, in a 10 week version, to local high schools every semester.

Contact: John Torous, IEEE Student Chapter President

SHARP - Summer High-School Apprenticeship Research Program

The Graduate Group in NSE will again offer a unique opportunity for high school rising seniors to conduct a mentored research project in a nano-related faculty lab. For one month at the beginning of the summer high-schoolers are matched with a graduate student researcher for first-hand experience in university-level investigation and experimentation. They are also introduced to the concepts and methodologies of undergraduate labwork in chemistry and electrical engineering through group activities and team-building exercises. SHARP seeks to enroll a diverse group of students from Bay Area high schools.

The annual cohort of fifteen "SHARPies" has been nearly evenly divided between young men and young women in past years. Our goal is to continue to offer the chance to gain exposure to the 'real life' of an academic researcher to students whose enthusiasm for scientific knowledge drives them towards the next stage, i.e. practice.

Contact: Avi Rosenswig, nanoinstitute@lists.berkeley.edu

UC Berkeley Microfabrication Laboratory
Summer Internship Program for High School Girls

The UC Berkeley Microfabrication Lab offers girls a hands-on experience in a real lab, with mentorship by graduate students and staff. Juniors and seniors in high school are eligible to apply. Students may expect a one-day orientation seminar, a mentor to guide your learning day-to-day an individual, and a special project. At the end of the 8 weeks, students will make a presentation summarizing their results, describing the skills and concepts learned during the internship experience the Microlab Internship Experience that will be useful for study in college classes and exploring career options.

Contact: Katalin Voros, Microlab Operations Manager, voros@eecs.berkeley.edu

Undergraduate Research

SUPERB-CSIS - Summer Undergraduate Program in Engineering Research at Berkeley-Computer Science in the Interest of Society

SUPERB-CSIS in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) Department offers a group of talented undergraduate engineering students the opportunity to gain research experience. The program's objective is to provide research opportunities in engineering to students who have been historically underrepresented in the field for reasons of social, cultural, educational or economic barriers. SUPERB affirms students' motivation for graduate study and strengthens their qualifications through strong faculty mentoring and challenging research projects.

Contact: Elisa Lewis, elisa@eecs.berkeley.edu

Intel Undergraduate Research Program

The IUR program recognizes the critical role of undergraduate research in motivating and preparing women and undersrepresented students for graduate study. Since its inception in spring 2007, IUR has sponosred 50 students in research positions. This program is aimed at traditionally underrepresented students in specific fields of interest to Intel. (BioE, CS, EE, ME, IEOR, MSE, etc.)

Contact: Sheila Humphreys, humphrys@eecs.berkeley.edu

National Outreach Programs

Empowering Leadership Alliance

Supported by a $2 million, three-year grant from the National Science Foundation and directed by Rice University, the Empowering Leadership Alliance will engage underrepresented minority students in computing disciplines at majority institutions in a nationwide network. The network, composed of dozens of leading universities, professional societies, laboratories, research centers, and corporations, will involve students in research opportunities, professional development, mentoring programs, and support to keep the students excited and motivated as they pursue computing careers. This alliance, entitled “Empowering Leadership: Computing Scholars of Tomorrow,” or the Empowering Leadership (EL) Alliance, benefits from the leadership and vision of six of the nation’s top universities, with the active engagement of 24 diverse, initial partners and a plan for ongoing evaluation and feedback, particularly from the students involved.

Berkeley Contact: Ruzena Bajcsy, bajcsy@eecs.berkeley.edu or Sheila Humphreys, humphreys@eecs.berkeley.edu)

Richard Tapia Conference

In concert with Dr. Richard Tapia’s legacy of recruitment, retention and graduation of under-served student populations in higher education, a major goal of this conference is aimed at providing a supportive networking environment for under-represented groups across the broad range of computing and information technology, from science to business to the arts to infrastructure.

Grace Murray Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing

Designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront, presenters are leaders in their respective fields, representing industrial, academic and government communities. Leading researchers present their current work, while special sessions focus on the role of women in today's technology fields.

CRA-W: Multidisciplinary Research Opportunities for Women

This program involves undergraduate students in collaborative, multidisciplinary research creating and using cyberinfrastructure. The goal of this initiative is to engage women undergraduates in computer science more fully in the research process by allowing them to investigate applications of computer science to other areas in which they may have an interest and to serve as a catalyst for forming new multidisciplinary partnerships with cyberinfrastructure expertise.

CRA-W Distributed Mentor Program

The objective of the DMP is to increase the number of women entering graduate studies in the fields of computer science and engineering. This highly selective program matches promising undergraduate women with a faculty mentor for a summer research experience at the faculty member's home institution. Students are directly involved in a research project and interact with graduate students and professors on a daily basis. This experience is invaluable for students who are considering graduate school, providing them with a close-up view of what graduate school is really like and also increasing their competitiveness as an applicant for graduate admissions and fellowships.

CRA-W Graduate Cohort for Women Program

Eligible students are Eligible students are first year women graduate students in computer science or computer engineering and students who have attended previous cohorts workshops (in 2005 or 2006).

Postdoctoral Professional Development

WISE - The Women's Institute in Summer Enrichment

WISE is a residential summer program on the University of California, Berkeley campus that brings together graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and professors from all disciplines that are interested in Ubiquitous Secure Technology and the social, political, and economical ramifications that are associated with this technology. Women are strongly encouraged to attend, though all are welcome.

College of Engineering Diversity Programs

CUES - Center for Underrepresented Engineering Students

CUES is nationally recognized as a leader in recruiting and retaining future engineers with individual support tailored to the needs of those missed by programs that serve majority students.

Pre-Engineering Partnerships

The mission of Cal Pre-Engineering Partnerships (PEP) is to provide opportunities for middle and high school students to become eligible for higher education in engineering and to be prepared to complete baccalaureate degrees in mathematics-based fields including engineering and computer science.

UC Systemwide Outreach Programs

UC AGEP - UC ’s Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate

A partnership among the ten campuses of the University of California and the National Science Foundation (NSF). The goal of this partnership is to increase the number of underrepresented minority (URM) students who acquire doctoral degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and ultimately enter the professoriate. To achieve this goal, UC AGEP has created a structured series of program initiatives that span the pathway to the professoriate.

Berkeley Contact: Dr. Angela Armenia, angelaa@berkeley.edu

UC LEADS Scholars Program

The goal of the University of California's new Leadership Excellence through Advanced Degrees (UC LEADS) program is to educate California's future leaders by preparing promising students for advanced education in science, technology, mathematics and engineering (STEM). The program is designed to identify upper-division undergraduate students with the potential to succeed in these disciplines, but who have experienced situations or conditions that have adversely impacted their advancement in their field of study.

Berkeley Contact: Dr. Diana Lizarraga, ladiana@berkeley.edu

UC CAMP

UC CAMP is the Louis Stokes UC Alliance for Minority Participation in the sciences. It is one of 37 alliances nation wide that is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The mission of CAMP is to help Science majors who are African-American, Native-American, and Hispanics students graduate with their B.S. degrees and ideally go onto STEM graduate programs. UC CAMP has just received a fifth cycle of funding which involves 50K to each UC campus plus $20K of UCOP Diversity Research Initiative funds. Each year in February an annual undergraduate research symposium and is held to bring together students, staff, and faculty from each CAMP program. The lead campus in the UC Systemwide alliance is UC Irvine.

Berkeley contact: Diana Lizarraga, ladiana@berkeley.edu

McNairScholars

The 99 national university-based McNair Scholars Programs prepare selected undergraduates for graduate study at the doctoral level. McNair Scholars are selected each year to participate in both academic and summer activities. The McNair Scholars Program aims to increase numbers of groups underrepresented in doctoral programs.

Contact: Dr. Harold Campbel, hcampel@berkeley.edu

Annual Diversity Forum Conference

All UC campuses collaborate on the Diversity Forum to promote graduate education.

Contact: Susanne Kauer, Susanne.Kauer@ucop.edu

EECS Archived Programs

Computer Science Re-entry Program

DOUBLE-X For High School Girls

Double X is an after school girls' science program for grades 9-12 at Oakland Technical High School in Oakland. UC Berkeley student volunteers coordinate and implement a science or engineering mini-lesson. Oakland Technical High School teachers collaborate with UC Berkeley by providing facilities and encouraging student participation.

EECS/BGESS Science Fair

As an avenue to introduce engineering and science to local pre-college minority students, EECS and BGESS (Black Graduate Engineering Science Students) have coordinated a Science Fair on Cal Day . To prepare for the fair BGESS graduate student mentors work for six weeks with students to assist in the preparation of their science fair projects. A panel of UCB alumni judge the projects.

NSBE Junior - National Society of Black Engineers Jr, UC-Berkeley chapter

NSBE Jr. is a pre-college chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and was officially chartered at the University of California, Berkeley. Our membership includes middleschool and highschool students from around the East Bay. The program focuses on enhancing the education received by African-American and other minority pre-college students, as well as influencing these students to become tomorrow's corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and leaders. In this spirit, NSBE Jr. is the quintessential recruitment, teaching, and preparation device for the National Society of Black Engineer.

Contact: Kwasi Aport (kapori@berkeley.edu).