engineeringNews

<of note>

4 engineeringNews

POPQUIZ

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING • UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

engineeringNews

10394.qxd:Layout 1 8/7/07 6:07 PM Page 1

Join COE’s official Facebookgroup “Berkeley Engineering”(type = education) and thenew Engineering News group,“I Read Engineering News atLeast Once a Semester.” Plus,

check out this unofficial group, which currently has 193members. It’s our new favorite:

I Got Babakued! Description: You completed the problem sets. Youmemorized tables of Fourier transforms. You workedthrough past exams. You bribed a TA for hints on whatwas coming ... But when the exam hits, it hits hard.Convolving becomes convoluted, your integrals diverge,and you get an imaginary answer where it should havebeen real. No, what you got wasn’t a graduate-levelexam – you got Babakued!

(Dedicated to EECS lecturer Babak Ayazifar, picturedabove)

Published biweekly on Thursdays during the academic year bythe Engineering Marketing and Communications Office, Collegeof Engineering, University of California, Berkeley. Copy deadlineis 4:00 p.m. on the Monday preceding publication.

Rachel Shafermanaging editor and writer

Megan Mansell Williamsreporter

S. Shankar Sastrydean

Karen Rhodesexecutive director, marketing and communications

e’ve got a new president inthe White House, and with

him, a promise of drastic new poli-cy. Whatever your political inclina-tion, it’s hard to deny that the pastadministration has had a rather sti-fling effect on science and technol-ogy development.

So which of Barack Obama’s poli-cies directly impact us engineers?Chief among his initiatives areadvancing climate-friendly energydevelopment, modernizing Inter-net infrastructure and increasingfunding for students and research-ers in science and technology.

Obama plans to create a “CleanTechnologies Deployment VentureCapital Fund,” funded with $50 bil-lion over five years to bring sustain-able new technologies from the lab-oratory to the market. In total, heplans to invest $150 billion over thenext decade to promote varioustypes of renewable and sustainabletechnologies. These includebiofuels, plug-in hybrids, large-scale renewable energy sources anda new digital electricity grid. Someof this money will also go towarddoubling funding for clean energyresearch at universities and nation-al labs. Coincidentally, both UCBerkeley and Lawrence BerkeleyNational Laboratory fall under thiscategory … Sounds good to me.

Other important goals are tostrengthen the broadband back-bone in the United States and pro-tect network neutrality. Obama rec-ognizes that the knowledge-basedeconomy needs more support inorder to grow. First, he wants tobring broadband to the wholecountry by fostering public–privatepartnerships and optimizing theuse of the wireless spectrum bydirectly funding it through theUniversal Service Fund. Second, heunderstands that the open natureof the Internet is responsible formuch of its success, and he pledgesto ensure network neutrality goingforward. For many of us, it is clearthat Internet service providersshould not be allowed to decide

what content gets prioritized, andit’s great that Obama also recog-nizes this.

Obama’s policies are especiallygood for current students. He plansto create new research grants aimedtoward young scientists and engi-neers, which will probably go intoeffect right as current studentsmove into research roles. Obamaalso plans to launch an online data-base to match science and technol-ogy financial aid opportunitieswith students interested in thesefields. He hopes this will be espe-cially helpful for first generationcollege students. Science and tech-nology education has been chroni-cally underfunded, and these newinitiatives aim to fix that.

Of course, with the sorry state ofthe economy shackling him, it’spossible that Obama may not beable to fully implement these ambi-tious plans. But stepping onto thisbold path is an admirable start andsets powerful precedents. It sends amessage to our youth, that we willsupport them in science and tech-nology careers, and to the world,that the United States of America isstill dedicated to being a potentforce for innovation.

—Written by EECS junior Max Zheng.This essay first appeared in the Fall2008 issue of California Engineer.

Obama’s plan for engineerssounds good to me

University of CaliforniaEngineering News312 McLaughlin HallBerkeley, California 94720-1704Phone: 510 642.5857Fax: 510 643.8882

engnews@coe.berkeley.edu

www.coe.berkeley.edu/news-center/publications/engineering-news

RACHELSHAFER

PHOTO

PEGSKORPIN

SKIPHOTO

JANUARY 29, 2009

COE onFacebook

W

EECS JUNIOR Max Zheng

Issue 2S January 29.qxp 1/27/2009 3:09 PM Page 1

Akshay Banesh,CEE junior

“The construction industryhas slowed down. Even inIndia, it’s hard. We’re hop-ing that Obama will make

major infrastructurechanges that will put things

back on track.”

Ami Domadia,EECS senior

“I’m really depressedabout going into a career.The job hunt is scary rightnow. Friends who gradu-

ated last semester gotvery few interviews and

are still looking for jobs.”

Jessica Fitzgerald,EECS senior

“It hasn’t really affectedme much. I’m in my owneveryday world here. You

hear about it on a dailybasis but don’t necessarily

see the impact. I’m notexactly sure why.”

Andy Tran,BioE freshman

“People around me areaffected, so I guess thataffects me, too. One ortwo in my family havebeen laid off, and food

prices are higher.”

Job outlook? “Fair”

t the EECSInternship

Fair on January22, studentscrowded aroundtech companyrecruiters todistribute theirresumes, andPauley Ballroombuzzed withnervous energy. Itappeared to be

college recruiting as usual, despite the news thatsome companies represented, like Microsoft andIntel, had recently announced job layoffs.

While the poor economy means job gloom formost students, engineering majors can find goodopportunities, sources say, particularly intern-ships. “We are currently recruiting for multiplefull-time, entry-level opportunities,” reportsDoug Fauth, a recruiter for video game developerActivision. “And our intern/co-op hiring plan for2009 indicates about a 20 percent increase from2008.”

Tom Devlin, director of UC Berkeley’s CareerCenter, reports that in a December survey of the

PICK ME: Students line up to speakwith Intel recruiters at the EECSInternship Fair.

Howis the global

recession

affecting you?

Continued on page 2

JANUARY 29, 2009 VOL. 79, NO. 2S

RACHELSHAFER

PHOTO

RACHELSHAFER

PHOTO

CROWD APPEAL: Hands rose in approval at the inauguration

of Barack Obama as the nation’s 44th president on Tuesday,

January 20, shown on a jumbo screen in Sproul Plaza. “We will

restore science to its rightful place,” Obama told the world in his

inaugural address. BioE junior Tu Tran was among the 10,000 or

so at Sproul. “I thought it was inspiring and motivating,” he says.

“It makes me want to do my part in society to effect change.”

Turn to page four for EECS junior Max Zheng’s essay on

Obama’s science and technology proposals.

NEW PRESIDENT, NEW ERA

What to expect this year, career-wise

A

Issue 2S January 29.qxp 1/27/2009 3:09 PM Page 2

3engineeringNews

Get the complete College calendar atwww.coe.berkeley.edu/events.

2 engineeringNews

<announcements>10394.qxd:Layout 1 8/7/07 6:07 PM Page 3

ACROSS1. AsynchronousCommunication InterfaceAdapter5. Compound used asthe frequency determiningelement in microwaveoscillators7. Basic element11. Luminous atmosphericphenomenon13. Set a steady-statevoltage14. Chemical symbol forradium15. Ham radio operator18. Chemical symbol forchlorine19. Signal amplitude degra-dation due to inefficiency21. Cambridge _____,technical book publisher22. Cable television, abbr.23. Moon of Saturn discov-ered in 167225. Error checking scheme,abbr.26. No insulation27. 0.001 of an amp28. Akin to an EE, CE,AE, etc.29. 10^1 numerical prefix30. Morse Code for “from”32. Innovative PowerProducts, Holbrook, NY,abbr.34. Line of Sight; LinuxOperating System36. Filter type39. Performing a calculusfunction40. Signal-to-noise ratio,abbr.41. The system than con-verts common websitenames to IP addresses, abbr.42. Negation prefix43. Millihenry, abbr.45. 1.602E-19 Joules46. Kilocycles, abbr.47. European equivalent tothe U.L.48. Volts divided byresistance51. The cell band aboveDCN53. Online auction site56. Volt, meter, pint,pound, e.g.57. Joined a male and afemale connector59. Quickly changingportion of waveform60. Ham abbreviation for

“distant station”61. One type of filter con-struction used in the 500MHz to 1.5 GHz range63. Army-Navy spec64. Sets the flip-flop outputto “0”66. College grounds68. Unit of energy, pl.69. Ham’s code for “Entirenet stand by.”70. Logical negation, pl.

DOWN1. Borealis or Australis2. Hang the program3. Galilean moon4. Amateur RadioAssociation6. Point of electricalcontact between circuits7. Powers pneumaticdevices8. Chemical symbol fortantalum9. International phoneticalphabet letter “O”10. Transitioned from solidto liquid phase12. Unit of current13. Data transmissionpathway16. Portion of a circle17. A keyboard key20. Chemical symbol forselenium22. Chemical symbol forcalcium24. Units of current26. Make equal27. Short formodulator/demodulator31. Symbol of the U.S.A.

32. Bands between RF andbaseband33. Circuit for firing a mag-netron, abbr.34. Semiconductor lamp35. Official Space Shuttledesignation, abbr.37. Permeability-TunedOscillator38. Heatsink feature44. A radio operator’s name47. Constellation: The swan49. A circuit that takes twoor more input signals andproduces an output thatincludes the sum and differ-ence of those signal fre-quencies50. Chemical symbol forplatinum51. Programmable logicdevice, abbr.52. Japanese semicond-uctor and equipmentmanufacturer54. Chemical symbol forberyllium55. Change connector type57. Akin to EEs, CEs,AEs, etc.58. Type of data conversiondevice, abbr.61. Stock symbol for HarrisCommunications62. Computer communica-tion scheme65. Chemical symbol forsilver67. Chemical symbol formolybdenum

Answer will appear inthe next issue.

center’s 700 most active employers (includ-ing engineering and technical industries), 45percent said they would be hiring the sameor more full-time employees this year thanlast, and 65 percent said they would be hir-ing the same or more interns.

“For engineering majors, it’s a fair jobmarket,” says Devlin. “It’s far better thanthe general marketplace for all workers.”(Indeed, a UCLA economic report inDecember predicted that the Californiaunemployment rate will reach 9 percentthis year, and that there will be weak jobgrowth through 2010.)

Still, the global recession is making ittougher for engineers than in years past.Some say they have friends who graduatedin 2008 who are still trying to find jobs.

Fauth paints it this way. “Companiesmight be a little more cautious because ofthe economy, and you might see fewer com-panies recruiting on campus because of lim-ited travel budgets. Job postings might be alittle slower in getting approved, and tradi-tional time frames to recruit might bepushed closer to graduation or summer.”

Worried engineers are adjusting. “I think alot of small companies have scaled back theirinternship programs, and the openings atthe bigger companies are already beingfilled,” reports CEE sophomore MadelineZiser. “I’m going to try to send out asmany resumes and cover letters as I canbefore the March [Civil and EnvironmentalEngineering Career] fair. I hope this willgive me an edge on the competition.”

Devlin and Fauth recommend that engi-neers exercise patience in finding a job andflexibility with regard to job type, industryand location. Although a job may not be per-fect, consider whether it will position youbetter for the next opportunity, Devlinadvises.

Graduate school is another option, butDevlin cautions that students should applyfor the right reasons. Those hoping to waitout the economy in school and thendemand a higher salary with a moreadvanced degree under their belts mightfind that the strategy backfires. “Hiringsomeone with a bachelor’s degree is a cost-cutting measure for companies,” Devlinexplains. But go to graduate school if that’swhat you want, he says, especially if you’reready to specialize or pursue a passion.

Job outlook is “fair”Continued from page 1

JANUARY 29, 2009

career.berkeley.edu/

Engineering and sciencecrossword puzzle

PUZZLECOURTESY

OFRFCAFE.COM

Issue 2S January 29.qxp 1/27/2009 3:09 PM Page 3

Got summer plans?Spend your summer in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singaporein a research-oriented internship at a high-tech multinational orstartup company. In a new pilot offered by the college’s GLOBEprogram, students will be matched with college affiliates suchas Microsoft Research Asia for a one-of-a-kind opportunity.Applicants must be engineering majors with upper divisionstanding or above (graduate students are also eligible) and must beproficient in spoken and written Mandarin Chinese. Deadline toapply is MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9. For more details and to apply,visit https://globe.berkeley.edu/index.htm.

Eng4Kids Engineering for Kids, which introduces engineering to local fourththrough sixth graders, will be held on SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21.The event is organized by multiple undergraduate engineeringsocieties and will consist of hands-on activities to introduce

What do you like about your job?I have the best job. I get to work with thesmartest engineers in the world (many ofthem Cal grads) and see all the cool thingsthey build.

How did you go about finding yourinterest or passion?I once did a summer internship for PacificTelesis (the holding company for Pac Bell …which was the inspiration for Dilbert).Everyone got to the office exactly at 9 a.m.

important principles from a variety of engineering disciplines. Formore information, visit http://pts.berkeley.edu/e4k/.

Save the date Construction is almost over! Come celebrate the opening ofthe new CITRIS Headquarters building (next to Davis Hall) onFRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, at 2:30 p.m. Details at coe.berkeley.edu/citris-opening.

TXT ENGIAsk a Kresge librarian your question(s) by texting 66746. Start yourmessage with the keyword ASKENGI. A librarian will text you backan answer within two hours, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5p.m. Questions asked after hours will receive a response the nextbusiness day. For details, go to www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENGI/txt_engi.shtml.

WITH IEOR ALUM AUREN HOFFMAN

After graduating from Cal, Hoffman (B.S.’96 IEOR) had founded and sold three Internet

companies by the time he was 30. From 2003 to 2006, he served as chairman of Stonebrick

Group and chairman of the Connector Group (Silicon Valley 100). He’s an active angel

investor or adviser to several other companies. Today, he’s CEO of Rapleaf, which helps

business-to-consumer companies give their consumers a better experience by providing

automated search services for each consumer.

Everyone left exactly at 5 p.m. Most peoplespent all day playing Minesweeper. This wasa great experience because I realized I neverwanted to work for a big company and, sincethen, I never have.

What do you recommend students doduring school to prepare for a career?Don’t concentrate on getting good grades.That’s not going to get you any job. Onlygrad schools look at grades. Concentrate onbuilding the skills to solve hard problems andapply knowledge. And spend time buildingcool things that you can be proud of andshow off to others.

What’s the secret to landing a job?Never check a job board. Spend time deter-mining which company is right for you andapply directly to the company. Don’t sendyour resume to the recruiter. Apply directlyto the hiring manager and tell them, in lessthan three sentences, why you are special.

What are some things to think aboutwhile considering a potential job?You should have three and only three crite-ria: One, work with people you can learnfrom. Two, work on really hard problems.Three, work with people you like who willmake you happy.

PHOTOCOURTESY

OFAUREN

HOFFMAN

JANUARY 29, 2009

<career corner>

Issue 2S January 29.qxp 1/27/2009 3:09 PM Page 4

3engineeringNews

Get the complete College calendar atwww.coe.berkeley.edu/events.

2 engineeringNews

<announcements>10394.qxd:Layout 1 8/7/07 6:07 PM Page 3

ACROSS1. AsynchronousCommunication InterfaceAdapter5. Compound used asthe frequency determiningelement in microwaveoscillators7. Basic element11. Luminous atmosphericphenomenon13. Set a steady-statevoltage14. Chemical symbol forradium15. Ham radio operator18. Chemical symbol forchlorine19. Signal amplitude degra-dation due to inefficiency21. Cambridge _____,technical book publisher22. Cable television, abbr.23. Moon of Saturn discov-ered in 167225. Error checking scheme,abbr.26. No insulation27. 0.001 of an amp28. Akin to an EE, CE,AE, etc.29. 10^1 numerical prefix30. Morse Code for “from”32. Innovative PowerProducts, Holbrook, NY,abbr.34. Line of Sight; LinuxOperating System36. Filter type39. Performing a calculusfunction40. Signal-to-noise ratio,abbr.41. The system than con-verts common websitenames to IP addresses, abbr.42. Negation prefix43. Millihenry, abbr.45. 1.602E-19 Joules46. Kilocycles, abbr.47. European equivalent tothe U.L.48. Volts divided byresistance51. The cell band aboveDCN53. Online auction site56. Volt, meter, pint,pound, e.g.57. Joined a male and afemale connector59. Quickly changingportion of waveform60. Ham abbreviation for

“distant station”61. One type of filter con-struction used in the 500MHz to 1.5 GHz range63. Army-Navy spec64. Sets the flip-flop outputto “0”66. College grounds68. Unit of energy, pl.69. Ham’s code for “Entirenet stand by.”70. Logical negation, pl.

DOWN1. Borealis or Australis2. Hang the program3. Galilean moon4. Amateur RadioAssociation6. Point of electricalcontact between circuits7. Powers pneumaticdevices8. Chemical symbol fortantalum9. International phoneticalphabet letter “O”10. Transitioned from solidto liquid phase12. Unit of current13. Data transmissionpathway16. Portion of a circle17. A keyboard key20. Chemical symbol forselenium22. Chemical symbol forcalcium24. Units of current26. Make equal27. Short formodulator/demodulator31. Symbol of the U.S.A.

32. Bands between RF andbaseband33. Circuit for firing a mag-netron, abbr.34. Semiconductor lamp35. Official Space Shuttledesignation, abbr.37. Permeability-TunedOscillator38. Heatsink feature44. A radio operator’s name47. Constellation: The swan49. A circuit that takes twoor more input signals andproduces an output thatincludes the sum and differ-ence of those signal fre-quencies50. Chemical symbol forplatinum51. Programmable logicdevice, abbr.52. Japanese semicond-uctor and equipmentmanufacturer54. Chemical symbol forberyllium55. Change connector type57. Akin to EEs, CEs,AEs, etc.58. Type of data conversiondevice, abbr.61. Stock symbol for HarrisCommunications62. Computer communica-tion scheme65. Chemical symbol forsilver67. Chemical symbol formolybdenum

Answer will appear inthe next issue.

center’s 700 most active employers (includ-ing engineering and technical industries), 45percent said they would be hiring the sameor more full-time employees this year thanlast, and 65 percent said they would be hir-ing the same or more interns.

“For engineering majors, it’s a fair jobmarket,” says Devlin. “It’s far better thanthe general marketplace for all workers.”(Indeed, a UCLA economic report inDecember predicted that the Californiaunemployment rate will reach 9 percentthis year, and that there will be weak jobgrowth through 2010.)

Still, the global recession is making ittougher for engineers than in years past.Some say they have friends who graduatedin 2008 who are still trying to find jobs.

Fauth paints it this way. “Companiesmight be a little more cautious because ofthe economy, and you might see fewer com-panies recruiting on campus because of lim-ited travel budgets. Job postings might be alittle slower in getting approved, and tradi-tional time frames to recruit might bepushed closer to graduation or summer.”

Worried engineers are adjusting. “I think alot of small companies have scaled back theirinternship programs, and the openings atthe bigger companies are already beingfilled,” reports CEE sophomore MadelineZiser. “I’m going to try to send out asmany resumes and cover letters as I canbefore the March [Civil and EnvironmentalEngineering Career] fair. I hope this willgive me an edge on the competition.”

Devlin and Fauth recommend that engi-neers exercise patience in finding a job andflexibility with regard to job type, industryand location. Although a job may not be per-fect, consider whether it will position youbetter for the next opportunity, Devlinadvises.

Graduate school is another option, butDevlin cautions that students should applyfor the right reasons. Those hoping to waitout the economy in school and thendemand a higher salary with a moreadvanced degree under their belts mightfind that the strategy backfires. “Hiringsomeone with a bachelor’s degree is a cost-cutting measure for companies,” Devlinexplains. But go to graduate school if that’swhat you want, he says, especially if you’reready to specialize or pursue a passion.

Job outlook is “fair”Continued from page 1

JANUARY 29, 2009

career.berkeley.edu/

Engineering and sciencecrossword puzzle

PUZZLECOURTESY

OFRFCAFE.COM

Issue 2S January 29.qxp 1/27/2009 3:09 PM Page 3

Got summer plans?Spend your summer in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singaporein a research-oriented internship at a high-tech multinational orstartup company. In a new pilot offered by the college’s GLOBEprogram, students will be matched with college affiliates suchas Microsoft Research Asia for a one-of-a-kind opportunity.Applicants must be engineering majors with upper divisionstanding or above (graduate students are also eligible) and must beproficient in spoken and written Mandarin Chinese. Deadline toapply is MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9. For more details and to apply,visit https://globe.berkeley.edu/index.htm.

Eng4Kids Engineering for Kids, which introduces engineering to local fourththrough sixth graders, will be held on SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21.The event is organized by multiple undergraduate engineeringsocieties and will consist of hands-on activities to introduce

What do you like about your job?I have the best job. I get to work with thesmartest engineers in the world (many ofthem Cal grads) and see all the cool thingsthey build.

How did you go about finding yourinterest or passion?I once did a summer internship for PacificTelesis (the holding company for Pac Bell …which was the inspiration for Dilbert).Everyone got to the office exactly at 9 a.m.

important principles from a variety of engineering disciplines. Formore information, visit http://pts.berkeley.edu/e4k/.

Save the date Construction is almost over! Come celebrate the opening ofthe new CITRIS Headquarters building (next to Davis Hall) onFRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, at 2:30 p.m. Details at coe.berkeley.edu/citris-opening.

TXT ENGIAsk a Kresge librarian your question(s) by texting 66746. Start yourmessage with the keyword ASKENGI. A librarian will text you backan answer within two hours, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5p.m. Questions asked after hours will receive a response the nextbusiness day. For details, go to www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENGI/txt_engi.shtml.

WITH IEOR ALUM AUREN HOFFMAN

After graduating from Cal, Hoffman (B.S.’96 IEOR) had founded and sold three Internet

companies by the time he was 30. From 2003 to 2006, he served as chairman of Stonebrick

Group and chairman of the Connector Group (Silicon Valley 100). He’s an active angel

investor or adviser to several other companies. Today, he’s CEO of Rapleaf, which helps

business-to-consumer companies give their consumers a better experience by providing

automated search services for each consumer.

Everyone left exactly at 5 p.m. Most peoplespent all day playing Minesweeper. This wasa great experience because I realized I neverwanted to work for a big company and, sincethen, I never have.

What do you recommend students doduring school to prepare for a career?Don’t concentrate on getting good grades.That’s not going to get you any job. Onlygrad schools look at grades. Concentrate onbuilding the skills to solve hard problems andapply knowledge. And spend time buildingcool things that you can be proud of andshow off to others.

What’s the secret to landing a job?Never check a job board. Spend time deter-mining which company is right for you andapply directly to the company. Don’t sendyour resume to the recruiter. Apply directlyto the hiring manager and tell them, in lessthan three sentences, why you are special.

What are some things to think aboutwhile considering a potential job?You should have three and only three crite-ria: One, work with people you can learnfrom. Two, work on really hard problems.Three, work with people you like who willmake you happy.

PHOTOCOURTESY

OFAUREN

HOFFMAN

JANUARY 29, 2009

<career corner>

Issue 2S January 29.qxp 1/27/2009 3:09 PM Page 4

engineeringNews

<of note>

4 engineeringNews

POPQUIZ

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING • UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

engineeringNews

10394.qxd:Layout 1 8/7/07 6:07 PM Page 1

Join COE’s official Facebookgroup “Berkeley Engineering”(type = education) and thenew Engineering News group,“I Read Engineering News atLeast Once a Semester.” Plus,

check out this unofficial group, which currently has 193members. It’s our new favorite:

I Got Babakued! Description: You completed the problem sets. Youmemorized tables of Fourier transforms. You workedthrough past exams. You bribed a TA for hints on whatwas coming ... But when the exam hits, it hits hard.Convolving becomes convoluted, your integrals diverge,and you get an imaginary answer where it should havebeen real. No, what you got wasn’t a graduate-levelexam – you got Babakued!

(Dedicated to EECS lecturer Babak Ayazifar, picturedabove)

Published biweekly on Thursdays during the academic year bythe Engineering Marketing and Communications Office, Collegeof Engineering, University of California, Berkeley. Copy deadlineis 4:00 p.m. on the Monday preceding publication.

Rachel Shafermanaging editor and writer

Megan Mansell Williamsreporter

S. Shankar Sastrydean

Karen Rhodesexecutive director, marketing and communications

e’ve got a new president inthe White House, and with

him, a promise of drastic new poli-cy. Whatever your political inclina-tion, it’s hard to deny that the pastadministration has had a rather sti-fling effect on science and technol-ogy development.

So which of Barack Obama’s poli-cies directly impact us engineers?Chief among his initiatives areadvancing climate-friendly energydevelopment, modernizing Inter-net infrastructure and increasingfunding for students and research-ers in science and technology.

Obama plans to create a “CleanTechnologies Deployment VentureCapital Fund,” funded with $50 bil-lion over five years to bring sustain-able new technologies from the lab-oratory to the market. In total, heplans to invest $150 billion over thenext decade to promote varioustypes of renewable and sustainabletechnologies. These includebiofuels, plug-in hybrids, large-scale renewable energy sources anda new digital electricity grid. Someof this money will also go towarddoubling funding for clean energyresearch at universities and nation-al labs. Coincidentally, both UCBerkeley and Lawrence BerkeleyNational Laboratory fall under thiscategory … Sounds good to me.

Other important goals are tostrengthen the broadband back-bone in the United States and pro-tect network neutrality. Obama rec-ognizes that the knowledge-basedeconomy needs more support inorder to grow. First, he wants tobring broadband to the wholecountry by fostering public–privatepartnerships and optimizing theuse of the wireless spectrum bydirectly funding it through theUniversal Service Fund. Second, heunderstands that the open natureof the Internet is responsible formuch of its success, and he pledgesto ensure network neutrality goingforward. For many of us, it is clearthat Internet service providersshould not be allowed to decide

what content gets prioritized, andit’s great that Obama also recog-nizes this.

Obama’s policies are especiallygood for current students. He plansto create new research grants aimedtoward young scientists and engi-neers, which will probably go intoeffect right as current studentsmove into research roles. Obamaalso plans to launch an online data-base to match science and technol-ogy financial aid opportunitieswith students interested in thesefields. He hopes this will be espe-cially helpful for first generationcollege students. Science and tech-nology education has been chroni-cally underfunded, and these newinitiatives aim to fix that.

Of course, with the sorry state ofthe economy shackling him, it’spossible that Obama may not beable to fully implement these ambi-tious plans. But stepping onto thisbold path is an admirable start andsets powerful precedents. It sends amessage to our youth, that we willsupport them in science and tech-nology careers, and to the world,that the United States of America isstill dedicated to being a potentforce for innovation.

—Written by EECS junior Max Zheng.This essay first appeared in the Fall2008 issue of California Engineer.

Obama’s plan for engineerssounds good to me

University of CaliforniaEngineering News312 McLaughlin HallBerkeley, California 94720-1704Phone: 510 642.5857Fax: 510 643.8882

engnews@coe.berkeley.edu

www.coe.berkeley.edu/news-center/publications/engineering-news

RACHELSHAFER

PHOTO

PEGSKORPIN

SKIPHOTO

JANUARY 29, 2009

COE onFacebook

W

EECS JUNIOR Max Zheng

Issue 2S January 29.qxp 1/27/2009 3:09 PM Page 1

Akshay Banesh,CEE junior

“The construction industryhas slowed down. Even inIndia, it’s hard. We’re hop-ing that Obama will make

major infrastructurechanges that will put things

back on track.”

Ami Domadia,EECS senior

“I’m really depressedabout going into a career.The job hunt is scary rightnow. Friends who gradu-

ated last semester gotvery few interviews and

are still looking for jobs.”

Jessica Fitzgerald,EECS senior

“It hasn’t really affectedme much. I’m in my owneveryday world here. You

hear about it on a dailybasis but don’t necessarily

see the impact. I’m notexactly sure why.”

Andy Tran,BioE freshman

“People around me areaffected, so I guess thataffects me, too. One ortwo in my family havebeen laid off, and food

prices are higher.”

Job outlook? “Fair”

t the EECSInternship

Fair on January22, studentscrowded aroundtech companyrecruiters todistribute theirresumes, andPauley Ballroombuzzed withnervous energy. Itappeared to be

college recruiting as usual, despite the news thatsome companies represented, like Microsoft andIntel, had recently announced job layoffs.

While the poor economy means job gloom formost students, engineering majors can find goodopportunities, sources say, particularly intern-ships. “We are currently recruiting for multiplefull-time, entry-level opportunities,” reportsDoug Fauth, a recruiter for video game developerActivision. “And our intern/co-op hiring plan for2009 indicates about a 20 percent increase from2008.”

Tom Devlin, director of UC Berkeley’s CareerCenter, reports that in a December survey of the

PICK ME: Students line up to speakwith Intel recruiters at the EECSInternship Fair.

Howis the global

recession

affecting you?

Continued on page 2

JANUARY 29, 2009 VOL. 79, NO. 2S

RACHELSHAFER

PHOTO

RACHELSHAFER

PHOTO

CROWD APPEAL: Hands rose in approval at the inauguration

of Barack Obama as the nation’s 44th president on Tuesday,

January 20, shown on a jumbo screen in Sproul Plaza. “We will

restore science to its rightful place,” Obama told the world in his

inaugural address. BioE junior Tu Tran was among the 10,000 or

so at Sproul. “I thought it was inspiring and motivating,” he says.

“It makes me want to do my part in society to effect change.”

Turn to page four for EECS junior Max Zheng’s essay on

Obama’s science and technology proposals.

NEW PRESIDENT, NEW ERA

What to expect this year, career-wise

A

Issue 2S January 29.qxp 1/27/2009 3:09 PM Page 2