The College of Engineering and the Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2023 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) Fellowships, awarded this year to two students pursuing the concurrent Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Engineering (MEng) degree program at UC Berkeley. The four-semester MBA/MEng program launched in 2020 with the support of TSMC in honor of its founder, Morris C. Chang. Professor Candi Yano is the Faculty Director of UC Berkeley’s MBA/MEng program and the current Morris C. Chang Distinguished Professor in the Management of Technology Innovation. She holds a joint appointment between the Industrial Engineering & Operations Research Department and the Haas School of Business. From the initial funding provided by TSMC and selected by Professor Yano, two graduate students were awarded a fellowship based on their accomplishments that demonstrated a genuine commitment to innovation. This year’s fellows are Carter Jacobsen and Michael LaFramboise. Below, both MBA/MEng students share their motivations for pursuing a concurrent degree program at UC Berkeley.

Carter Jacobsen

First-year MBA/MEng student

• MEng Department: Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR)
• Undergraduate Degree/Institution: Computer Engineering, Dartmouth College

Why did you choose the MBA/MEng program?

I was initially drawn to UC Berkeley’s dual MBA/MEng because of the culture of technology and innovation present at Haas, the College of Engineering, and in the surrounding Bay Area. My interest deepened through conversations with students in the initial graduating classes as I learned that the program emphasizes an interdisciplinary focus on the commercialization and development of technology. In the next two years, I am extremely excited about the cross-department capstone project that will allow us to partner with an industry company with the goal of addressing an improvement opportunity. I look forward to utilizing coursework such as “Product Management” and “Tech and the City” to contribute to all phases, from viability and positioning to product design. After Berkeley, I hope to apply my academic experiences in helping to facilitate innovation in one of the area’s many fast-growing technology sectors such as transportation, robotics, or healthcare. Connect with Carter on LinkedIn

Michael LaFramboise

First-year MBA/MEng student

• MEng Department: Mechanical Engineering (ME)
• Undergraduate Degree/Institution: Mechanical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University
• Master's Degree: Systems Engineering — Semiconductor optoelectronics, University of Michigan

Why did you choose the MBA/MEng program?

What attracted me to the MBA/MEng program at UC Berkeley was the opportunity to network and work with some of the best technology and business leaders in the world. At Berkeley, I’ve been able to learn from and be mentored by executives in various technology industries such as aerospace, semiconductor, and robotics. I’ve been able to head straight to research labs at the Space Sciences Lab after class, network with venture capitalists (VCs), work with start-ups, including my own, and meet various leaders in both engineering and business. Because I’m exposed to advances in the engineering and business world every day, I’m developing a sense of market need for new technologies. There exists great asymmetry between the engineering and business world, especially as it pertains to edge-case research and development (R&D) applications in the real world. The MBA/MEng program has already started to help me become a leader who can leverage these asymmetries to bring consumers and businesses the products and technologies they need. Connect with Michael on LinkedIn Congrats to this year’s fellowship awardees! Learn more about the Fung Institute at funginstitute.berkeley.edu

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2023 MBA/MEng Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Fellowship was originally published in Berkeley Master of Engineering on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.