“Why did the UC Berkeley student major in engineering?” “Because they wanted to build a time machine and enroll in a less stressful major.” This is the joke with which Coby Santos Lim, MEng ’23 (CEE), began his speech as the student speaker for the 154th College of Engineering Commencement on May 17, 2023, during which more than 800 graduate students received their master’s degrees. The catch? The joke was written by ChatGPT. Meanwhile, Coby set out to find the real answer to that question. “We graduates may wonder, ‘If artificial intelligence or AI like Chat GPT could do all this, why did we have to go to grad school? Why did we spend all this time and effort to graduate from Berkeley when he could have taken the easy route and gone to Stanford?” Met with laughter, Coby continued. “In Berkeley, I learned that the technologies we build can never replace us — technology is only a reflection of its creators, engineers like us. If we are prejudiced, the technology we build will be prejudiced. If you want to build ethical technology that benefits mankind, you must first build ethical engineers. And engineering is about more than just answering or programming or solving like a computer. It’s also about questioning, challenging and reimagining — things an AI could never do. This is why we went to Berkeley. So to the friends and family of the graduates, I know what you’re thinking. Don’t worry. Our jobs are secure. The world needs and will always need ethical engineers.” Having grown up in the Philippines, Coby reflected on their most recent election during which he said the current president used engineering and social media to spread a misinformation campaign and ultimately win the presidency.

At Berkeley, Coby learned how to use technology to fight back. In his research, he analyzed election data to determine which groups were most susceptible to misinformation. He hopes to use that research to aid in future elections. “Computers cannot fight for the truth, but we can. This is why we went to Berkeley. It’s why we took every painfully uphill step in the class. It’s why we took every sip of coffee or boba to get through the day. It’s why we took every late night, early morning, long afternoon, huddled around the cramped table at the Yali’s working through a killer problem set, collaborating, asking questions, challenging each other. We took them to be the engineers the world needs.” “As we venture out of Berkeley, and begin to engineer the future, we may face an ethical dilemma and be tempted to take the easy route, keep our heads down, just do the work and stay quiet. Don’t. We built computers to do that. But us? We stand up. We speak out. We fight because Berkeley built us better.”

Like many of his peers, Coby hopes to emerge into the working world and make technology more accessible and equitable, especially for the traditionally underserved. His story is just beginning, as are the 799 of his fellow graduates, all looking to make the world a better place. Though their futures remain unwritten, let’s take a look at what they have accomplished thus far.

Berkeley MEng Class of 2023 accomplishments

There were 433 MEng graduates this year, comprised of 414 full-time, 5 part-time, and 14 MBA/MEng students as well as 4 master’s students who requested third semester extensions and are set to graduate in December 2023.

• Graduates came from across the globe, representing 27 countries and regions, including China, France, Taiwan, India, and more.
• Among the cohort, 211 undergraduate schools are represented, including UC Irvine, UC Davis, UC San Diego, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, among many others.
• Career programming highlights from the past year include 7 pre-orientation professional development webinars, a leadership lecture series including 9 industry speakers, 25+ career-focused affinity group events, 88 alumni mentors, and numerous networking events for students and alumni alike.
• MEng graduates will move on to work at top companies like Apple, Abbott, Animl.ai, Astera Labs, C3.Ai, Esperanto Technologies, fs, iRhythm, Lockheed Martin, NVIDIA, and Oliver Wyman.
• The Class of 2023 had over 60 capstone teams. Among this cohort, capstone accomplishments include: Generalizable Multi-Task Extraction of Breast Cancer Pathology, 3D Cryoprinting, Control and Adaptation for Rehabilitation Exoskeleton Systems, and Predicting Coma Recovery Using Massive Neurophysiology Datasets, among many others.
• In May, we hosted the annual end of year showcase with over 698 registrants at Mudd Hall. Check out the 2023 End of Year Showcase web page to learn more about the different capstone projects and award winners.

Pledge of Ethical Conduct for Engineers

We, the graduating engineering Class of 2023, in recognition of the importance of our technologies in affecting the quality of life throughout the world, and in accepting a personal obligation to our profession, its members and the communities we serve, pledge to commit ourselves to the highest ethical and professional conduct. Throughout our careers, we will consider the ethical implications and the impact on safety, health and welfare of the public and the environment of the work we do before we take action. While the demands placed upon us may be great, we make this declaration because we recognize that individual responsibility is the first step on the path to a better world for all. — Adopted by the Student Relations Committee, Engineering Student Council and some 85 student societies of the UC Berkeley College of Engineering Learn more about the Fung Institute at funginstitute.berkeley.edu. Written by Veronica Roseborough

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Berkeley MEng celebrates 433 graduating students was originally published in Berkeley Master of Engineering on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.