You’ll always be known as the “COVID class,” and you should wear that as a badge of honor. This has been a very challenging year, and you have risen to the occasion. Well done!
I’d also like to say that you are exactly the sort of person who can lead in these challenging times. Because our leaders need to combine an understanding of science and technology with an understanding of people and leadership. They need to combine an understanding of the statistics of epidemiology with the psychology of panic and the sociology of wise collective action. They need to understand the arcane details of vaccine production while being also able to explain to the public why it may not be ready soon enough.
For the Master of Engineering graduates, I would remind you of our last case study in the Fall 2019 bootcamp, where the CEO of Biogen faced a crisis. Remember how we practiced our response, how we stretch the importance of substance and tone, in a clear call to action.
Each of you has that unique combination of skills and abilities that will make you an exceptionally valuable leader in your lifetime. We know that you will each make the world a better place and wish you great luck and success in doing so.
The Berkeley MEng Class of 2020 is the largest and most accomplished class to-date at 480 graduates*
*Includes 60 MEng students who requested third semester extensionsAccomplishments include:
- Graduates represent 42+ countries and regions, including China, India France, Taiwan, and more.
- MEng graduates will move on to work at top companies like Accenture, Boeing, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Sandia National Laboratories, Micron Technology, and more!
- Capstone teams have participated — and continue to place highly — in campus, inter-campus, and national competitions like the iHackHealth Appathon, Patagonia Case Competition, L’Oréal CEO Challenge, Case Competition at BERC Energy Summit, UC Launch Demo Day, Jacob’s Design Challenge, and Stanford’s Health++ Hackathon to name a few.
- Juhi Nandwani, MEng ’20 (NE), her team ChemoTrack, and advisor Dr. Meera Subash, designed an iOS app for chemotherapy patients to track their symptoms and predict their future symptoms. The app creates a community where cancer patients can learn, share, and recover together.
- Class of 2020 had 123 capstone teams, 47 — interdisciplinary, 33 — partner-advised. Among this cohort’s capstone accomplishments are: adapting humanoid robots to aid first-responders, developing new ways to 3D-print living tissues, using radars to localize autonomous vehicles, and creating a smart eye-drop bottle to monitor medication compliance.
- In May, we hosted the first virtual capstone showcase with over 600 registrants and 400 attendees from all over the world. The 2020 Capstone Showcase website features project descriptions, project briefs, and pitch videos.
Pledge of Ethical Conduct for Engineers
We, the graduating engineering Class of 2020, 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 EngineeringLearn more about the Fung Institute at funginstitute.berkeley.edu.
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