A career-focused affinity group is a group of people with a common career interest or goal (e.g. biotech, entrepreneurship, consulting, product design, tech+social justice, energy, automotive, etc.). With the support of the program, affinity groups may put on programs, arrange events, invite speakers and more. Affinity groups celebrate the diversity of our student cohorts, while also offering a space to share, support, and learn about/from each other.
Groups are open to all students from the Master of Engineering, Master of Translational Medicine, and Fung Fellowship programs and must uphold both UC Berkeley’s principles of community and Fung Institute values. Affinity group leads bring together students with similar professional interests, and the groups serve as a community to share knowledge and offer professional development. Group leads will coordinate with alumni in their area to provide advice and mentorship to their members. Students can sign up for multiple groups and join at any time, however, we encourage participation early in the program to get the most out of the experience.
Purpose: The primary purpose of the aerospace affinity group is to build a robust connection between UC Berkeley students and the aerospace industry in order to help community members better understand their future career opportunities and challenges. The secondary purpose is to facilitate interest exploration activities with respect to various aerospace technologies.
Goals:
- Reach out for industrial experts in order to share their career experience along with pass their suggestions to students
- Keep track of the cutting-edge academic affairs and recruiting information and share them with students via FI connect
- Establish internal network among community members to establish an effective community structure that sustains long-term development
- Host aerospace-related projects to cultivate students’ interest in aerospace technologies along with practice their abilities outside the textbook
Lead(s) Name/Dept: Zixiao Wei (ME)
Purpose: This group is for students and alumni with an interest in learning about, networking within, and forming mentorship relationships with others in Artificial Intelligence (AI).
We are planning to organize these activities:
- Connect and network with other students and alumni who share your interest in AI
- Learn more about potential careers in this community
- Host social and technical events with alumni, industry experts, and academic experts to learn about AI in different fields
- If the situation improves, visits to reference companies in the field
Lead(s) Name/Dept: Zhongwen Zhou (EECS), Daniel Carlander (IEOR)
Purpose: Connect students with an interest in careers in automotive/transportation sectors and discover more on the industries together.
Goals:
- Hosting virtual/in-person chats with alumni working in the sector.
- Visiting automotive firms in the Bay Area and meeting with industry professionals.
- Sharing industry information on industry trends, hiring trends within our group.
Lead(s) Name/Dept: Deniz Akyar (IEOR), Jwalant Wadhwa (ME), Parth Kulkarni (ME)
Purpose: Expand student networks and learn about industry, bridge gap between academia and industry, educate ourselves and our community, gain perspective of BioTech space
Lead(s) Names/Dept: Chi-Hung Shu (BioE), Molly Ced (BioE), Ian Gardocki (BioE), Prarthana Prashanth (MTM)
Purpose: To introduce and educate people about consulting, what it is, how to enter the field, preparing for interviews, role of networking, and learning about different firms.
Goals:
- Educate people about the hiring/application process for consulting (resume building, case interview prep)
Lead(s) Name/Dept: Jaren Li (ME), Vandana Keshava Murthy (EECS), Esther Fernandez-Bravo (IEOR)
Purpose: To gather people with a common interest in Data Science and more broadly into Analytics.
Goals:
- To get people to network at afterworks and lectures with data activists from around the world.
- We also would like to offer the opportunity to take part in Kaggle competitions as a team and enhance the cohort unity.
- Organize a digital monitoring of the latest innovations in Data Science, with a different person giving us a summary of an article every week
Lead(s) Name/Dept: Clémence Billiemaz (CEE), Moussa Nasroune (IEOR)
The Digital Health Affinity Group focuses on health care technology topics and connects students with digital health industry experts for workshops, presentations and career guidance. The group is a space to connect and collaborate at hackathons and case study challenges. Every month this affinity group focuses on a different topic for guest speakers and workshops.
- September: What is Digital Health?
- October: Jobs and Careers
- November: Telehealth
- January: Digital Therapeutics
- February: Wearables
- March: Artificial Intelligence
- April: Healthcare Ecosystem
- May: Entrepreneurship
Goals:
- Connect industry professionals to students
- Work on digital health projects
- Guest lectures and workshops by industry professionals
Lead(s): Stephen Grinich (MTM), Priyanshi Porwal (BioE), Yu-Tao Tseng (BioE)
Purpose: To connect and educate future start-up founders
Goals:
- Education about start-ups/entrepreneurship
- Start-up finance/fundraising through talks from venture capitalists
- To create a collaborative network of students to explore start-up ideas
Lead(s) Name/Dept: Jonathan Lei (IEOR), Daniel Kitts (EECS), Saptarshi Ghosh (EECS)
Purpose: To connect and promote the field of FinTech, generate innovative solutions to real-world financial problems with technology
Goals:
- Invite industry professionals to share their experiences in different FinTech fields
- Host social and technical events with alumni, industry expert, academic experts to explore the different FinTech fields
- Come up specific projects/problems and encourage students with different expertises to work on it
Lead(s) Name/Dept: Wesley Cheng (EECS), Yufan Qiu (IEOR)
Purpose: To connect and bring awareness to recent technologies; to connect with industry professionals.
Lead(s) Name/Dept: Prachitesh Mysorekar (ME), Jialin Song (EECS), Soumi Banerjee (NE)
Lead(s) Name/Dept: Sophia Sneddon (BioE)
The mission of the Product Design/Management Affinity Group (or “Product @ Cal”) is to support and build a community around UC Berkeley students and alumni with a common interest in Product Management, Product Design, and other related functions. We will help members:
- Develop new skills
- Explore Product-careers in the industry
- Connect and network with others who share similar backgrounds and/or interests
- Interact with the extended community of experienced mentors and professionals in the industry
- Share resources related to recruiting, technology trends, and general professional development
There is a wide range of skills and career pathways associated with Product Management and Design. This group will help you identify resources and navigate the recruiting process.
Lead(s) Name/Dept: Priya Jindal (EECS), Kanak Kapoor (IEOR), Shivangi Mantri (IEOR), Sahil Garg (EECS)
Lead(s) Name/Dept: Swastika Palit (ME), Devanshi Mathur (ME), Prathamesh Sahastrabudhe (ME), Xianling Yan (ME)
Purpose: To generate interest in sustainable energy and to build a community for sharing ideas and networking.
Goals:
- Increase technical knowledge in the field by engaging in seminars from industry experts
- Gain a better understanding about the current state of the industry and explore career options
- Generate a space where students can exchange ideas and collaborate with each other
Lead(s) Name/Dept: Proboda Senarathne (ME), Karan Jhaveri (ME), Martina Dwek (ME)
