Mechanical Engineering

University of California, Berkeley

This is an archived copy of the 2022-23 guide. To access the most recent version of the guide, please visit http://guide.berkeley.edu.

Overview

The Department of Mechanical Engineering is located in Etcheverry Hall, on the Berkeley campus. The campus is centered in the San Francisco Bay Area, and next door to Silicon Valley. This geographical location places our faculty, staff, and students in one of the most exciting areas in the world for mechanical engineering at the beginning of the 21st century. The Department’s research projects are primarily funded by the National Science Foundation, governmental agencies, and the many industries located around Berkeley and the Silicon Valley. In this dynamic environment our students find themselves inundated with job offers and exciting career opportunities throughout the United States, as well as worldwide.

With the turn of the century, the field of mechanical engineering enters a particularly vital era. The “information age,” born in the last century, has already affected every aspect of our discipline and, without a doubt, revolutionized the field of mechanical engineering.

At the beginning of the 20th century, mechanical engineers designed and worked with large rotating machines. Today, our work spans all areas of energy production and transfer, as well as the vast area of system design and control. A survey of the faculty's current research projects is a voyage through a world complex enough to include robotics, miniaturization, automated manufacturing, automated highway systems, biomaterials, computer mechanics, improved efficiency internal combustion engines, and the dynamics and control of both ground vehicles and aircraft.

Undergraduate Programs

Mechanical Engineering: BS, Minor
Materials Science and Engineering/Mechanical Engineering: BS (Joint Major)
Mechanical Engineering/Nuclear Engineering: BS (Joint Major)
Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration: BS (Joint Major)

Graduate Programs

Mechanical Engineering: MEng, MS, PhD

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Courses

Mechanical Engineering

Faculty and Instructors

* Indicates this faculty member is the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award.

Faculty

Alice M. Agogino, Professor. New product development, computer-aided design and databases, theory and methods, intelligent learning systems, information retrieval and data mining, digital libraries, multiobjective and strategic product, nonlinear optimization, probabilistic modeling, supervisory.
Research Profile

M. Reza Alam, Associate Professor. Theoretical Fluid Dynamics, Nonlinear Wave Mechanics, Ocean and Coastal Waves Phenomena, Ocean Renewable Energy (Wave, Tide and Offshore Wind Energy), Nonlinear Dynamical Systems, Fluid Flow Control, ocean renewable energy.
Research Profile

David M. Auslander, Professor. Automatic control system design, mini-microcomputer system bioengineering, modeling and simulation of dynamic systems, process control.
Research Profile

David B. Bogy, Professor. Mechanics in computer technology: tribology in hard-disk drives, laser measurement systems, numerical simulations. Static and dynamic problems in solid and fluid mechanics.
Research Profile

Francesco Borrelli, Professor. Model Predictive Control, Model-Based AI, Distributed and Robust Constrained Control, Automotive Control Systems, Energy Efficiency, Energy Efficient Building Control Systems, Solar Power Plants, Mobility Contextual Intelligence, Robotics and Food Systems.
Research Profile

Van P. Carey, Professor. Energy conversion and transport; molecular-level modeling of thermophysics and transport in multiphase systems; statistical thermodynamics; thermal management and energy efficiency of electronic information systems; boiling phenomena in pure fluids and binary mixtures; surface wetting effects in condensation processes; heat pipes; energy-based sustainability analysis of energy conversion systems; high temperature solar collector technologies; radial flow turbines and disk rotor drag turbine expanders for green energy conversion technologies; computer-aided design of energy systems.
Research Profile

James Casey, Professor. Continuum mechanics, finite elasticity, continuum thermodynamics, plasticity, theories of elastic-plastic materials, history of mechanics, dynamics.
Research Profile

Chris Dames, Chair, Professor. Heat transfer and energy conversion at the micro and nano scale. Theoretical and experimental methods. Nanostructured thermoelectric materials. Thermal rectification. Graphene. Nonlinear, anisotropic, and asymmetric heat transfer.
Research Profile

Robert Dibble, Professor. Laser diagnostics in turbulent reactive flows, generation of green fuels from biomass, highest efficiency and lowest pollution combustion of fuels derived from biomass, combustion issues related to global warming, conversion of waste heat to power via Organic Rankine Cycle ( ORC ), spectroscopy, chemical kinetics, turbulent combustion, optics and electronics.
Research Profile

Carlos Fernandez-Pello, Professor. Ignition and fire spread; smoldering and transition to flaming; spacecraft/aircraft fire safety; wildland fire propagation and wildland fire spotting; liquid fuel pool burning; self heating and ignition; small-scale energy generation; biofuels combustion.
Research Profile

Michael Frenklach, Professor. Chemical kinetics; Computer modeling; Combustion chemistry; Pollutant formation (NOx, soot); Shock tube; Chemical vapor deposition of diamond films; Homogeneous nucleation of silicon, silicon carbide, and diamond powders; Interstellar dust formation.
Research Profile

Michael Gollner, Associate Professor. Combustion, Fire Dynamics, Wildland Fire, Fluid Mechanics.
Research Profile

Kosa Goucher-Lambert, Assistant Professor. Design theory, methodology, and automation: decision-making applied to engineering teams and individuals, ideation and creativity, analogical reasoning in design, preference modeling and design attribute optimization, design cognition, neuroimaging methods applied to design, sustainable design, new product development, crowdsourcing and collaboration.
Research Profile

Ralph Greif, Professor. Heat and mass transfer, micro scale transport, fuel cells, cooling at the chip level, semiconductor wafers, materials processing, laser surface interactions, nuclear reactor safety, phase change, buoyancy transport, bio heat transfer, reacting flows, deposition.
Research Profile

Costas P. Grigoropoulos, Professor. Laser processing of materials, ultrafast laser micro/nanomachining, nanotechnology, nanomanufacturing, fabrication of flexible electronics, laser crystal growth for thin film transistors, advanced energy applications, microscale fuel cells, hydrogen storage, heat transfer, electronics cooling, microfluidics, laser interactions with biological materials.
Research Profile

Grace X. Gu, Assistant Professor. Composites, additive manufacturing, fracture mechanics, topology optimization, machine learning, finite element analysis, and bioinspired materials.
Research Profile

Roberto Horowitz, Professor. Adaptive control, learning and nonlinear control, control of robot manipulators, computer mechatronics systems, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), intelligent vehicle, highways systems.
Research Profile

David Horsley, Adjunct Professor. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), ultrasonics, piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (PMUTs), piezoelectric sensors and actuators, inertial and acoustic sensors, magnetic sensors, optical MEMS, dynamics and control issues in MEMS.
Research Profile

Alexis Kaminski, Assistant Professor . Stratified flows, hydrodynamic instabilities, transition to turbulence, mixing and entrainment, internal waves, non-normal stability, upper-ocean dynamics, physical oceanography, geophysical and environmental fluid dynamics.
Research Profile

Homayoon Kazerooni, Professor. Bioengineering, robotics, control systems, mechatronics, design, automated manufacturing and human-machine systems.
Research Profile

Tony M. Keaveny, Professor. Biomechanics: mechanical behavior of bone, finite element modeling and experimentation, design of bone-implant systems, tissue engineering.
Research Profile

Kyriakos Komvopoulos, Professor. Theoretical and numerical studies in nano-/micro-scale contact mechanics, tribology, mechanical behavior of bulk and thin-film materials, deposition and characterization of single and multi-layer ultrathin films by sputtering and filtered cathodic vacuum arc methods, reliability of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), surface force microprobe techniques, surface modification of biopolymers, surface chemical functionalization for enhanced biocompatibility and cell activity, mechanotransduction effects at the single-cell and tissue levels, scaffolds for tissue engineering, and flexible/stretchable bioelectronics.
Research Profile

George Leitmann, Professor. Economics, planning, dynamics systems, control theory, optimal control, dynamic games, & robust control, applications engineering, mechanical systems, business administrations, biological systems.
Research Profile

Liwei Lin, Professor. MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems); NEMS (Nanoelectromechanical Systems); Nanotechnology; design and manufacturing of microsensors and microactuators; development of micromachining processes by silicon surface/bulk micromachining; micromolding process; mechanical issues in MEMS including heat transfer, solid/fluid mechanics, and dynamics.
Research Profile

Fai Ma, Professor. Dynamical systems with inherent uncertainties, vibration, stochastic simulation.
Research Profile

Simo Aleksi Makiharju, Assistant Professor. Reduction drag on marine vehicles, mitigation of damage and noise caused by cavitation in naval and industrial applications, and efficient handling of single- and multiphase flows in energy production applications.
Research Profile

Samuel Mao, Adjunct Professor. Professor Mao and his team conduct research in the cross-disciplinary fields of clean energy technologies. The team also develops high throughput material processing and ultrafast laser technologies, in support of clean-energy research.
Research Profile

Philip S. Marcus, Professor. Algorithms, atmospheric flows, convection, fluid mechanics, nonlinear dynamics, ocean flows, numerical analysis, turbulence.
Research Profile

Sara McMains, Professor. Geometric and solid modeling, general purpose computation on the GPU (GPGPU), CAD/CAM, computational geometry, layered manufacturing, computer graphics and visualization, virtual prototyping, virtual reality.
Research Profile

Mohammad R. K. Mofrad, Professor. Multiscale Biomechanics of Cardiovascular Disease and Brain Injury; Molecular and Cellular Mechanobiology; Mechanics of Integrin-Mediated Focal Adhesions; Mechanics of the Nuclear Pore and Nucleocytoplasmic Transport.
Research Profile

Mark W. Mueller, Assistant Professor. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, dynamics and control; motion planning and coordination; state estimation and localization.
Research Profile

Grace O'Connell, Associate Professor. Biomechanics of cartilage and intervertebral disc; tissue engineering; continuum modeling of soft tissues; intervertebral disc function, degeneration, and regeneration.
Research Profile

* Oliver O'Reilly, Professor. Dynamics, Vibrations, Continuum Mechanics.
Research Profile

Panayiotis Papadopoulos, Professor. Computational mechanics, solid mechanics, biomechanics, applied mathematics.
Research Profile

* Kameshwar Poolla, Professor. Theory: Modeling & System Identification, Robust Control, Optimization. Applications: Wireless Sensor Networks, Green Buildings, Semiconductor Manufacturing, Medical Imaging.
Research Profile

Ravi Prasher, Adjunct Professor. Dr. Prasher’s primary research interests are fundamental and applied studies of Nano-to-macroscale thermal energy process and systems, using both theoretical and experimental methods. Some topics of current interest include thermal transport in Lithium ion batteries, microelectronics thermal management using microfluidics, solar thermal energy conversion, high density thermochemical storage, solar thermal desalination, heat and mass transfer in roll-to-roll manufacturing process and applications of machine learning in inverse design of optical metamaterials.

* Lisa Pruitt, Professor. Tissue biomechanics, biomaterial science, fatigue and fracture micromechanisms, orthopedic polymers for total joint replacement, cardiovascular biomaterials, synthetic cartilage, acrylic bone cements, tribology of diamond and DLCs.
Research Profile

Boris Rubinsky, Professor. Heat and mass transfer in biomedical engineering and biotechnology in particular low temperature biology, bio-electronics and biomedical devices in particular micro and nano bionic technologies and electroporation, medical imaging in particular electrical impedance tomography and light imaging, biomedical numerical analysis in particular genetic and evolutionary algorithms and fractal techniques.
Research Profile

Omer Savas, Professor. Fluid mechanics: aircraft wake vortices; biofluid mechanics; boundary layers; instrumentation; rotating flows; transient aerodynamics; turbulent flows; vortex dynamics.
Research Profile

Shawn Shadden, Associate Professor. Cardiovascular biomechanics, computational mechanics, computational fluid dynamics, dynamical systems, fluid dynamics, Lagrangian coherent structures, mathematical modeling, thrombosis.
Research Profile

Lydia Sohn, Professor. Micro-nano engineering, bioengineering.
Research Profile

Koushil Sreenath, Associate Professor. Hybrid Dynamic Robotics, Applied Nonlinear Control, Dynamic Legged Locomotion, Dynamic Aerial Manipulation.
Research Profile

David Steigmann, Professor. Continuum, mechanics, shell theory, finite elasticity, variational methods, stability, surface stress, capillary phenomena, mechanics of thin films.
Research Profile

Hannah Stuart, Assistant Professor. Dexterous manipulation, bioinspired design, soft and multi-material mechanisms, skin contact conditions, tactile sensing and haptics.
Research Profile

Hayden Taylor, Associate Professor. The invention, modeling and simulation of micro- and nano-manufacturing processes, materials-testing techniques operating down to the nanoscale, and applications of polymeric materials in micro- and nano-fabrication—including for tissue scaffold engineering.
Research Profile

Masayoshi Tomizuka, Professor. Adaptive control, computer-aided manufacturing, control systems and theory, digital control, dynamic systems, manufacturing, mechanical vibrations.
Research Profile

Vassilia Zorba, Associate Adjunct Professor. Energy Science & Technology; MEMS/Nano; Materials.

Affiliated Faculty

Murat Arcak, Professor. Dynamical systems and control theory with applications to synthetic biology, multi-agent systems, and transportation.
Research Profile

Saikat Chaudhuri, Professor. Corporate growth and innovation strategies, Technological innovation in dynamic environments, Digital disruption and transformation,High-technology mergers and acquisitions, High-value strategic partnerships and outsourcing.

Peter Hosemann, Professor. Mechanical performance and microstructural characterization of structural materials as well as in environmental degradation of materials in extreme environments. Multi scale mechanical property quantification and their implications for engineering performance as well as corrosion in unusual environments are part of the research. Furthermore, professor Hosemann is interested in the manufacturing of materials (from ore to product) and most recently in micromanufacturing of geometries using short, pulsed lasers.
Research Profile

Dorian Liepmann, Professor. BioMEMS, microfluid dynamics, experimental biofluid dynamics, hemodynamics associated with valvular heart disease and other cardiac and arterial flows.
Research Profile

Robert O. Ritchie, Professor. Structural materials, mechanical behavior in biomaterials, creep, fatigue and fracture of advanced metals, intermetallics, ceramics.
Research Profile

S. Shankar Sastry, Professor. Computer science, robotics, arial robots, cybersecurity, cyber defense, homeland defense, nonholonomic systems, control of hybrid systems, sensor networks, interactive visualization, robotic telesurgery, rapid prototyping.
Research Profile

Somayeh Sojoudi, Assistant Professor. Control theory, optimization theory, machine learning, algorithms, and data science.
Research Profile

Lecturers

George Anwar, Lecturer. Model Predictive Control, Distributed and Robust Constrained Control, Automotive Control Systems, Energy Efficient Building Control Systems.

Gabriel Gomes, Lecturer.

Marcel Kristel, Lecturer.

Ala Moradian, Lecturer. Dr. Moradian’s primary research interests are product development, advanced materials processing, semiconductor manufacturing, computational methods for process modeling and virtual fabrication, digital twin, and multi-physics modeling for product design optimization and manufacturing.

Kourosh (Ken) Youssefi, Lecturer.

Emeritus Faculty

Jyh-Yuan Chen, Professor Emeritus. Computational modeling of reactive systems, turbulent flows, combustion chemical kinetics.
Research Profile

George C. Johnson, Professor Emeritus. X-rays, plasticity, elasticity, instrumentation, sensors, acoustoelasticity, materials behavior, materials characterization, texture analysis, thin shells deformation, ultrasonic stress analysis.
Research Profile

* Dennis K. Lieu, Professor Emeritus. Actuators, magnetics, acoustics, electromechanical devices, rolling elements, spindle motors, structural mechanics.
Research Profile

Stephen Morris, Professor Emeritus. Continuum mechanics, micro mechanics of solid-solid phase changes, interfacial phenomena (evaporating thin films), electroporation .
Research Profile

Patrick J. Pagni, Professor Emeritus. Fire safety engineering science: fire physics, fire modeling, compartment fire growth, flamespread, flame shapes and heights, excess pyrolyzates, soot formation, backdrafts, glass breaking in compartment fires, explosions, gravity currents, salt water modeling, self-heating to ignition, brand lofting, urban/wildland intermix and post-earthquake conflagrations.

Robert F. Sawyer, Professor Emeritus. Air pollutant formation and control, motor vehicle emissions, energy and environment, regulatory policy.

Benson H. Tongue, Professor Emeritus. Nonlinear dynamics, vibrations, modal analysis, numerical modeling, acoustics.

Paul K. Wright, Professor Emeritus. Mechanical and electrical engineering design, 3D-printing, manufacturing, energy systems, wireless sensor networks, sensors/MEMS/NEMS, IT systems, automated manufacturing and inspection.
Research Profile

Kazuo Yamazaki, Professor Emeritus. Etc , micro custom diamond tool design and fabrication system, CNC machine tool control software and hardware system, ultrasonic milling, intelligent manufacturing systems, mechatronics control hardware and software for manufacturing processes and equipment, computer aided manufacturing system for five axis, milling - turning integrated machining process, nano/micro mechanical machining processes and equipment, precision metrology for nano/micro mechanical machining, Non-traditional manufacturing processes such as electric discharge machining, laser machining and electron beam finishing.
Research Profile

Ronald W. Yeung, Professor Emeritus. Mathematical modeling, hydromechanics, naval architecture, numerical fluid mechanics, offshore mechanics, ocean processes, separated flows, wave-vorticity interaction, vortex-induced vibrations, stratified fluid flow, ocean energy, green ships, tidal energy, multi-hull flow physics, Helmholtz resonance, ship motion instabilities, tank resonance.
Research Profile

Xiang Zhang, Professor Emeritus. Mechanical engineering, rapid prototyping, semiconductor manufacturing, photonics, micro-nano scale engineering, 3D fabrication technologies, microelectronics, micro and nano-devices, nano-lithography, nano-instrumentation, bio-MEMS.
Research Profile

Contact Information

Department of Mechanical Engineering

6141 Etcheverry Hall

Phone: 510-642-1338

Fax: 510-642-6163

Visit Department Website

Department Chair

Christopher Dames, PhD

6143 Etcheverry Hall

Phone: 510-643-7013

cdames@berkeley.edu

Vice Chair of Instruction

Van P. Carey, PhD

6181 Etcheverry Hall

Phone: 510-642-7177

vpcarey@berkeley.edu

Vice Chair of Graduate Study

Shawn Shadden, PhD

6185 Etcheverry Hall

Phone: 510-664-9800

shadden@berkeley.edu

Director of Student Services

William Orta

6187 Etcheverry Hall

Phone: 510-642-5085

worta@berkeley.edu

Student Affairs Officer

Isabel Blanco

6189 Etcheverry Hall

Phone: 510-642-6780

miblanco@berkeley.edu

Student Affairs Officer

Yawo Dagbevi Akpawu

6189 Etcheverry Hall

Phone: 510-642-5084

yawo@me.berkeley.edu

Undergraduate Student Affairs Officer

Ricky Vides

6193 Etcheverry Hall

Phone: 510-642-4094

rickyv72@berkeley.edu

Student Services Advisor

Karren Bautista Tanisaki

6175 Etcheverry Hall

karren@berkeley.edu

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