Berkeley 2015: the year in pictures
As always, the year brought challenges and triumphs on every front. Here's the photographic evidence
December 23, 2015
For UC Berkeley, 2015 was a year marked by exploration — cellular, planetary and otherwise — and by concerted efforts to improve not only the global climate but the campus climate as well. As always, the campus lost some familiar faces, and gained some new ones. Seniors flew from the Berkeley nest — taking with them the knowledge that they remain part of a worldwide family — while a fresh cohort of freshmen and transfer students sought to find their footing in a strange, exciting ecosystem. As always, the year brought challenges and triumphs on every front.
In other words, just another extraordinary year at Berkeley. Here’s a look back, in pictures.
Six months after a campuswide celebration of his 99th birthday, UC Berkeley lost a legend with the passing of Nobel laureate and laser inventor Charles Townes, who joined the faculty in 1967.
Also in January, astronomers at Berkeley played key roles in the discovery of a star, a cool red M-dwarf named EPIC 201367065, with three planets only slightly larger than Earth.
As part of February's nationwide conference on campus sexual assault, Anita Hill discussed how things have changed, or not, since her 1991 testimony at U.S. Senate confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas.
For Berkeley Law's Human Rights Center, February also brought a $1 million award from the MacArthur Foundation for its investigations and research into war crimes and human rights abuses around the world.
March gave birth to "Bloom," concrete proof of the architectural potential of 3D printing. Nine feet high, the structure was built by a College of Design team with 840 customized 3D-printed cement blocks.
April always means Cal Day, and this year's open house featured walking tours, motorized cable car rides, meet-and-greets with live pythons and hours of fun for intellectual explorers of all ages...
... as well as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the Bay Area-based vertical dance troupe BANDALOOP busting moves on the walls of the Campanile, which celebrated its centennial this year.
April also saw a talk by Al Gore, pictured onstage with Berkeley-Haas's Laura D'Andrea Tyson. "We are going to solve the climate change crisis," said the former VP. The bad news: "Democracy has been hacked."
Chancellor Nicholas Dirks gave the Class of 2015 a memorable sendoff at spring commencement, urging some 5,000 graduating seniors — along with families and friends — to help "secure and sustain" Berkeley's public mission.
Among May's commencement speakers was Radhika Kannan, 2015's top graduating senior, whose mother died suddenly in her junior year. "Always know your Cal family is there for you," she said.
Meanwhile, back in the lab, researchers (seen here with BRETT the robot) developed software that enables robots to learn motor skills via trial and error, a major milestone in artificial intelligence.
In June , Berkeley scientists reported new research that links poor sleep and Alzheimer's disease. By identifying a therapeutic target, said neuroscience professor Matthew Walker, "the discovery offers hope."
Berkeley physicists announced in July that they'd built lightweight ultrasonic loudspeakers and microphones that enable humans to mimic bats' use of sonar for echolocation and communication...
... while the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory received a $1.2 million grant from the USGS to ramp up an earthquake early-warning system, ShakeAlert, for use by cities and other entities along the West Coast.
As students geared up for the start of the fall semester in August, the campus put the finishing touches on its new ASUC Student Union, part of a $223 million project to renovate and revitalize Lower Sproul Plaza.
Campus climate took a big step forward in September with the announcement of the African American Initiative, aimed at boosting recruitment and yield for black undergrads and improving support for those enrolled at Berkeley.
In a September tradition, the campus gathered to honor those who died over the past year. Here, the music department's Candace Johnson sings a medley of “There Is a Balm in Gilead” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
Also, in what 's come to seem like a tradition, September 2015 marked the 18th consecutive year UC Berkeley was named the nation's top public university by U.S. News and World Report.
Steve Tollefson, a beloved writing instructor and creator of "Berkeley Writers at Work," died in June at the age of 66. In October he was celebrated, fittingly, with a public reading of his own work.
Samuel Clemens (1835-1910) insisted his autobiography not be released for 100 years after his death. October brought the final volume from UC Press, courtesy of the Bancroft's Mark Twain Papers and Project.
In November, senior Lavanya Jawaharlal and her sister Melissa, both mechanical engineers, landed a $200,000 deal on TV’s “Shark Tank.” They hope to take their STEM robotics education concept nationwide.
Prompted by Berkeley's Jennifer Doudna, inventor of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technique, scientists gathered in Washington, D.C., in December to discuss ethical issues raised by the new technology.
Berkeley's contingent at December's climate talks included Anthony Barnosky, co-author of a 2012 paper warning that Earth's climate is nearing a tipping point. Not only did the summit yield hope for the future, but his paper inspired an upbeat French film that premiered in Paris during the talks. Its title: "Tomorrow."
And finally, the end of the year meant goodbye for another 650 or so graduating seniors, who heard an impassioned keynote from public policy professor Robert Reich at winter commencement. Were they proud of their hard-earned UC Berkeley degrees? You be the judge.