2019 Siebel Scholars (clockwise from top left) Andrew Bremer, Marc Chooljian, Phillip Kang, Stacey Lee, Samantha Wathugala, David Wang, Nicole Repina and Wojciech Osowiecki. (Photos courtesy the Siebel Scholars Foundation)Eight Berkeley engineers honored as Siebel Scholars
Eight Berkeley engineers have been named to the Siebel Scholars Foundation’s 2019 class. The graduate students — including five from bioengineering, two from computer science and one from energy science — are among 96 selected for their academic achievements and demonstrated leadership.
The Siebel Scholars program annually recognizes top students at the world’s leading graduate schools of bioengineering, business, computer science and energy science. The program, now in its 18th year, comes with a $35,000 award.
“I am inspired by these outstanding Berkeley Engineering students, and congratulate them on being selected for this prestigious honor from the Siebel Scholars Foundation,” said Tsu-Jae King Liu, dean and Roy W. Carlson professor of engineering at Berkeley. “This scholarship program provides important support that allows young researchers to explore high-risk and high-reward pathways for addressing the world’s most pressing challenges and to prepare for leadership roles in engineering.”
Meet the 2019 class of Siebel Scholars at Berkeley:
- Andrew Bremer investigates adult neural stem cells to understand the processes of learning and memory formation, aging and degenerative diseases.
- Marc Chooljian researches the packaging and integration of microfluidic devices for point-of-care diagnostics.
- Phillip Kang studies the impact of mechanical cues on neural stem cell behavior.
- Stacey Lee researches the mechanical regulation of cell shape by stress fiber subpopulations.
- Wojciech Osowiecki investigates the green energy applications of various nanomaterials, with the aim of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
- Nicole Repina builds optical tools for studying stem cell behavior in the brain.
- David Wang uses deep learning to build accurate, reliable systems for precision irrigation and autonomous driving.
- Samantha Wathugala applies state-of-the-art deep learning techniques to object detection, grasping and manipulation in an unstructured domain, using a toy-collecting robot.