Farewell
Eugene Haller, professor emeritus of materials science and engineering, died in June at the age of 75. A highly-regarded leader, teacher and mentor, he helped to redefine the field of materials science and engineering to include semiconductors, ultimately co-authoring a textbook on the subject. He made significant research contributions in the area of growth and applications of ultrapure — both chemically and isotopically — and doped semiconductors, and his ultrapure germanium lies at the heart of the Multiband Imaging Photometer in NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. A native of Switzerland, he joined Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) as a staff scientist in 1973 and the Berkeley Engineering faculty in 1980; he later founded the Electronic Materials Program at LBNL, which continues to this day. The author or co-author of more than 1,000 papers, he was honored with many prestigious awards during his career, including election to the National Academy of Engineering in 2010.
Photo by Bruce Cook
James Anderson, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering, died in August at the age of 92. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and his master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University. In 1966, he joined the Berkeley faculty, where he worked as a professor until his retirement in 1991. A well-respected teacher, he authored or co-authored three books on surveying methods, among numerous other publications.
William R. “Bill” Baker died in May at the age of 103. In 1938, Baker, still an engineering student at UC Berkeley, was hired by Ernest Orlando Lawrence for his Radiation Laboratory, the predecessor to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), as the lab’s first electrical engineer. For the next 42 years, he worked on technologies for the lab’s large particle accelerators, or cyclotrons, and was deeply involved in fusion energy research. A prolific researcher, he held approximately 50 patents related to his work.
Bradley Card (M.Eng.’52 CE) died in June at the age of 92. After graduation, he worked at General Electric’s Hanford Works, then taught engineering at Yakima Valley Community College. He later became a partner in PLSA Engineering, where he worked until he was 88 years old.
Ray Lundgren (B.S.’50, M.S.’54 CE) died in June at the age of 93. He worked at Woodward Clyde Consultants, which later became Woodward-Lundgren and Associates, eventually acting as chairman of the board. He also served as president and board member of the Engineering Alumni Society, president of the Cal Alumni Association and member of the Lafayette planning commission and city council. He was honored with the Berkeley Foundation’s Trustees Citation in 1980.
Slobodan Mitric (M.S.’68, Ph.D.’72 CE) died in May. From 1973–78, he was an assistant professor of civil engineering at Ohio State University. He then joined the World Bank, where he worked as an urban transportation expert for the next 25 years.
Krishna Seshan (Ph.D.’75 MSE) died in October 2017 at the age of 71. After graduating from Berkeley, he worked at LBNL, Intel and IBM, and was also an assistant professor of materials science at the University of Arizona. During his retirement, he created Project Enable at San Jose State University, a program that connects engineering students with clients to make adaptive aids for elderly and disabled people.
Justin Yeo Jun Xi, a mechanical engineering student, died in December 2017 at the age of 22. A sophomore, he had worked with other students to develop Dingo, an app that enables users to send automatic notifications to friends upon reaching a destination.