Engineering News, October 17, 2005

October 17, 2005 Vol. 77, no. 8F

TAKING THE REINS: NE professor and current department chair Jasmina L. Vujic poses with some of the former chairs, from left, T.H. Pigford, Donald R. Olander, T. Kenneth Fowler, William E. Kastenberg, and Per F. Peterson. (Photo provided by NE department)

For new NE chair, future is looking radiant, indeed

Even as a teenager, NE professor Jasmina Vujic knew she wanted to go into the nuclear field. “I was very interested in math and physics, particularly nuclear physics. It was a new field, an exciting field, and it attracted me,” she remembers telling a reporter from her high school newspaper. That was in the 1970s in her home country of Yugoslavia, where, she says, everyone was steered toward math and science.

Last July, Vujic became the first female chair of Berkeley’s NE department and the first woman to lead an NE department ranked in the top 10 in the U.S. “There are relatively few women in engineering, so I’m really proud,” she says. “It’s a great boost for female engineering students.” To reach this point so distant from her youthful declarations, Vujic pushed through difficulties, big and small. She witnessed profound changes. But most important, she’s elated about the future.

Vujic joined the Berkeley faculty in 1992. Already she’d been in the U.S. several years working on her doctorate at the University of Michigan. When she arrived at the NE department, she was its first female faculty member. Naturally, she wanted tenure. But she was also raising her daughter Nevena (B.S.’02 CEE). So she walked the crazy tightrope. In between it all, she observed how boys in her new adopted country were encouraged in math and science, girls not so much.

That same year, Yugoslavia descended into civil war. She watched as her place of birth, her history, and her cultural touchstone split apart, ushering in the era of Slobodan Milosevic. In came paramilitary organizations and ethnic cleansings, out went youthful dreams. To make matters worse, in the U.S., the nuclear industry stood at a standstill. Research money dried up, NE departments closed, and protesters marched against nuclear weapons, waste, and power. “That was under Bill Clinton and there was a strong environmental feeling,” she says.

Beliefs come and go, Vujic knows well, the most obvious being presidential ones. “We [the Berkeley NE department] barely survived the Clinton years, but now, it’s an entirely different game.” On August 8, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act, which supports the nuclear industry in constructing the first new nuclear power plants in 30 years. Even Greenpeace voiced its support for nuclear energy as “the only non-greenhouse gas-emitting source that can effectively replace fossil fuels.”

Which puts Vujic in prime position to ride the wave. She’s already seen a rise in research money and demand for nuclear engineers. “It’s really a great time for the field, but it’s changing so fast, we have to be ready.” Already, she’s laid out two focal points for the department: advanced nuclear energy technology and security for the nation’s borders. She also wants to grow the department by recruiting new faculty and increasing student numbers.

Things are looking up elsewhere, too. Vujic volunteers with international groups who are helping to rebuild the former Yugoslavia. And, while she hasn’t seen a flood of women entering engineering in general, she has seen their confidence grow. Female students are assuming more leadership roles in engineering student clubs and activities, she says. In math and science, that is encouraging for everyone.

College of Engineering Home Page