February/March 2004
Friends of the College of Engineering,
Last month Petra and I again represented the College and the
campus at the World Economic Forum in
Davos, Switzerland. The tone of this year's meeting was significantly
more optimistic than last year and
for the first time I felt that engineering and advanced technology
development were finding their place at the center of the global
debate. It was apparent
that many major multinational corporations and small businesses
are beginning to recognize that developing regions and the advanced
technologies needed
to provide sustainable economic development and appropriate healthcare
are worthy challenges. Also, many major corporations now view
these regions as
viable markets in their own right. It was gratifying to see that
the College’s
CITRIS research agenda --with its emphasis on faculty, student, and industrial
collaboration on use-inspired fundamental research to address challenges
facing this expanded global community --is at the forefront of this new paradigm.
Yong-Kyung
Lee(EECS '75), A. Richard Newton, Arun Sarin (MSME '78)
Paul Jacobs (EECS '84, '86, '89), far right. |
A highlight of the forum for me was the Future of Communications panel, where several fellow alumni participated. Arun Sarin
(MSME '78),
Vodafone Group CEO, and Yong-Kyung "Ken" Lee (EECS '75
and Distinguished Engineering Alumnus 2003), president and
CEO of Korea Telecom were two of the four panelists. Paul
Jacobs (EECS '84, '86, '89),
president, Wireless and Internet Group, Qualcomm, was also
an active participant. Together, these distinguished alumni
lead companies that represent over $185B
in annual revenues, serve more than 200 million customers and
hire tens of thousands of employees world wide. At Berkeley
Engineering, we truly do educate
leaders!
Last week we were also pleased to host alumnus Hong Lu (CE
'95), chairman, CEO and founder of UTStarcom. Hong presented an inspiring
perspective on
entrepreneurship to our students and faculty, telling his
own
story of how he founded UTStarcom -- a company that successfully
develops and sells communication
systems to 35 developing countries and in 2003 posted $2B
in revenue. Living the vision of developing countries as valid markets
for advanced technology,
Hong’s UTStarcom is one of the fastest growing telecommunication
companies in the world.
For all of you CS grads, be sure to attend the 30th anniversary
of the CS Division here at Berkeley on Saturday, Feb. 28. The
organizers have a great day planned, including many of our distinguished
CS luminaries
of the last 30 years and an excellent panel of researchers
and business leaders looking at what lies ahead for computer science. Details
are available on
the CS Web
site.
Very best wishes from the College and Go Bears!
/rich
A. Richard Newton
Dean, College of Engineering and
the Roy W. Carlson Professor of Engineering
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© 2004 UC Regents. Updated
2/19/04.
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