February 2005
Friends of the College of Engineering,
In a recent San Francisco Chronicle editorial, Berkeley's Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Science and Technology Tom Kalil speaks clearly to the essential role our great research universities play in keeping California and the United States in the lead in creating new industries and the high-technology jobs of tomorrow. Now, a recently published study has ranked the University of California, Berkeley as the top university in the nation for preparing students who go on to earn doctorates.
Of the 203,929 doctorates awarded in the U.S. between 1999 and 2003, 2,175 were UC Berkeley grads. No other school produced as many, according to the 2003 Survey of Doctorate Recipients conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago and released in December. UC Berkeley was also the top-ranked school in awarding doctorates in 2003, with 2 percent of all U.S. doctorates awarded.
In another survey conducted by the University of California , UC Berkeley students were asked about their experiences at Berkeley. Of the almost 10,000 undergraduates who responded, 84 percent of students said they were "somewhat" to "very" satisfied with their overall academic experience at Berkeley . On question after question about the details of their education, the positive responses outweighed the negative. Most students say they attend Berkeley first for the quality of our education, to discover what kind of person they want to become, and to establish meaningful friendships. Given Berkeley 's reputation for civic engagement, it might seem surprising that a large number of respondents thought they were "not that well-informed" when it came to campus, State, and international issues and politics. This extensive survey provides a fascinating glimpse of the UC Berkeley student of today.
I am excited to announce that Google CEO Eric Schmidt (EECS , MS '79, PhD '82), will speak at this year's engineering commencement on May 21. There is no doubt that with Eric present our graduating students and their families will have a truly memorable commencement.
Please remember to nominate your distinguished engineering alumni for the 2005 awards. You may nominate a candidate online.
/rich
A. Richard Newton
Dean, College of Engineering and
the Roy W. Carlson Professor of Engineering
Lab Notes is published online by the Marketing and Communications Office of the UC Berkeley College of Engineering. The Lab Notes mission is to illuminate groundbreaking research underway today at the College of Engineering that will dramatically change our lives tomorrow.
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