Karthika Baiju

In this WSJ op-ed, Nobel prize-winning CRISPR co-inventor Jennifer Doudna describes UC Berkeley’s research response to the pandemic, including the creation of a new rapid, point-of-need COVID test developed with Blum Center Research Director and CellScope inventor Dan Fletcher.

NPR: The Togo government partnered with Blum faculty member & I-School associate professor Joshua Blumenstock to use satellite imagery and mobile phone data to find citizens most in need. “Mobile phone data can reveal a lot about income level,” says Blumenstock.”

A collaboration between Blum Center Research Director and bioengineering professor Dan Fletcher, Professor Jennifer Doudna of UC Berkeley’s Innovative Genomics Institute, and Dr. Melanie Ott of UCSF’s Gladstones Institutes is developing a CRISPR-Cas13a-based diagnostic to rapidly detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA.

The Development Engineering PhD program at UC Berkeley empowers doctoral students to address global challenges in low-resource regions. Graduates like Julia Kramer, Alana Siegner, and Christopher Hyun have tackled issues ranging from health accessibility and climate education to sanitation equity, advancing interdisciplinary solutions for sustainable impact on food, water, and energy systems worldwide.

When Rachel Dzombak and Vivek Rao began planning for the spring 2020 Development Engineering course “Innovation in Disaster Response,” part of their motivation was to get students to think about the use of technology during past disasters. But by early March, it was clear to Dzombak and Rao that the COVID-19 pandemic was increasing the relevancy of their class in ways no one could have predicted.

The Blum Center celebrates the Nobel Prize in Economics winners for pioneering randomized control trials in poverty interventions. Building on these insights, development engineering integrates economics, technology, and social sciences to address global challenges. The center aims to advance this interdisciplinary field by hiring professors in health, energy, and entrepreneurship.

The Development Engineering PhD designated emphasis at UC Berkeley integrates technology, interdisciplinary collaboration, and social impact to address global poverty. Recent graduates’ research includes projects on cookstove efficiency, nitrogen recovery, LED lifecycle management, and fluoride removal. The program trains scholars to create scalable, sustainable solutions for underserved communities worldwide.

Ryan Shelby, a UC Berkeley PhD in Mechanical Engineering, applies co-design methodologies and engineering expertise as a USAID Foreign Service Officer in Haiti. Through the Build Back Safer II program, he’s repaired 4,000 roofs, trained over 2,000 locals in hurricane-resistant construction, and advanced sustainable infrastructure to empower communities and enhance resilience.