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Ekta Raghuwanshi and Maria Denna, her MDevEng classmate, worked at A Better Education Club as part of an internship pilot program that DevEng and ABE Club look to expand in the coming years. The organization, based in Kenya’s southwestern region of Kasigau, supports youth education and women’s empowerment by focusing on health, food security, hygiene, and farming practices.

Every summer, UC Berkeley’s Development Engineering students create global social impact. The 2024 DevEng Photography Contest showcased their work, highlighting projects from digital education in Kenya to climate justice in Nigeria. Winning submissions emphasized human-centered technology, community-driven financial practices, and sustainable development, capturing innovation and resilience through powerful visual storytelling.

At Berkeley’s 2024 Master of Development Engineering commencement, graduates like Tilti Thind and Excellence Joshua celebrated transformative journeys. Their capstone projects and unwavering commitment embodied Berkeley’s spirit of radical change. Amid challenges and sacrifices, they emerged as determined changemakers ready to address global inequality and build sustainable, equitable futures worldwide.

Mingxi Tang, inspired by UC Berkeley’s Master of Development Engineering (MDevEng) program, shifted her career path from finance to social impact. Now part of the 2025 cohort, she aims to use AI and machine learning to improve the lives of people with disabilities.

Soliver Ché Fusi is an environmental engineering PhD candidate at UC Berkeley. She hurries online to speak with me late in the Kenyan evening about her work at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. She’s telling me how the technology she’s working on hits on all these target issues — and it’s simple: sustainable agricultural fertilizer.

“FireTools,” developed in DevEng C200, “Design, Evaluate, and Scale Development Technologies,” brings a wide array of resources under one umbrella for local decision-makers to use to improve disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and resilience — with a particular emphasis on doubly vulnerable communities.

Yordanos Degu Zewdu’s journey to becoming a changemaker began as a child in Addis Ababa, inspired by a moment of compassion from her mother. At UC Berkeley’s Development Engineering graduation, she urged classmates to embrace resilience and unpredictability, fueling hope for a more just, equitable world.