UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science

A woman leans forward at a round classroom table. Photo by AJ Gubser.

The Shining Lights Program at UC Berkeley tackles gender equity in #STEM 🌟 Currently focused on grad students and postdocs, the program teaches community-building, effective communication skills and how to represent lab work at conferences and within departments.

➡️ https://bit.ly/4lghCpP

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#FacultyFriday: Meet Richard Allen, Berkeley Seismology Lab director and professor of Earth and Planetary Science. Learn how BSL's work helps keep Californians safe while contributing to important earthquake-related research.

🎥 Learn more: https://bit.ly/3MoSvEc

Headshot of Roland Burgmann next to graphics of 2026 Arthur L Day Prize and Lectureship

👏 Roland Bürgmann, UC Berkeley professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science and the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, has been awarded the National Academy of Sciences 2026 Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship!

Read more: https://bit.ly/3ZC2CIH

#NASAward #ResearchInnovation

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🦍 UC Berkeley gorilla doctor and assistant professor of integrative biology, Tierra Smiley Evans, is working to prevent the next pandemic by studying human and wildlife interaction at forest edges around the world where important pathogens are most likely to emerge.

➡️ https://bit.ly/49UrEZy

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#FacultyFriday 🌟 Meet UC Berkeley professor Mike Boots, chair of the Department of Integrative Biology. His research tackles important "why" questions: "Why are some infectious diseases more virulent than others?"

Read more here: https://bit.ly/4rpQlml
#Research #BiologicalScience

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📝Linguistics Research Apprenticeship Practicum (LRAP) at UC Berkeley is reshaping undergraduate research by pairing undergrads with graduate student mentors.
Professor Hannah Sande: "We are truly building the next generation of linguistic researchers." Learn more: https://bit.ly/4c5dnun

Screenshot from Basic Science 101 video featuring Dean Steve Kahn

🧬 From quantum theory to the modern laser, curiosity-driven research has shaped the world we live in. In just 101 seconds, watch UC Berkeley Dean Steve Kahn explain why basic science fuels innovation.

▶️ https://bit.ly/4sVf6IH

#CuriosityDrivenResearch #UCBerkeley

A woman with light brown hair talks into a mic, gesturing and smiling, as a panelist next to her looks on. Behind, there is a banner that says UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science.

Want to make better decisions in 2026? 🎧 Listen to a panel of UC Berkeley L&S professors, with expertise ranging from political science to philosophy, discuss decision-making and how we can use different approaches to make better, more informed choices.

➡️ https://bit.ly/4qO3wgV

Two men cut a ribbon with a giant pair of scissors; A man speaks at a podium in front of two women; A man gestures to Governor Gavin Newsom

🌟 From Nobel Prize-winning experiments to the future of computing, UC Berkeley leads quantum information science. The new Roger Herst Quantum Nexus will help scientists, students, and industry leaders access groundbreaking quantum activity now and into the future!

➡️ https://bit.ly/48V0jGh

A woman wearing a mask and gloves holds up a bat

💡 Did you know? Zoonotic diseases like COVID-19 jump from animals to humans. UC Berkeley Integrative Biology Professor Cara Brook is studying wild fruit bats in Madagascar to test vaccines and prevent future pandemics before they start. 🦇

Read more: https://bit.ly/4ahjriF

#ResearchExcellence

Side‑by‑side view of a towering yellow sponge on a coral reef and several glowing comb jellies drifting through dark ocean water.

🪸 UC Berkeley (@ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social) researchers report that sponges likely evolved first, reshaping our view of early animal evolution and the base of the animal tree of life.
This research was funded by the Life Sciences Research Foundation and HHMI.

Read More ↠ https://bit.ly/4axMbnf

Portrait of Kelly Chuang smiling outdoors, wearing a sleeveless black top and gold hoop earrings, with blurred green trees in the background.

📚 Third-year English & Rhetoric major, and Mellon Mays Fellow, Kelly Chuang shares how speculative fiction, vision, and unreliable narrators shape her research and her work in the humanities.

Read more: https://bit.ly/44K0bXg
#SpeculativeFiction #Humanities #StudentSpotlight

Portrait of Ethnic Studies Professor Carolyn Chen, smiling and looking into the camera against a solid light turquoise background.

Office scene with tech workers sitting at shared desks, working at computers in a dimly lit room, illustrating a long-hours workplace environment.

Silicon Valley’s hustle culture is back and intensifying, and UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Professor Carolyn Chen explains what’s driving it — from AI to changing ideas of work, community, and purpose.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4ox0VWN
#UCBerkeley #SiliconValley #HustleCulture

Photo of Dean Richard Harland next to images of a mouse embryo, a skeletal arm, an enlarged skeletal arm, a deformed mouse embryo, both images are behind a blue square that is almost transparent. Copy reads: UC Berkeley dean's research inspires emerging treatment for rare bone disease. Left: Johnny Gan Chong. Right: Brunet, McMahon, McMahon, and Harland / Science

🌟 UC Berkeley dean of biological sciences, Richard Harland, shares how his basic research has inspired emerging treatment for a rare bone disease called FOP.
➡️ Read more: https://bit.ly/3KrDvUP
#UCBerkeley #ResearchWithResults

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#FacultyFriday: UC Berkeley Arts & Humanities Dean Sara Guyer discusses the modern utility of a #humanities degree: “The arts and humanities classroom really helps us understand the world. We’re comfortable being in complexity.”

Read more: https://bit.ly/4i1putm
#UCBerkeley #LiberalArts

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#Alumni Spotlight: Purvi Kunwar credits her UC Berkeley interdisciplinary double major (political economy & development studies) with laying the foundation for a dynamic career that has spanned public health, education and biotechnology 🌟 Read more: https://bit.ly/3M2D4ko
#SocialSciences

Wendy Ingram speaks about Dragonfly Mental Health at a conference, sharing her journey from UC Berkeley researcher to global advocate for mental wellness in academia. Event hosted by Behavioral Teaching Solutions; Photo by Aga Ignas.

🌟 UC Berkeley molecular & cell biology alum, Wendy Marie Ingram Ph.D. '15, transformed a tragedy into a positive movement by founding Dragonfly Mental Health.

“Action is my coping mechanism,” says Wendy.

Read more here: https://bit.ly/3JcDq72

📷: Aga Ignas
#Research #Impact #CalAlum

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#FacultyFriday: UC Berkeley's Prof. Roland Bürgmann is studying "earthquake weather" and the effect of climate on seismic activity. Are the atmosphere & solid earth connected? 🤔 His research may offer new insights into earthquake forecasting. Read more: https://bit.ly/4oSFgJW
#Research #Earthquakes

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🐋 Sperm whales communicate in ways similar to humans according to a new study from UC Berkeley and Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) by Linguistics Professor Gašper Beguš.

Read more here: https://bit.ly/3KbEMiN
#Linguistics #Research #Impact

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David Harding wearing a dark blazer over a collared shirt, standing outdoors with a blurred natural background.

A UC Berkeley (@ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social) study led by Professor David Harding finds that how applicants explain their past crimes can affect hiring decisions. Those who took responsibility and showed change were most likely to be hired.

Read more – https://bit.ly/4nVVsc7
#Sociology #Research

Three male and two female zebra finches, including two mating pairs. Females are typically all gray, though here one female is a white morph. Males are colorful, with red cheeks, zebra stripes on their chest and brown patches with white spots on their sides.

Julie Elie sits on the ground in the Australian outback in 2008, wearing a sun hat and using a large microphone and telescope setup to study the calls of zebra finches.

🌎 Finch chirps are more than mindless chatter — they actually convey meaning.
UC Berkeley (@uofcalifornia.bsky.social) researchers found that zebra finches understand what they’re hearing.

Read more – https://bit.ly/4hTNIG7

#UCBerkeley #Neuroscience #AnimalCommunication #Finches #Science

Sarah Douglas has short, white hair, light skin, and is wearing a purple zip-up jacket over a light plaid shirt. The background features large windows with a green outdoor view.

Alva Noe has short brown hair, a full grey beard, light skin, and is dressed in a grey collared shirt with a black blazer. The background includes abstract, colorful light streaks.

Artificial intelligence is transforming society and raising deep questions.

UC Berkeley Philosophy, led by Alva Noë and supported by Sarah Douglas, is launching a new initiative on the philosophy of AI.

Read more – https://bit.ly/47KxmL5

#UCBerkeley #Philosophy #AI

Engineers in cleanroom suits work with twin ESCAPADE spacecraft, Blue and Gold, developed by UC Berkeley and Rocket Lab, preparing them for launch as part of NASA’s mission to map Mars’ magnetic field and upper atmosphere in 3D.

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket stands on the launchpad at sunrise in Cape Canaveral, Florida, ready to carry the twin UC Berkeley ESCAPADE satellites to Mars for NASA’s first dual-satellite mission to another planet.

🚀 NASA’s ESCAPADE mission — led by UC Berkeley — launches in early November.

Twin “Blue and Gold” satellites will map Mars’ magnetic fields and atmosphere in 3D to aid future human exploration.

Read more ⇨ https://bit.ly/4oXxFtc

#UCBerkeley #NASAMission #Mars #ESCAPADE

A group of chimpanzees is gathered on a grassy field surrounded by trees, with one chimpanzee standing close to the camera while others rest and interact in the background.

Emily Sanford stands on a scenic hiking trail at sunset with mountains and bushes in the background, wearing a zip-up jacket and a crossbody bag.

🧐Chimpanzees may have more in common with human thinkers than we thought. A new study co-authored by Emily Sanford at the University of California, Berkeley (@ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social) shows they can rationally revise their beliefs when given new evidence.

Read more ➥ https://bit.ly/4qKyDug

Screenshot of video with Professor Kolkowitz

⏰ There are fewer than 500 atomic clocks in the world, and the one inside UC Berkeley's Kolkowitz Lab is not just keeping time for the planet. It's helping researchers "test fundamental physics, to search for new physics, and to test relativity." ▶️ https://bit.ly/3Jj2nOh

#Physics #BasicScience

Professor Lin Lin, a man with glasses and dark hair, stands in front of a whiteboard with mathematical equations written on it

#FacultyFriday: By designing innovative new algorithms that harness the power of quantum computers, UC Berkeley professor Lin Lin is making game-changing contributions to both fields of computational mathematics AND quantum science. 💡 Read more >> https://bit.ly/48RPqVW

Collage of five headshots featuring Raka Ray, Dave Harding, Clancy Wilmott, Shaudi Fulp and David Whitney

Generative #AI tools are everywhere, and UC Berkeley's Division of Social Sciences is helping students and faculty use these tools wisely: "We see generative AI as a tool to supplement — not substitute — intellectual curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge." ➡️ https://bit.ly/47B7RNp

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🏆 UC Berkeley‘s Mike Zaletel was named a 2025 American Physical Society Fellow for "pioneering contributions to the understanding of topological aspects of condensed matter.”

💡Read more here: https://bit.ly/3KQdTRw
#UCBerkeley #Research #APSFellows #Physics

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#FacultyFriday: Exploring the forms of Postcolonial African Literature with UC Berkeley Professor Farah Bakaari, a scholar of 20th and 21st century African literature.

💡Read more here: https://bit.ly/4hmEXnH
#UCBerkeley #Research #English

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🧠 Professor Na Ji is transforming our understanding of how the brain processes visual information and about diseases, addiction, and other neurological conditions through her research at UC Berkeley.

Read more here: https://bit.ly/4hd5Fio
#UCBerkeley #LettersAndScience #ResearchImpact #Neuroscience