Funded Projects

Sophie’s Super Hand

Sophie’s Super Hand is a low-cost 3D-printed functional prosthetic hand for children with low-level amputation or birth defects. This team is developing a hand strong enough to enable physical activities currently unsupported by other DIY prosthetic hands -like the use of monkey bars-for kids with upper limb deficiency.

Kamigami Robotics

Kamigami robots serve as an educational tool and fun hobbyist kit, enabling individuals to build and program their own robots.

Geometris

Imagine DanceDanceRevolution meets Twister meets math education: that’s Geometris! Children play this geometry game by positioning their hands and feet on a 6×6 foot interactive floor mat. They must work together, coordinating their bodies to make each shape before time runs out. By presenting math as tangible and collaborative, we aim to bolster children’s identities as capable mathematics learners.

FoodInno Hackathon is a one-day event, a platform linking students’ creativity with the challenges that local food businesses face through “hacking” business model solutions, which can involve designing novel products, services, and solutions. The FoodInno Club provides students with the opportunity to work closely with local food companies, co-ops, and organizations.

The first interdisciplinary social innovation designathon at UC Berkeley was hosted by Project RISHI, Hackers @ Berkeley, ASUC, and EnableTech. The Berkeley Builds event sought to accomplish something different from the usual corporate innovation contest: this event brought together students with backgrounds and majors beyond engineering, and these multidisciplinary teams designed solutions with lasting impact for local nonprofits.

Women In Tech: A Panel at The Berkeley Forum

Despite the tech industry’s efforts towards inclusion and diversity, the number of women in some tech-related fields has plummeted. In many of the largest tech companies, women make up less than a quarter of the employee population. Women who enter the tech industry face rampant biases and stereotypes; for example, a study showed that half of women with careers in STEM fields eventually leave their jobs because of hostile work environments. This problem is just as present at UC Berkeley, as only 11% of EECS graduates in 2016 were female. This panel brought together women in the tech field to discuss solutions to the systemic issues they face.

FEMTECH Talk Series

FEMTech Talk is a Speaker Series that aims to inspire young women to pursue computer science, technology, and entrepreneurship, all the while providing a support system and breaking down gender and social stigmas associated with the industry by inviting women engineers from the tech industry to motivate and empower our girls.

Build the Future DeCal

How To Build The Future (CS198) is a semester-long entrepreneurship class aimed at bridging the gap between undergraduate students and startup founders. Founders like Vinod Khosla (Sun Microsystems Founder and Venture Capitalist) and Justin Kan (Co-Founder Twitch.tv) will come in to share their startup stories and learnings. Students will also be exposed to the Berkeley startup scene, including professors, student organizations, and startup resources. Sign up to take the Fall 2017 How to Build the Future DeCal.

Ursa Hacks

UrsaHacks is committed to changing the exclusive atmosphere of contemporary hackathons. We wish to push the boundaries of the fields cultural ideology and challenge the notion that coding is reserved for computer scientist. Instead, our goal is to show that anyone from any background can use programming to benefit their lives and the lives of those around them.

Cal Hacks

Cal Hacks is the largest collegiate hackathon on the West Coast. In 2016, at Cal Hacks 3.0, over 1,500 student hackers and innovators from across the nation converged at UC Berkeley’s California Memorial Stadium to create incredible software and hardware projects. Learn more about the event and what it takes to host a hackathon of this scale in this article written by Lana Dann, Marketing Director of Cal Hacks 3.0. Apply to be a part of Cal Hacks 4.0.