Image of Chancellor Carol T. Christ speaking to an audience outside
Lectures & Learning Opportunities School & College Events

A Conversation With the Chancellor and Gateway Groundbreaking

Join us as we break ground on the Gateway, the future home of the division of Computing, Data Science, and Society. Chancellor Christ will lead a diverse panel discussion on how the new facility will transform the campus. She will be joined by professors Ion Stoica and Anca Dragan, doctoral student Seri Khoury, and undergraduate student Nitesh Nagpal. Jennifer Chayes, associate provost of the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society and Tsu-Jae King Liu, dean of Berkeley Engineering will also join the conversation. The Gateway is a dedicated space for faculty and students to create data-driven solutions to problems in biomedicine, public health, climate, social justice, and more. Missed it? View the recording.

Speakers:

Headshot of Carol Christ
Carol T. Christ
Chancellor

Carol T. Christ began her term as Berkeley’s 11th chancellor in 2017. A celebrated scholar of Victorian literature, she is also known as an advocate for high-caliber, accessible public higher education and a champion of women’s issues and diversity on college campuses. Christ spent more than three decades as a professor and administrator at Berkeley before serving as president of Smith College. At Cal, she works to foster community, improve the campus climate for people of all backgrounds, celebrate the institution’s long-standing commitment to free speech, strengthen Berkeley’s financial position, address a housing shortage, and develop a ten-year strategic plan for the campus.

Headshot of Jennifer Chayes
Jennifer Chayes
Associate Provost of the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society

Jennifer Chayes is the associate provost of the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society as well as dean of the School of Information. She is a professor for the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Mathematics, Statistics as well as I School. Before joining UC Berkeley, she was a technical fellow at Microsoft, where she led research programs for over 20 years and was founder and managing director of three interdisciplinary labs: Microsoft Research in New England, New York City, and Montreal.

Headshot of Tsu-Jae King Liu
Tsu-Jae King Liu
Dean, Berkeley Engineering

Dean Tsu-Jae King Liu is internationally recognized in academia and industry for her innovations in semiconductor devices and technology. Dean Liu is highly regarded for her achievements as an instructor, mentor, and administrator. She is the Roy W. Carlson Professor of Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences.

Headshot of Ion Stoica
Ion Stoica
Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Ion Stoica’s research focuses on cloud computing and network computer systems. Past work includes Apache Spark, Apache Mesos, Tachyon, Chord DHT, and Dynamic Packet State. Stoica is an ACM Fellow (Association for Computing Machinery) and has received numerous awards, including the SIGOPS Hall of Fame Award, the SIGCOMM Test of Time Award, and the ACM doctoral dissertation award. In 2013, he co-founded Databricks, a startup to commercialize technologies for Big Data processing. In 2006, he co-founded Conviva, a startup to commercialize technologies for large-scale video distribution.

Headshot of Anca Dragan
Anca Dragan
Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Anca Dragan runs the InterACT lab, which focuses on enabling robots to work with, around, and in support of people. Her goal is for robots to autonomously generate their behavior in a way that moves beyond functionality and formally accounts for interaction with humans. 

Headshot of Seri Khoury
Seri Khoury

Seri Khoury is an international student studying computer science for his Ph.D. here at UC Berkeley. Khoury was born and raised in Haifa, Israel. His adviser here is Professor Shafi Goldwasser. He attended the University of Haifa for his undergraduate degree and Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) for his master’s degree. At the Technion, Khoury was advised by Professor Keren Censor-Hillel. He feels fortunate to have had both Shafi and Keren as his mentors. His research interests revolve around graph algorithms, distributed, classic, and more.

Headshot of Nitesh Nagpal
Nitesh Nagpal

Nitesh Nagpal ’23 is a senior at UC Berkeley studying economics and data science. Outside the classroom, the Pittsburgh native serves as the project operations lead in the Office of the President and External Vice President for the ASUC. In his free time, he loves to explore new restaurants with his friends and support his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers.