“The gift of Development Engineering, to me, is learning to think about the technical and the human in the same hand,” commencement speaker Pratiyush Singh told his peers and their guests. “I leave with a way of seeing: one that showed me that who I am and what I want to do are not competing worlds, but the same story.”
Together, the cohort brings experience spanning data science, medicine, material science, policy, and more, and will spend the next 15 months in an intensive program that blends technical training with human-centered development courses — preparing them for careers in social impact, entrepreneurship, design, and sustainability.
Initiated by the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), the Alliance’s “backbone,” the collaboration opened doors for Berkeley students to intern at NTU, teaming up with faculty and peers on engineering projects in a month-long program in Crownpoint, New Mexico.
World Water Week is an annual conference and global observance focused on tackling the world’s most pressing water-related challenges — urging policymakers and innovators to take bold action on sustainable solutions. This year’s theme, “Water for Climate Action,” highlights the essential role that water plays in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to a changing climate.
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.
Kevin Kung, co-founder of Takachar, began his climate innovation journey at UC Berkeley’s Blum Center through the 2015 Big Ideas Contest. Now hosting California Climate Action Fellows, Takachar helps transform agricultural waste into bioproducts, emphasizing a human-centered approach that addresses environmental challenges and supports underserved communities.
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.
Under a new NSF-funded research program housed at the Blum Center, the Digital Transformation of Development (DToD) Traineeship, students are using their research skills to apply digital tools, such as machine learning and AI, to the issues and challenges of poverty alleviation, disaster relief, and more — in pursuit of digital and technological justice, equity, and empowerment.
“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.