By Aaron Lin

On Tuesday, December 17, 2024, just in time for winter holidays – the IEEE Oakland East Bay section proudly awarded UC Berkeley the Large Student Branch Award, received by the branch’s returning Chair, Elam Day-Friedland.

The UC Berkeley IEEE student branch is particularly well known for its unique student-run courses, such as HOPE (Hands-On PCB Engineering), which has grown to guiding 70 students per semester through the basics of electronics and their very own PCB projects. It also hosts Micromouse, the introductory robotics course based on the international IEEE competition. After multiple semesters of development, the branch has recently expanded its offerings with APE (Advanced PCB Engineering) and EECS151T Tapeout, a pioneering student-run tapeout course that teaches undergraduate students chip design skills in an inviting, open source environment.

Those interested in more open-ended technical projects can work on FPGA or web development with the TechOps committee, or join SEMI, a newer semiconductor-focused initiative. Students across committees collaborate on various outreach activities, hosting an increasing number of talks, soldering workshops, hackathon sessions, and tabling at events such as Maker Faire and Open Sauce. In addition to existing high school collaborations, the branch has expanded to support community college students and HBCUs, with many activities formalized in a new Outreach committee. The branch also connects companies across software and hardware stacks to students through individual info sessions and larger events, such as Spring Start-Up Fair.

Having grown IEEE’s programs with boots on the ground as a HOPE Director, co-developer of the student-run tapeout course, and enthusiastic outreach lead, it is no surprise that Elam has pushed UC Berkeley IEEE to greater heights through his leadership as Chair. We couldn’t be more pleased to have him accept the award and extend our congratulations to every member of the UC Berkeley group for their terrific work this past year!