Development Engineering
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Program Type
Program Format
Overview
The three-semester Master of Development Engineering program at UC Berkeley integrates training in engineering with entrepreneurship, design, business, and policy—among others—to support students in creating technological interventions in accordance with the needs and wants of individuals living in complex, low-resource settings.
The program’s curriculum enables students to further their expertise in one of the following four predefined areas:
AI/Data Analytics for Social Impact:
Students take courses on how artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data tools and analytics give the social, civic, and international development sectors actionable insights.
Energy, Water, and the Environment: Students take courses on core natural resource challenges—water and energy systems and their impact on the environment—and on life cycle assessment, water resource management, agricultural impact, and energy technologies and policies.
Sustainable Design Innovations: Students take courses on sustainable design and social entrepreneurship, including principles of green design, the science of sustainability, resilient communities, sustainable economic models, green chemistry, product design, spatial modeling, affordable housing, public transportation, and equitable development.
Students take courses on the rapidly evolving landscape of global healthcare technologies and practices, including biomedical device design, health policy, health impact assessment, and the digital transformation of health care.
Community-Based Ecosystem Stewardship:
Community-based ecosystem stewardship students take classes in Indigenous Studies, Environmental Studies, Regenerative Ecology, Health & Food Systems, Community-Based Research, and Equity-Centered Design Thinking to ethically address complex issues around climate change, natural resource governance, and community self-determination.
If a student has interests outside of these areas, it is possible to devise a Self-Designed Concentration in, for example, gender equity, global education, or technology, development, and policy.