The Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS), founded in 2001, continues to incubate cutting-edge solutions to social, environmental, and healthcare problems. The center’s research initiatives include four core technologies: aviation; climate; health; and people and robots.

In 2016, the institute was renamed CITRIS and the Banatao Institute, in recognition of Dado and Maria Banatao’s early commitment to CITRIS and their ongoing leadership.

CITRIS’s headquarters in Sutardja Dai Hall honors the philanthropy of Marvell Technology Group co-founder brothers Sehat Sutardja M.S. ’85, Ph.D. ’88 and Pantas Sutardja ’83, M.S. ’85, Ph.D. ’88, and Weili Dai ’84.

The Paul and Stacy Jacobs Foundation made a remarkable investment at the intersection of technology and design by launching the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, an interdisciplinary hub for learning and making in the College of Engineering. The institute is committed to ensuring all students at Berkeley have access to the resources at Jacobs Hall: from courses to Maker Passes, from co-curricular programs to mentorship. The Maker Pass is a point of entry for students to hands-on making in Jacobs Hall and the CITRIS Invention Lab.

Interest in data science has skyrocketed as it sits at the intersection of probability, math, and software engineering. It allows the utilization of massive amounts of data, and it’s used in virtually every industry: energy, finance, healthcare, media, and more. Berkeley is at the forefront as its researchers and scholars seek ethical solutions to address health, public policy, and climate change.

The Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing opened in 2012 with a $60 million award from the Simons Foundation. In 2013, the Berkeley Institute for Data Science launched with grants from the Alfred P. Sloan and Gordon & Betty Moore Foundations. Recognizing the vast potential of these resources, the campus added a new Division of Data Sciences in 2018, an ambitious new degree and research program aimed at leveraging information to address complex social problems. Ronald K. Tanemura ’85 was among the earliest benefactors and advisers to the program, followed by other donors, including In Sik Rhee and his wife, Isabel ’92. The year 2023 was historic as the UC Regents voted to establish Berkeley’s College of Computing, Data Science, and Society, the campus’s first new college in more than 50 years.

“At Berkeley, we have the opportunity and responsibility to educate data science students from diverse backgrounds to become the ethical leaders we need in private industry, the public service sector, and education,” said Chancellor Carol T. Christ at the time the new college was approved.