News/Research

BCNM Student Presentations for the annual BEARS Research Symposium

14 May, 2012

BCNM Student Presentations for the annual BEARS Research Symposium

This year's BEARS Conference, hosted by the Berkeley EECS department, will be focusing on "Big Data at Berkeley". This annual event is a program of the Industrial Relations Office at UC Berkeley. Industry leaders are invited to meet UC Berkeley students working on research and projects in the fields of engineering, science, design, computer science, and new media among others.

Avinash Bhardwaj, Ph.D. Candidate, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research

"On Network Design Under Uncertain Arc Capacities"
We explore ways to efficiently minimize the costs of network design in the framework of large-scale fixed charged network flow problems with uncertain arc capacities.

Chen Chen, Ph.D. Candidate, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, "Aconic Approaches to ACONF"

Power systems are undergoing broad technological and regulatory changes to address growing concerns about climate change, fossil fuel dependency, and the economy. We are developing algorithms for power system operators to help cope with these changes by becoming more efficient, reliable and flexible.

Ashley Ferro-Murray, Ph.D. Candidate, Performance Studies, Designated Emphasis in New Media, "Tactical Movement: Media-Based Choreography and Its Effect on Digital Culture"

This project situates movement as a central characteristic of cultural habitus. I analyze artistic choreography as a case study to understand how movement is central tosubjectivity in digital culture. Beyond an example of movement habitus, I suggest that artists can use choreography to tactically defamiliarize ordinary devices and to problematize and redefine cultural productions of digitality.

Futurefarmers, BCNM Artists in Residence 2011-12, "Soil Kitchen"

“Soil Kitchen” is a temporary, windmill-powered architectural invention and multi-user space where citizens enjoy free soup in exchange for soil samples from their neighborhood.

Christopher Goetz, Ph.D. Candidate, Film and Media Studies, Designated Emphasis in New Media, "Fantasy Machines"

Fantasy Machines explores fantasy as a term in media convergence, especially in the domain of videogame studies. I explore fantasy as a tool for formal videogame analysis, as a means of investigating game-film convergence, and as a new approach to auteur theory in the wake of Hollywood directors making videogames.

Reginold Royston, Ph.D. Candidate, African American Studies, Designated Emphasis in New Media, "Exploring Virtual Nationalism: Ghana's Digital Diaspora"

This research examines the place of Ghana in the social imaginary of diasporic actors and those living in the homeland, as reassembled by new media such as mobile phones, VoIP, Web portals, Facebook, Twitter, and an emerging transnational news and entertainment industry. Building on what Appadurai has described as ethnic- and mediascapes, this dissertation work examines how social actors construct a digital public sphere that stretches across national borders, virtual and physical worlds — converging on a key site African prosperity and global market competition. The research is conducted via ethnographic fieldwork in the U.S., Ghana, and online.

Timmy Siauw, Ph.D. Candidate, Civil Systems, & Dmitry Berenson, Ph.D. Candidate in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, "Radiotherapy Planning Using Integer Programming"

Our research focuses on integer programming formulations for the improved planning and delivery of several radiotherapy modalities: Brachytherapy, Gamma Knife, and IMRT. We present background and current results.