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Mengxuan Zhang

Interview with Professor Kajanová: An International Perspective on Berkeley Research

June 29, 2022 By Mengxuan Zhang

Martina Kajanová is an Assistant Professor at the University of Žilina in the Department of Power Systems and Electric Drives, who came to UC Berkeley as a GLOBE Visiting Scholar from Slovakia. While she was here, she worked in Professor Shankar Sastry’s lab in the EECS Department. She cares deeply about the environment, and her goals revolve around the integration of electric and other renewable energies into existing power systems.

Professor Kajanová on Berkeley campus during her time as a visiting scholar.

Can You Tell Us a Little Bit about Yourself? (Educational background, hobbies, interests, anything you would like to share with our Berkeley engineering community?)
I received my PhD from the University of Žilina in Slovakia. I am an Assistant Professor there, in the Department of Power Systems and Electric Drives. Right now, my research focuses on renewable energy and charging for electric vehicles. 

In my free time, I enjoy walking with my dog, playing piano and guitar, and reading books a lot. I like books that focus on particle physics for ordinary people. When I was a child, I was really interested in particle physics, and even now I continue to read about it. There are so many interesting interactions between particles, how they combine to make protons and neutrons. I actually took a class with a professor that worked at CERN, where I learned about how matters exist, and how forces can combine matters together to create something.

How was your experience with research in UC Berkeley?
It was amazing! I had an opportunity to pursue my own research interests and learn research practices that I could bring back to Slovakia. I learned how to manage my research, how to not only choose a topic but that it is necessary to look at all the social or economic aspects of a project as well. 

At Berkeley, I worked with Professor Shankar Sastry in the EECS department on electric vehicles. He was an expert in his field, and told me not only to look at the technical aspect but also the social and economical aspects of my research.

Did this experience help bridge the link between Slovakia and Berkeley? (If so, how?)

  1. Research
    In a way, it did. UC Berkeley is more experienced than my alma mater when it comes to academic research, and I tried to bring this knowledge back home. For example, some of the best practices that Berkeley has include routine seminars, where researchers present their current projects and share what they’re working on. I persuaded my colleagues in Slovakia to do the same. 
  1. Education
    Back in Slovakia, I spoke about my experience at UC Berkeley with my students to show them more about the scientific path in our field of study. Since the University of Žilina is mostly focused on the education of new engineers rather than research scientists, I was very interested to learn about leading research in my fields of study when I was at Berkeley and I also wanted to show it to my students.
  1. Atmosphere
    Even though the University of Žilina is also one of the top universities in Slovakia, much like UC Berkeley is in the United States, the atmosphere is different. There is no students’ tuition in Slovakia, which might cause students to not take their education as seriously as students at Berkeley. Also, at Berkeley, I learned how important it was to engage students in research, especially in topics related to mathematics.
  1. Culture
    I ate a lot more Chinese and Thai food while I was in Berkeley, and even though I also ate these cuisines in Slovakia, it was more diverse in Berkeley and I really enjoyed it there.

What has been your career path from college graduation up to today? And why did you make those educational and/or career choices?
I graduated from Žilina University and stayed there to become an Assistant Professor. At first, I didn’t want to do a PhD, but my husband (then boyfriend) was staying in Žilina to start and grow his company, so we decided to stay here. So I took the opportunity to start my research career path at the University of Žilina.

What’s your current job title?
I am currently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Power Systems and Electric Drives, where I mainly focus on research of electric power systems. I do a lot of teaching, with classes on modeling and control of power systems as well as some introductory courses. 

It is very different from Berkeley, where professors teach about three hours a week. I teach 8-12 hours a week in Slovakia. We have small departments and a lot of students, so I spend a lot of time teaching. 

What was your journey like to become an assistant professor at your current department? What is your current role/day-to-day like?
I studied at the University of Žilina for my BS, Masters, and PhD in the same department. I actually had the same advisor for all of my studies, and he really wanted me to stay and continue my work. I thought of leaving after my PhD to pursue industry, but I eventually realized that my passion lay with research. 

What makes you good at your job?
The most important thing to being successful in research is hard work. I spent a lot of time on my work, sometimes even on weekends and over holidays. In a field where everyone is talented and brilliant, you need to work even harder than them to be appreciated, especially as a woman in a technical field. You need to be responsible for your own work, to keep yourself on track to get results.

As a teacher, I found that it was really important to genuinely care about your students. If you care about them and pay attention to them, then they will grow and learn accordingly.

What is your ultimate goal? (Research, career, etc.)
My ultimate goal is to be the best professor possible and make research advancements on a topic that directly improves daily life. It is probably just a dream but it is necessary to try. For example, my research could improve the integration of electric vehicles and renewable energy sources into power systems so our power systems can be greener. Czechia has had a big tornado recently and many weather outbreaks are around the world due to global warming, so everyone should help with decreasing carbon footprints to prevent future disasters. 

Have you thought about making your research idea a business idea?
I am not really business oriented. I thought about connecting with existing businesses to show them how they can use my research. It is a work in progress. But in the future I would like to further discuss these options.

What keeps you enthusiastic about your work?
I am passionate about my work because it is interesting for me and I care about global warming. I want renewable energy to integrate with existing power systems because we will eventually run out of fossil fuels. In Germany, when the wind blows, they can generate a lot of electricity through wind power plants and the generated power even flows into other countries. But when the wind doesn’t blow, they have to use fossil fuels to cover their demand. And it is not a good concept to cover for renewable energy with fossil fuels. One day, I want the world to be able to use renewable energy and electric vehicles in a way that will help the planet. 

What has been one of the most challenging experiences in your academic journey so far?
The most challenging experience I had was during my visit to Berkeley. At Berkeley, there were a lot of smart people, and I didn’t feel smart enough to be there with them. I got a lot of books and studied to try to catch up. But eventually I realized that it was okay to not know everything, and that you could always learn from others. So the first few weeks, when I was still new to Berkeley, were really challenging. 

Do you miss anything about being a student?
I miss the free time I had as a student. I realized I should have spent more time studying different things. Now, I don’t have enough time to learn for pure enjoyment. So I miss being young and being able to be more carefree.

What was the most valuable thing you learned as a visiting scholar in the College of Engineering at Berkeley that you would like to share with future visiting scholars?
For every visiting scholar, I would advise them to make the most of the time they spend at Berkeley and meet as many people as possible. I was in Berkeley for five months, but now it barely felt like a week. Time really flies, it is important to talk with people because you can learn so much from them. Most of the people you meet will be from different areas, and at Berkeley you can always find people at the top of their fields. You should go ahead and connect with them and learn as much from them as you can.

Any caveats, observations or advice that you learned through your career that you would like to share with current students?
I think they should be open-minded and thirsty for knowledge, even if a specific topic is not in their field of study. It is good to learn a variety of knowledge because it is helpful to have an understanding of a topic when you are collaborating with people from different fields.

Professor Martina Kajanová

An Assistant Professor in the Department Power Systems and Electric Drives from the University of Žilina in Slovakia, Martina came to UC Berkeley as a GLOBE Visiting Scholar.

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Interview with Dr. Jowy Tani: Doctor, Scientist, Entrepreneur, and BTB Scholar

June 29, 2022 By Mengxuan Zhang

“Failing once doesn’t mean you’ll fail forever, and you can simply restart and work again.”

Dr. Jowy Tani is the CEO of Taipei Medical University Biomed Accelerator, Taiwan’s first university-based biomedical startup accelerator. He was an alumni of the Berkeley-Taiwan Biomedical (BTB) Fellowship and Stanford Biodesign Global Faculty Program. He has extensive experience in architecting biomedical innovation ecosystems, leading medical innovation projects, and coaching Medtech strategies for startups. As a neurologist-innovator, Dr. Tani has in-depth expertise in dementia, sleep medicine, and electro neurophysiology.

He is also serving as the Deputy Secretary-General of Taiwan Neurological Society, Director of Wan Fang Hospital Sleep Medicine Center, Deputy Director of Wan Fang Hospital Biomed Innovation Center, Deputy CEO of Taipei Medical University Biodesign Center, and Assistant Professor of Neurology at Taipei Medical University.

From left to right: Anthony St. George (previous GLOBE Director), Olivia Kuo (Director of International Programs at GLOBE), Chih-Jui Chen (BTB Scholar), Dr. Jowy Tani, and Betsy Gudino (Associate Director of International Programs at GLOBE)

Can You Tell Us a Little Bit about Yourself and the Berkeley-Taiwan Biomedical (BTB) Fellowship? (Educational background, hobbies, interests, anything you would like to share with our Berkeley engineering community?)
As a neurologist in an academic medical center, I had the opportunity to get involved in a few clinical studies involving innovative medical devices. It was during these experiences I came to realize that Taiwan had an excellent environment for clinical study, and that we could create a lot of value by developing innovative medical devices and then validating it in Taiwan’s clinical environment. I eventually applied to the Berkeley-Taiwan Biomedical (BTB) fellowship program, an entrepreneurial fellowship with a focus on medical devices jointly hosted by UC Berkeley College of Engineering and Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan.

What has been your career path from college graduation up to today? And what inspired these educational and career choices?
I went straight into neurology residency training after medical school because I am fascinated by how the brain functions. During my residency training, I saw a lot of patients suffering from dementia and cognitive impairments. These patients suffered a lot in their daily lives because problems in the brain prevented them from carrying out many essential daily functions. Although scientists had tried hard to develop drugs that might improve the brain function of these patients, the breakthroughs are hard to come by. I began to focus on dementia and cognitive impairments after I finished the residency training, to explore potential Medtech solutions for the patients. 

Dr. Jowy Tani meeting with Chancellor Carol Christ

How or why did you choose biomedical engineering as a career path/area of study?
As a physician-innovator, one could try either a biopharma approach or a biomedical engineering approach to solve a health problem. While many important health problems had been solved by the biopharma approach, developing a biopharma solution generally takes a long time, up to 10-15 years.

On the other hand, developing a solution with the biomedical engineering approach takes much less time. A medical device could be brought to market in 3-5 years. When a medical device working not as intended, innovators could often change its design to make it work. The biomedical engineering approach is more interesting to me as a young physician-innovator who loves to “make things work”, it also fits more of my personality too.

How was your experience with the Berkeley-Taiwan Biomedical Fellowship program?
Coming to Berkeley was a wonderful experience. Berkeley is a very vibrant community where we learned a lot of things and made many friends. Berkeley campus is also a very open-minded environment that encourages growth and learning. I was surprised by how open people are to innovation.

Dr. Jowy Tani enjoying a meal with his friends at Berkeley

Being a physician-innovator focusing on patients with dementia and cognitive impairment, I have been working on a cognitive prosthesis device that uses artificial intelligence to help these patients overcome their cognitive impairments. It would help the patients utilize the part of the brain with preserved function to compensate for the part of the brain with impairment, significantly improving their quality of life. During the BTB Fellowship, I was able to attend UC Berkeley courses, interact with world-renowned EECS faculties, and learn machine learning techniques essential for the prototyping process.

As a BTB fellow, I was fortunate to have the valuable opportunity to work in Berkeley Skydeck, the UC Berkeley-sponsored startup accelerator. During my time at Skydeck, I learned about how Silicon Valley startups work together with accelerators and venture capitals in an innovation ecosystem. As the nexus of Berkeley’s innovation ecosystem, Skydeck provided funding, programs, and training opportunities to students and members of the academic community and I believe that was what Taiwan lacked.

What was your journey like to become the CEO of Taipei Medical University Biomed Accelerator? 
When I came back to Taiwan after I finished my BTB fellowship in 2018, Taiwan had a young biomedical innovation community. Taiwan had an excellent healthcare system and established tech industry, but new biomedical startups were often trapped in the so-called valley of death; they often had an early-stage product but had difficulty entering the market. We from Taipei Medical University realized that we need a biomedical accelerator that could help startups get through the valley of death.

There were very few faculties and physicians in Taiwan familiar with the concept of university-based accelerator and university-based innovation ecosystem at that time, so the leadership of Taipei Medical University discussed with me the possibility of establishing a university-based biomedical accelerator in Taipei Medical University. With the support of President Chien-Huang Lin, Vice President Chieh-Hsi Wu, Business Development Dean Mao-Chun Lin, our Deputy CEO Sharon Yi, and our Operation Manager Sebastian Ku, we then founded the Taipei Medical University Biomed Accelerator.

There was no other university-based Biomed Accelerator in Taiwan at that time, so we were the first ones to enter this field. As a pioneer, we had to think of everything and prepared for the risk involved. We had to think about how do we gain the support of stakeholders, including partners within and outside our university? How do we recruit the startups? How do we invest in startups? How do we match the startups with their mentors? How do we improve the startup’s access to resources and international markets? How would we hold demo days? 

I would say our startups and partners are the keys to our accelerator’s modest success. I am extremely grateful for the trust and continuous support from our partners including BE Health Ventures, UCSF Rosenman Institute, Premo Partners/Japan Biodesign, AstraZeneca, and NBRP.  I would also thank Taipei Medical University alumni and friends that have generously supported the accelerator.

What makes you good at your job?
I think that in order to be a successful CEO of a biomedical accelerator, you have to have a lot of interdisciplinary knowledge. For example, if you are good at the investment process, but you know nothing about engineering or medicine, then you may have some bias while doing investments. Experiences in finance, engineering, and medicine are very helpful for the job.

A good way to accumulate know-how in these fields is through networking with professionals in the respective fields. Learn from their knowledge and experiences instead of doing everything yourself.

What is your ultimate career goal?
I wish that one day we could have a world-class biomedical accelerator that can help international startups enter the Asian market, and one that can help startups in Taiwan and Asia access the global market. I think that good mentoring alongside timely and well-thought-out investment really helps startups from the ground up. Also, a lot of biomedical startups struggle with getting to patients and to doctors, and I wish to bridge between the two groups. My ultimate aim is to help Taiwanese startups succeed at a global level and see the regional biomedical innovation ecosystem flourish.

What is challenging about your work? And what keeps you enthusiastic about your work despite the challenges?
Building any type of accelerator is hard, and there are definitely a lot of frustrating moments promoting innovation outside of Silicon Valley. Not all people are comfortable with innovation and disruptive technologies, even more so in the healthcare field, where people tend to be conservative for the sake of patient safety. Our team often have to spend significant effort familiarizing people with the benefits of innovation before they would be a supporter of changes. Nevertheless, our team grows by the day and it is comforting to know that I’m with a crowd of amazing and talented people. Furthermore, knowing that people and their projects will benefit from my accelerator team keeps me going. It is also very gratifying to see the startups that we helped achieve their milestones.

What advice do you have for students interested in running their own start up?
When I was a college student, I couldn’t appreciate all the resources that I had. When you are a student, you have more opportunities to pick yourself up and try again, even if you fail the first few times. Also, being a student, you have the opportunity to network within the rich academic community around you, don’t miss that out!

What was the most valuable thing you learned in Bioengineering at Berkeley?
Before I came to Berkeley, as a physician, I had the mindset that I had to be perfect and refuse to fail in anything that I do. But Berkeley changed that mindset. It taught me how to prototype fast, fail fast, and fail early. It taught me that I didn’t need to be scared of failure. Failing once doesn’t mean you’ll fail forever, and you can simply restart and work again. This mindset changed my perspective on how I view the world; that failure wasn’t always bad, as long as you try again. If I did not have this experience, I wouldn’t have built the accelerator. Berkeley really molded how I grew and learned as an individual. 

Any caveats, observations or advice that you learned through your career that you would like to share to current students?
During my time at Berkeley, one of the experiences that impacted me most was my Skydeck experience. I would recommend the students utilize the opportunities that Skydeck offers while you are in Berkeley. I benefited a lot through the mentorship opportunities I received through Skydeck. I also learned a lot from classes, but the entrepreneurship class at Haas School of Business was the most memorable course for me. I would also recommend the Product Management course from EECS and the School of Information.

Echoing my earlier statement, if you have something in mind, just do it and do not hesitate. People had been asking me whether they are at the right time to apply for the BTB Fellowship. My answer would be that if you are in Taiwan interested in a future in biomedical innovation, just do it as soon as you have the chance to do so!

Dr. Jowy Tani

Dr. Jowy Tani was an alumni of the Berkeley-Taiwan Biomedical (BTB) Fellowship, where he came to study startups in Silicon Valley. He is currently back in Taiwan and the CEO of Taipei Medical University Biomed Accelerator.

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Indonesia and Berkeley Engineering: the Start of a New International Cooperation

June 24, 2022 By Mengxuan Zhang

The birth of the Berkeley-Indonesian Visiting Scholar Program

The signing of the agreement between UC Berkeley and Indonesia. Pictured from left to right are:
Top row: GLOBE Director of International Partnerships Professor Matthew Sherburne, Chairman Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa of the Indonesian Deposit Insurance Corporation, Consul General Prasetyo Hadi of the Consulate of Indonesia, Dean Faculty Professor Heri Hermansyah of Engineering at the University of Indonesia
Bottom row: Rector Professor Ari Kuncoro of the University of Indonesia, and Dean Tsu-Jae King Liu of the UC Berkeley College of Engineering

Starting on April 21, 2022 and lasting for two days, a delegation from the University of Indonesia, the Indonesian Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Consulate of Indonesia arrived on Berkeley campus for the start of a historical partnership. Representatives from UC Berkeley and Indonesia met for a series of presentations and tours before shaking hands on a new international exchange program. This project, the Berkeley-Indonesian Visiting Scholar Program, will send Indonesian scholars excelling in Biotechnology and Sustainable Energy to UC Berkeley for mentorship with faculty with common research interests. Through these scholars, we hope to foster an enriching relationship as we learn from each other.

UC Berkeley Vice Provost Lisa Alvarez-Cohen and Rector Professor Ari Kuncoro of the University of Indonesia exchanging gifts at the signing ceremony.

To demonstrate the diversity and versatility of Berkeley research, faculty across four departments gave presentations on leading research. Professor Seung-Wuk Lee from Bioengineering, Professor Raluca O. Scarlat from Nuclear Engineering, Professor Steven Conolly who is joint faculty between Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), and Professor Tarek Zohdi and Reza Alam both from Mechanical Engineering. Professor Raluca Scarlat, who works mostly on energy systems and nuclear reactors, also gave the group a tour of her lab in Etcheverry Hall.

Faculty who presented at the event:

Professor Seung-Wuk Lee, who studies nanomaterials and nanotechnology in the Bioengineering department. He is also the associate director of Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems at Berkeley, and has won numerous awards including having his “Manufacturing Goes Viral” research chosen as part of President Obama’s National Science Foundation Report for the US Congress in 2014.

Assistant Professor Raluca O. Scarlat, from the Nuclear Engineering department, studies ethical engineering, safety analysis, licensing, and design of nuclear reactors. She has over 20 publications and teaches the “Ethics, Engineering, and Society” course at UC Berkeley.

Professor Steven Connolly is joint faculty between the Bioengineering and EECS departments, where he holds the Montford G. Cook Endowed Chair. He specializes in medical imaging and bio-sensing hardware, and has support from many organizations such as CIRM, NIH and UC Discovery, the Siebel Foundation and the Keck Foundation.

Professor Tarek I. Zohdi, from Mechanical Engineering, actively participates in both research and administrative affairs. His positions include but are not limited to the Academic Director of the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology and the Associate Dean for Post Baccalaureate Programs. His research focuses on modeling, simulation and optimization of nonconvex multiscale-multiphysics problems for industrial applications.

Associate Professor Reza Alam, from Mechanical Engineering, works on fluid dynamics and ocean renewable energy systems. He has been the American Bureau of Shipping Endowed Chair in Ocean Engineering since 2017, and his work on ocean wave energy harvester has been featured in National Geographic. His lab, the Theoretical & Applied Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, hosts a 68m wave tank at Richmond Field Station.

Another group, composed solely of undergraduate students from the Berkeley Indonesian Student Association (BISA) gave presentations on topics such as COVID safety policy, sand rovers, economics, nanomedicine, and energy engineering.

Student Presentations from the BISA

From this exchange, we hope to share our research experience with Indonesia and enrich our campus culture with international diversity. GLOBE and all of UC Berkeley welcome the University of Indonesia as one of our new international partners, and hope to grow our connection with the vibrant country of Indonesia in the future.

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