Brilliance of Berkeley (Spring 2025)

Background image: Brilliance of Berkeley

L&S 110 001 - LEC 001: Brilliance of Berkeley

In Person | Online | 1 Unit (P/NP)

What is Brilliance of Berkeley?

Brilliance of Berkeley is a course that is open to all UC Berkeley students. The course is designed to engage in a celebration of the exceptional instruction, research, and knowledge of UC Berkeley’s diverse faculty. Each week, participants will engage in guest lectures from luminary faculty representing Berkeley’s wide range of colleges and schools, including Nobel Laureates, MacArthur "genius' fellows, UC Berkeley Distinguished Professors, and more.

Goals of the course include inspiring participants to:

Explore the extraordinary instructors, their learning, and their teaching at UC Berkeley across a diverse range of topics
Celebrate participation in the UC Berkeley community
Explore areas of academic interest - and open the door to new ones
Learn more about research and learning opportunities on the UC Berkeley campus
Identify what kinds of learning experiences, resources, and class structures might best support academic engagement at UC Berkeley and beyond, as lifelong learners

You get to hear straight from the best sources out there! What an amazing experience just to hear the stories of these amazing people. I'm already making a 'fun classes to take because the professor is cool' list.

Spring 2024 student

Spring 2025 Instructors of Record

Spring 2025 Speakers

Week 1

Dacher Keltner

Professor of Psychology

AWE

Randy Schekman

Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology
2013 Nobel Prize Winner

Cells, Genes and Discovery in Basic Science and Disease

Week 2

Ted Miguel

Professor of Enrionmental and Resource Economics

The (Very) Long-run Effect of Better Child Health

Rich Lyons

12th Chancellor

The Researcher, Teacher and Higher Education Leader: A Discussion with Chancellor Rich Lyons

Week 3

Omar Yaghi

James and Neeltje Tretter Chair Professor of Chemistry

Ultra-Porous Crystals for Carbon Capture and Water Harvesting from Desert Air

Arlie Hochschild

Professor Emerita of Sociology, UC Berkeley, author of STOLEN PRIDE

The Politics of Pride and Shame

Week 4

Hany Farid

Professor in the School of Information

Reality in the Era of Deepfakes

Leslie Kurke

Professor of Ancient Greek & Roman Studies and Comparative Literature

Sappho Old and New

Week 5

Alex Filippenko

Distinguished Professor of Astronomy

Exciting Results from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope

Anu Manchikanti Gómez

Associate Professor, School of Social Welfare
Director, Sexual Health and Reproductive Equity Program

Reproductive Justice: A North Star for Advocacy and Research

Week 6

Peter Jenks

Associate Professor, Linguistics

What is language?

Chung-Pei Ma

Judy Chandler Webb Professor in Physical Sciences and Professor of Astronomy and of Physics

Gravity's Fatal Attraction: Black Holes at the Centers of Galaxies

Week 7

Doris Tsao

Professor of Biology

How the Brain Represents the Visual World

Niklaus Largier

Sidney and Margaret Ancker Professor of German and Comparative literature

Mysticism and the Life of the Imagination

Week 8

Deirdre Mulligan

Professor, School of Information

Right from the start: AI policy and democratic values

Damon Young

Associate Professor of French and Film & Media

Century of the Selfie, or a Short Media History of the Self

Week 9

Saul Perlmutter

Franklin W. and Karen Weber Dabby Professor, 2011 Nobel Laureate

What We Learn When We Learn that the Universe is Accelerating

Johann Frick

Associate Professor of Philosophy, UC Berkeley

How to Do Right by People Who Don't Exist (Yet): Procreation, Climate Change, and the Non-Identity Problem

Week 10

Jennifer Doudna

HHMI Investigator Li Ka Shing Chancellor's Chair in Biomedical and Health Sciences Professor, Departments of Molecular and Cell Biology and Chemistry

The Chemistry of CRISPR: Origins and Opportunities of RNA-guided Genome Editing

Rachel Morello-Frosch

Professor Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management & School of Public Health

From the body to the barrio: Addressing structural drivers of environmental health disparities

Week 11

Stephen Best

Rachael Anderson Stageberg Professor of English

The Five Voices of James Baldwin

Pieter Abbeel

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Artificial Intelligence: Where are we at?

Week 12

Dr. Amani Nuru-Jeter

Professor of Community Health Sciences and
Epidemiology

Race, Racism and the Psychobiology of Stress

Walter Hood

Professor of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning and Urban Design

Hybrid Landscapes

Week 13

Robert Reich

Professor Emeritus of Public Policy, at the Goldman School of Public Policy

Leadership, Social Change, and You

Nikki Jones

Professor of African American Studies

When We See Us: The Vision of Darnella Frazier

Week 14

Britt Glaunsinger

Professor of Plant & Microbial Biology

Viruses reveal the secrets of biology

Max Auffhammer

Avice M. Saint Professor

When Markets Fail