SCIENCE

The University of California has begun the first session of its Engineering Leadership Program for Professionals. This six month program is being held in the Silicon Valley and is focused on providing leadership training to top engineers from leading technology companies, including: Applied Materials, Cisco, Facebook, Lam Research, NetApp, National Semiconductor and Yahoo. This is the first program of its type in the U.S.

“Engineering leadership is critical to the success of the best companies in the world,” said Ikhlaq Sidhu, the curriculum designer and lead professor for the program. “This program is designed to build on the strengths of top technologists and provide them with some key disciplines that will make them better engineers as well as leaders.”

The program comprises twenty-eight, 3-hour sessions to be held weekly from January through the July of 2011. The goals of the program are to teach engineers to expertly manage technical teams, influence top-level strategy, and amplify the inherent value of R&D. The subjects covered will include: opportunity recognition, technical firm strategy, product management, customer development, operations, leadership skills, and finance. The sessions include cases presented by both U.C. Berkeley faculty and co-lecturers from industry, including: Charles Giancarlo, Charles Huang, Jerry Fiddler, and Sabeer Bhatia.

Said Charles Giancarlo, Managing Director of Silver Lake and former Chief Development Officer, Cisco, “I am a great fan of this program and believe that many companies in the valley can make use of it to meet the needs of engineering and marketing managers as they rise through the ranks. There is nothing like this anywhere.”

Speaking on the topic of the complementary programs offered by Berkeley’s Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership, Shankar Sastry, Dean of the Berkeley’s College of Engineering said, “Technology has the power to change how we live – but only if technologists have the tools and skills to lead these changes.”

The approximately 50 participating engineering leaders have been recommended and sponsored by their companies. The candidates included senior managers, directors, and key technical leaders. According to Prof. Sidhu, Founding Chief Scientist of the Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology (CET), “Our goal is to lead thinking in the importance of the role of engineering leadership to business success.”

More information about the Engineering Leadership Program for Professionals can be found at http://cet.berkeley.edu/professional or contact Keith P. Gatto, Program Director at kgatto@berkeley.edu.