CITRIS headquarters Sutardja Dai Hall celebrates 10th anniversary
Sutardja Dai Hall, the headquarters of the multicampus CITRIS and the Banatao Institute at UC Berkeley, celebrated its 10th anniversary on March 2, 2019. Since its 2009 opening with former Governor Gray Davis and other dignitaries, Sutardja Dai Hall (SDH) has fostered interdisciplinary partnerships among academic fields with an emphasis in technology for social good. As one of four Governor Gray Davis Institutes of Science and Innovation launched in California in 2000, CITRIS helps shape the technology of tomorrow.
“In these walls, brilliant, well-trained minds will take a delicate prototype, and then, with robust engineering, create a more vital, proven concept,” said former CITRIS director Paul Wright at the opening in 2009. “The birth of Sutardja Dai Hall signals a new stage of maturity and productivity for CITRIS.”
The Berkeley Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory at CITRIS opened that same year. The NanoLab offers 15,000 square feet of Class 100/1000 cleanroom for use by more than 600 researchers, along with industry leaders such as Hewlett Packard and Intel. Here in 2016, Professor Ali Javey created the world’s smallest transistor, implementing a working 1-nanometer gate.
In 2012, the CITRIS Invention Lab opened the first makerspace on the Berkeley campus, offering equipment including 3D printers and laser cutters for rapid fabrication and prototyping. Designs such as open-source prosthetics, smart-hydration tracking cups, and phone-controlled irrigation systems have been created here with guidance from expert “Superusers” and lab technicians.
The following year, the CITRIS Foundry opened as the center’s incubator. Since then, the Foundry has helped launch 268 technology startups from the fourth floor of SDH, developing products using deep technologies including gene editing, artificial intelligence, and smart buildings.
In addition, SDH opens to the public the Tech Museum on the third floor, where work done in the building and beyond is on view. Visitors are also welcome to enjoy the public Qualcomm Cafe downstairs.
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Photo: Adriel Olmos
The Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Banatao Institute drive interdisciplinary innovation for social good with faculty researchers and students from four University of California campuses – Berkeley, Davis, Merced, and Santa Cruz – along with public and private partners.
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