UC Berkeley IEEE Student Branch

What UC Berkeley IEEE Student Branch does

The UC Berkeley IEEE Student Branch is a non-profit, student-run engineering organization affiliated with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and housed within UC Berkeley's EECS Department at 288 Cory Hall #1770. Founded in 1912, it is one of the oldest and most active engineering student organizations on campus, serving undergraduate and graduate students across electrical engineering, computer science, mechanical engineering, bioengineering, and related disciplines.

Its core offerings are four technical student-run DeCal courses: HOPE (Hands-On PCB Engineering), an introductory PCB design course using Arduino Nano; APE (Advanced PCB Engineering), covering high-speed digital, RF, and power electronics design with Altium; Micromouse, an immersive robotics course in which teams of 2-5 build autonomous maze-solving robots; and EECS151 Tapeout, a project-based SoC design course using Chisel and Chipyard that culminates in taping out a class chip on the Skywater 130nm process. Beyond courses, the branch runs four technical project teams — IEEE-Time (internal management tooling on Node.js/Express/MongoDB), SIEEECURE (FPGA hardware security), Speech Recognition & Processing (deep-learning-based transcription), and an Infrastructure Team managing Linux/Nginx servers — and hosts company info-sessions, recruitment fairs, research mixers, and social events.

The branch operates as a free organization with no commercial revenue; it is funded through IEEE membership-related fees collected elsewhere, corporate sponsorships, and university/EECS Department support. Distribution occurs through Slack, Discord, and Airtable-based sign-up forms, with DeCal accreditation providing formal academic credit. Industry relationships span a broad set of semiconductor, big-tech, and enterprise employers (Apple, NVIDIA, Meta, Intel, TSMC, Cisco, Texas Instruments, Roblox, iXL, GM, Persona, SAP), with deeper strategic collaboration on an exclusive startup-focused career fair alongside CSUA and HKN.

Name

UC Berkeley IEEE Student Branch

Legal name

IEEE Student Branch at UC Berkeley

Website

https://ieee.berkeley.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1912

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Engineering Education Services

NAICS

Computer Training (61142)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDALAHAB

Student Organizations & Club Administration

Education/Student Services & Campus Operations/Student Activities, Clubs & Campus Life

Keywords

• Engineering education programs
• Student technical courses
• PCB design training
• Robotics engineering courses
• Semiconductor design education

Headquarters

HQ city

Berkeley

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Free student organization. IEEE membership may have separate associated costs but not charged by the student branch.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The UC Berkeley IEEE Student Branch is a non-profit student organization that delivers four technical DeCal courses (HOPE introductory PCB design, APE advanced PCB engineering, Micromouse robotics, and EECS151 Tapeout System-on-Chip design), runs project teams (IEEE-Time, SIEEECURE, Speech Recognition & Processing, Infrastructure), and hosts company info-sessions, recruitment fairs, workshops, and social events for UC Berkeley engineering students.

Product overview

UC Berkeley IEEE Student Branch operates as an educational technology organization offering four technical DeCal courses (HOPE, APE, Micromouse, and EECS151 Tapeout) that teach PCB design, robotics, and semiconductor design skills. In addition to these courses, the organization runs four project teams: IEEE-Time (internal management tools), SIEEECURE (FPGA security), Speech Recognition & Processing (deep learning-based transcription), and an Infrastructure Team. The portfolio is organized around hands-on engineering education with both formal course offerings and practical project-based learning experiences.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• HOPE (Hands-On PCB Engineering): Introductory course to printed circuit board (PCB) design - an essential skill for EE-related projects.
• APE (Advanced PCB Engineering)
• Micromouse
• EECS151 Tapeout

Products and services

• HOPE (Hands-On PCB Engineering) An introductory DeCal course to printed circuit board (PCB) design, teaching schematic capture, layout, and assembly using Arduino Nano. Intended for UC Berkeley students with circuits experience seeking PCB design and assembly skills. Prerequisites: EECS 16A and 16B.
• APE (Advanced PCB Engineering) An advanced DeCal course building on HOPE, covering high-speed digital design, RF considerations, power electronics, and sophisticated PCB development using Altium Designer. Prerequisites: HOPE or EECS upper division class with circuits component.
• Micromouse An immersive robotics DeCal course where students build autonomous maze-solving robots from scratch, covering Arduino programming, autonomous navigation, sensor integration, PID control, and basic electrical engineering through hands-on labs. No prior experience required.
• EECS151 Tapeout A project-based DeCal course on advanced System-on-Chip (SoC) design using Chisel and Chipyard, culminating in taping out a class SoC using the open-source Skywater 130nm process. Prerequisites: EECS 151 + ASIC Lab.
• SIEEECURE A hardware security project team developing threat models and implementing a secure hardware encryption module on an FPGA. Teaches fundamentals of VLSI design with Verilog and SystemVerilog.
• Speech Recognition & Processing Project A project building an open-source speech transcription application that can transcribe text in real time or from mp3 files using deep learning libraries such as TensorFlow or PyTorch, positioned as an open-source alternative to AWS Transcribe.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability2 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• AppleminorOthersCompany participating in IEEE's career fair and info-session events. Displayed as sponsor logo on IEEE website indicating involvement in student recruitment activities.
• NVIDIAminorOthersCompany participating in IEEE's career fair and info-session events. Displayed as sponsor logo on IEEE website indicating involvement in student recruitment activities.
• MetaminorOthersCompany participating in IEEE's career fair and info-session events. Displayed as sponsor logo on IEEE website indicating involvement in student recruitment activities.
• IntelminorOthersCompany participating in IEEE's career fair and info-session events. Displayed as sponsor logo on IEEE website indicating involvement in student recruitment activities.
• TSMCminorOthersCompany participating in IEEE's career fair and info-session events. Displayed as sponsor logo on IEEE website indicating involvement in student recruitment activities.
• CiscominorOthersCompany participating in IEEE's career fair and info-session events. Displayed as sponsor logo on IEEE website indicating involvement in student recruitment activities.
• Texas InstrumentsminorOthersCompany participating in IEEE's career fair and info-session events. Displayed as sponsor logo on IEEE website indicating involvement in student recruitment activities.
• CSUAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerComputer Science Undergraduate Association (CSUA) collaborates with IEEE on an exclusive startup-focused career fair, creating a comprehensive resume book distributed to all participating industry representatives.
• HKNcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEta Kappa Nu (HKN), the electrical and computer engineering honor society, collaborates with IEEE on an exclusive startup-focused career fair, creating a comprehensive resume book distributed to all participating industry representatives.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• UCLA IEEE Student Branch: IEEE student branch at UCLA serving EE and CS undergraduates with workshops, projects, and corporate info-sessions. Directly comparable as a University of California peer IEEE chapter competing for similar West Coast tech recruiters.
• Stanford IEEE Student Branch: IEEE student branch at Stanford offering technical workshops, project teams, and industry recruiting events to Bay Area engineering students. Directly comparable given overlapping Silicon Valley sponsor pool and similar student demographics.
• Georgia Tech IEEE Student Branch: IEEE student branch at Georgia Tech running technical projects, competitions, and industry events for a large engineering student body. Comparable as a major public-school IEEE chapter with similar scale of technical programming.
• Caltech IEEE Student Branch: IEEE student branch at Caltech running technical projects and industry events for a smaller but elite engineering cohort. Comparable as a top-tier IEEE chapter with similar hands-on technical culture.
• UIUC IEEE Student Branch: IEEE student branch at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, one of the larger US engineering IEEE chapters offering projects, courses, and recruiting events. Comparable in scale and program breadth to UC Berkeley IEEE.
• UC Berkeley CSUA (Computer Science Undergraduate Association): CS undergraduate student association at UC Berkeley that co-organizes the joint startup career fair with IEEE. Comparable as a peer student organization serving the same engineering community with overlapping sponsor engagement.
• MIT IEEE/ACM Student Chapter: IEEE student branch at MIT running similar technical courses, hackathons, and career fairs for engineering undergraduates. Directly comparable as a peer top-tier engineering school IEEE chapter competing for the same recruiter relationships and student engagement model.
• UC Berkeley HKN (Eta Kappa Nu): ECE honor society at UC Berkeley that directly co-hosts the startup career fair with IEEE and serves the same EECS student population. Closest functional peer on the same campus with overlapping industry relationships and member base.
• Carnegie Mellon IEEE Student Branch: IEEE student branch at CMU running hardware and software project teams plus industry events. Comparable as another elite engineering school IEEE chapter with similar technical project culture and recruiter sponsorship model.

Broad incumbents

• IEEE-HKN (National Honor Society): National IEEE honor society umbrella organization that charters the Berkeley HKN chapter and provides the broader institutional framework IEEE operates within. Comparable as the parent honor society ecosystem IEEE branches partner with for career fairs and recognition.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/ucb-eecs151tapeout
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ieee-ucb

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles16 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about UC Berkeley IEEE Student Branch