“As the second cohort of the MSSE program, our group was still fairly small. This naturally fostered a strong sense of camaraderie amongst us.
Self-organized, post-class Zoom sessions became a regular part of our week very early on in the program. We used the time to debug code, navigate through problem sets and collaborate on projects. At times, our conversations also veered toward lively discussions on diverse, thought-provoking topics. Our conversations, continually infused with distinctive perspectives, spanned a range of subjects from local policy to machine learning applications.
The multidisciplinary nature of the program, which attracted participants from varied backgrounds, was particularly enriching; we each contributed a unique set of skills and ideas.
One of my favorite instances illustrating this diversity was quite early in the program. Initially, the program's emphasis on programming fundamentals aligned comfortably with my background, enabling me to share my software engineering experiences and insights with classmates who had more robust backgrounds in chemistry.
However, we quickly pivoted to apply these skills in creating molecular simulations, necessitating the analysis of their performance to gauge their reflection of experimental results. This is where I really got to see the experiences of some of my classmates shine. Given my more software-centric background, I encountered myriad questions, ranging from unfamiliar vocabulary to the significance of certain symbols in formulas we would work with.
Collaborating with my cohort to reinforce our classroom learning and embrace our unique skill sets—through peer-teaching—was truly rewarding.”
—Anna Weber (M.S.'23 MSSE) #VoicesofBerkeleyEngineering #VoicesofBE
Read all of the profiles: bit.ly/3ifpSXy
Learn more about the Master of Molecular Science and Software Engineering program here: msse.berkeley.edu