join us
This page explains logistics for attending and speaking at our seminars.
Attend eMERGE Seminars
Target Audience
We welcome all researchers in the field of mobility, energy, infrastructure, and sustainability to participate in our seminars. In particular, the series is designed to be especially valuable for:
- Doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers who are actively engaged in independent research
- Early-career scholars considering or pursuing academic careers, especially those on the path toward tenure-track faculty positions.
- Researchers employing computational approaches such as control theory, optimization, machine learning, and related methods.
Join eMERGE-seminar mailing list
Please join our mailing list (click Join Group on top left) to keep always updated & enjoy exclusive networking opportunities!
✅ Once you join our mailing list, the up-to-date schedule will appear & keep updated on your Google Calendar.
📨 You can also join by sending an email to emerge-seminar+subscribe@lists.berkeley.edu (no subject, no body).
Time
(usually) every Monday 4:00 - 5:00 PM (PT / UTC-7)
⚠️ Our next seminar will be on Sep 15.
⚠️ We start sharp at 4 PM (not ``Berkeley time’’). Presentations often start at 4:05 PM.
In-person participation
We believe the value of in-person participation is irreplaceable!
(usually) Room 786, Davis Hall, UC Berkeley.
- The room has a capacity of ~ 25 people.
- The room is reserved until 6 PM for free discussion & networking - light refreshment (cookies & juice) will be served. Please keep the room clean.
- By attending, you consent to be photographed and recorded.
Livestream
Researchers around the globe are welcome to join our livestream:
Zoom by click this link. (Meeting ID: 979 2523 7675, password: 123456).
YouTube scheduled Live events will be shown on eCal YouTube channel. You can also find the link next to the seminar, for example, our next seminar.
Nominate / Become an eMERGE Speaker
Please indicate your interest & availability as a future speaker using this Google form. (or invite your friends to do so!)
Who we are looking for?
We warmly welcome senior PhD students and postdoctoral scholars whose work lies at the intersection of mobility, energy, infrastructure, and sustainability.
- Applications may include energy, transportation, or other civil systems.
- Methodologies may span control, optimization, simulation, machine learning, and related areas.
- Priority will be given to scholars who can present in person from other institutions, so as to maximize diversity of perspectives.
Why you should come to eMERGE?
We envision eMERGE as a ``tiny rising-star camp’‘ for outstanding early-career researchers to present their work, refine their ideas, and build community.
- Sharpen your job talk and receive constructive feedback from peers and faculty. We are supported by many professors in Berkeley Systems Engineering, Transportation Engineering, among others - who will attend regularly.
- Promote your research, build visibility, and expand your academic network in the broader community.
- Connect directly with Berkeley faculty and peers from across institutions. We will reserve a small meeting room for the entire day on your talk - let’s plan for a full-day ``campus visit’’ with 1-1 meetings with your interested researchers.
Suggestions for preparing your talk
We encourage speakers to design their presentation in a job-talk style, keeping both technical rigor and accessibility in mind:
- Prepare a ~40-minute presentation that synthesizes your research under a unified framework while spotlighting one or two key contributions.
- Aim for balance: provide depth for domain experts while ensuring clarity for a general PhD-level audience.
- Define three key takeaways you want your audience to remember, even if some technical details are lost.
- Allow time for discussion and be flexible to adapt based on audience response.
You may find Prof. Jinhua Zhao’s note Three simple suggestions for preparing your PhD defense a useful resource for inspiration