Alice Agogino

Alice Agogino is the Roscoe and Elizabeth Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley. At UC, she directs The BEST Lab, conducting research at the forefront of design research, computational design, sustainability, gender equity, human-machine cognition, supervisory control, soft robotics, sensor fusion, design research and intelligent learning systems.

She is also the cofounder and CEO of Squishy Robotics, which develops innovative technology solutions to improve situational awareness for data-driven decision making while reducing human risk and exposure. The company is a spin-off of Agogino's research with NASA, where she investigated the use of robots for lunar and planetary exploration. Squishy Robotics' partners include the Southern Manatee Fire and Rescue and the U.S. Office of Naval Research.

Agogino has served in a number of administrative positions, including Chair of the UC Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate, Associate Dean of Engineering, and Director of the Instructional Technology Program. She also served as Director for the Synthesis Engineering Education Coalition and continues as PI for theDesignExchange educational portal. She is the Founding Chair of the Graduate Group in Development Engineering and former Education Director for the Blum Center for Developing Economies.

Agogino also co-directs the Berkeley Institute of Design, the Human-Centered Design course threads for undergraduates, and the Engineering and Business for Sustainability graduate certificate program. She works with approximately 50 San Francisco Bay Area companies and nonprofits on research and educational projects in product design and sustainability. She has authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications and has won numerous teaching, mentoring, best paper and research awards.

A member of several scientific societies including the National Academy of Engineering, Agogino received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in 2018 as well as the 2020 Athena Award for Academic Leadership. For for her innovative work, Forbes named her to their "50 Over 50" list in 2023.