College of Engineering
UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering is consistently ranked among the top engineering schools in the world, recognized for its cutting-edge research, world-class faculty, and commitment to societal impact. The College oversees the Berkeley Center for Digital Assets, aligning the center’s mission with its broader goal of advancing education, research, and innovation in service of the public good. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and supporting high-impact initiatives - from digitization technologies and secure digital currencies to marketplace infrastructure - the College ensures that CDA serves as a leading hub for discovery, application, and hands-on learning at the intersection of the physical and digital worlds.
Faculty Director, Berkeley Center for Digital Assets
Tarek I. Zohdi received his Ph.D. in 1997 in Computational and Applied Mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin and his Habilitation in General Mechanics (Allgemeine Mechanik) from Gottfried Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany, in 2002. He is currently a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Chair of the Designated Emphasis Program in Computational and Data Science and Engineering, Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering, and holder of the W. C. Hall Family Endowed Chair in Engineering at UC Berkeley. He also holds a Faculty Scientist position at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs and is the Faculty Director of the Richmond Field Station. He has published over 200 archival refereed journal papers and eight books. He is an Editor-in-Chief of the leading journal in his field, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering (CMAME), and serves on 11 boards of international journals. Overall, he has given more than 240 plenary, keynote and contributed lectures at conferences, universities and other research institutions. For more information, visit http://www.me.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/tarek-i-zohdi
Managing Director, Berkeley Center for Digital Assets
Karin H. Bauer earned her MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business in 1994 and her Ph.D. in Philosophy and Religion with a focus on Asian Comparative Studies from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2016. She has over 25 years of management experience at leading technology companies including eBay, Oracle and GMFanuc Robotics. She joined Berkeley Haas in 2018 as Program Manager for the Berkeley Haas Blockchain Initiative. In her current role as Managing Director of the Berkeley Center for Digital Assets, she oversees all programmatic aspects of the Center, engaging with diverse faculty, campus and industry stakeholders to advance academic research, technical development and innovation in digital assets and digital twin technologies.
Senior Corporate Strategist, Berkeley Center for Digital Assets
Justin Wiley is Strategy & Development Director at UC Berkeley’s Institute of Transportation Studies, and the Corporate Partnerships Strategist at the Richmond Field Station. He began his career in mobility as a student at UC Berkeley, where he co-founded Green Bike Share. In 2012, he joined the founding team at JUMP Bikes, helping to build and scale micromobility systems globally before the company’s $200M acquisition by Uber. He continued his work at Uber, expanding access to electric bikes and scooters in major cities worldwide. Justin later joined Swiftly, a public transit technology firm, where he led strategic partnerships to help agencies modernize operations through real-time data and analytics. Now back at UC Berkeley, he focuses on advancing mobility infrastructure, research commercialization, and workforce development by connecting academia, government, and industry across the Richmond Field Station and beyond.