Berkeley Discovery empowers our 33,000 undergraduates each year to find meaningful, hands-on learning experiences. See how our three pillars create meaningful impact for our students.
Discovery Platform
The Discovery Opportunities Platform contains a wide variety of hands-on experiences tailored for UC Berkeley undergraduates, including undergraduate research, internships, scholarships & fellowships, public service & study abroad, and entrepreneurship.
“As a first gen student, I didn't know the first thing about internships or research experience. I felt overwhelmed and behind until I reached out to a discovery advisor. She was able to find me opportunities that suited my experience perfectly, and I was eventually able to land a position that felt like it was meant for me.”
- Emmanuel E., Data Science Undergraduate
Discovery Hubs
In year one, Discovery Hubs connected 50+ graduate students and professional mentors with 180+ undergraduate researchers spanning 56 majors. These majors represented seven of Berkeley’s schools and colleges.
Berkeley Discovery Hubs increase interdisciplinary opportunities. In the most recent year, 69% of Discovery undergraduates engaged in a project that focused on a field outside of their major.
Berkeley Discovery Hubs teach students how to communicate. At the May 2026 Discovery Symposium, 37 clusters showcased their projects as an oral or poster presentation. Read more about the event and its presenting researchers.
Discovery Scholars contribute to the scholarly community. Five students from our first cohort have already attended conferences and presented their work. Two clusters are drafting papers to submit to journals.
Discovery Hub Student Stories
Read what our students in the Discovery Hubs have to say about their experiences.
![Compared to my last research experience, [the Discovery Hubs] gave me a comprehensive understanding of the project.](https://discovery.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/styles/openberkeley_widgets_spotlight_full/public/general/2_0.png?itok=VKtzmlAy)
Discovery Departmental Innovation Program
Launched in 2020 through a generous gift from the Chernin family, the Berkeley Discovery Departmental Innovation Award Program provided funding and guidance to departments for a multi-year process of refining their vision and implementation plan for Discovery at scale. This ambitious effort to give faculty the space to innovate their department’s curricular and co-curricular offerings selected a cohort of six teams - coined “Discovery Trailblazers - in May 2021. Teams received multi-year awards and contributed to a learning community to share best practices and replicable models for Discovery across campus.
Learn more about the Discovery Trailblazers:
- First Step Discovery: Transforming beginning requirements into inquiry-based seminars
- Integrative Biology: Building inclusivity and community
- Astronomy & Physics: Combining mentorship with inductive reasoning
- EECS: Building Discovery Opportunities at Scale
- Youth Equity Discovery Initiative: Building changemakers for youth well-being and equity
- Chemistry: Transforming the experiences of transfer students