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National NominationsHKN Mu Chapter is proud towin Outstanding Junior andOutstanding Senior awardsfrom the national headquarters.Our chapter consists of highlytalented and well-roundedHKN members. Each yearwhen considering ournomination for OutstandingSenior and Outstanding Junior,the decision to nominate onlyone candidate is always atough one to make. This yearproved to be no exception tothis rule. Raymond Wang fromour chapter won theOutstanding Senior award forthe Fall. His noteworthyabilities in music and the arts,as well as his terrific academic success in the Berkeley EECS program, proved him an outstanding student andvaluable HKN member. For outstanding junior, following in the footsteps of Jonathan Lee who won honorablemention for OutstandingJunior last year, ByronYu also won thehonorable mention forOutstanding Junior. Thisprestigious award againcomes to a pleasantsurprise for the MuChapter. Mu chapter iselated that our excellentstudents are continuallyrecognized with awardsfrom the nationalheadquarters.15

Officer RetreatThe officer retreats are a time when the officers come together to focus on the direction of our chapter and todiscuss other relevant issues to the overall status of HKN. Traditionally, we head off to Tahoe for a weekend forthis fun and productive event. For both the Fall 1999 and Spring 2000 semesters, HKN rented a cabin in Tahoeand spent the time up by Lake Tahoe. For the fall's retreat, we went swimming in the lake and hiking up in theneighboring woods. For the spring's retreat, we went snow skiing at Northstar and went hot-tubbing at night. Thisretreat is a great time for the new and continuing officers to learn about their positions as officers of HKN from theother officers at the retreat. Because many of the officers are new at the retreat, we hold ice-breaking events thatintroduce some of the quirks and interesting sides of the new officers. Many of the officers build lasting friendshipswhile at the retreat, and this is why we officers hold the event in such high regard.16

Alumni DinnerEach semester in HKN, old and current officers attend a dinner together to signify the passing of the torch withinthe officer corps. Beginning in Fall 1999, this “Change of Powers” dinner was renamed to the “Alumni Dinner”in an attempt to reconnect with and gain support from HKN alumni in both graduate school and industry. HKNalumni, whose time away from Berkeley ranged from less than a semester to over six years, came together toshare not only a meal, but experience, advice, and memories. New officers had the chance to converse with andlearn from past officers who had previously held the same position, and get different perspectives from alumni ofyears before.17

The dinner is usually held at the beginning of every semester at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Oakland’s JackLondon Square, though Spring 2000’s dinner was held at TGI Friday’s next door. At the Fall 1999 dinner, themeal was followed by general introductions and a short address given by Mu Chapter president, Tejas Saraiya.After welcoming the officers and alumni, Tejas shared with the group the Mu Chapter’s future plans and visions.Michael Baer, an HKN Berkeley graduate from three years back, also spoke. He offered advice to currentofficers with rousing speach inspired by the popular song “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)”. At theSpring 2000 dinner, the Mu Chapter’s new president, Nick Zamora, gave the welcome speech and introduceda skit written 20 years earlier by Mu Chapter alumni. Michael Martin, Henry Hsieh, Tejas Saraiya, and JonathanLee performed the hilarious parody of the HKN initiation that received a standing ovation at its conclusion. Atthe end of the evening, the traditional game of guessing the dinner bill was played, won by Paul Huang in the falland Eric Mao in the Spring.18

Officer MeetingsWeekly officer meetings are held on Tuesdays at 6pm in Cory hall, the EE building on campus. At this time, theHKN officers come together to talk about what’s happening in HKN, and to address and resolve any issuesconcerning all of HKN that have arisen within the previous week. The president of the chapter runs the officermeetings, preparing the agenda for the week and acting as a moderator for the meetings. It is imperative that asmany officers as possible attend each weekly meetings, since the chapter occasionally needs to inform an officerof a change of plans or another officer needs to get information from them when addressing an issue. Any officerthat plans to be absent needs to inform the president (Tejas Saraiya Fall 1999, Nick Zamora Fall 2000) of suchan absence. That way the president can get any input he might need from the absentee before the actualmeeting. The content of the meetings are recorded by the recording secretary (Rishi Batra Fall 1999, MikeMartin Spring 2000), and mailed to all the officers, and our faculty advisor, Prof. Landay. There is also an onlinedocumentation of the officer meeting minutes available at http://hkn.eecs.berkeley.edu/ mcmartin/meetings/available for all to view.19

General MeetingsGeneral Meeting 1 Spring 2000 Ajoyous occasion where officers,members, and candidates gather torevel in the glory that is HKN. Actually,the attendees are mostly officers andcandidates since those groups arerequired to attend under threat of death.The meeting consists of studentsintroducing themselves to one another, apresentation by the vice president aboutgaining membership into HKN, and anexciting, cutthroat, scavenger hunt.Groups of candidates set off the locateitems such as a digital camera, sand, aninfosession flyer, a shrubberry, and theStanford tree. At the end of the night,free food is served and everyone returnshome sated.General Meeting 2 Spring 2000 On the fifth ofApril, the eyes of the world focus upon theHKN second general meeting where the wise,prestigous, and powerful alumni of HKNarrive to dispense their sage advise to thefledgling candidates. They say, and I quote,“Go to grad school. It helps you avoid the realworld for longer.” Other than receivingenlightenment, the students present also ateand drank, and were merry.20

General Meeting 3 Spring 2000 Thethird general meeting features apresentation by our noble andknowledgable profressor of ElectricalEngineering Bob Brodersen aboutwireless technology. As usual, foodand merriment are provided by theHKN officers. However, many of thecandidates have not yet completedtheir requirements for joining HKN,and as such an emergency fun activity(“Kicking it with Rishi night”) isorganized and set for the next day.Notabled moments in this meeting,include massive numbers of mugshotstaken by the HKN bridge officers.21

Candidate ConversationsCandidates are the future members and leaders of HKN, and the Mu Chapter prides itself in creating a welcomingatmosphere from the beginning. The candidate Meeting gives candidates their first taste of Eta Kappa Nu. VicePresidents Eddie Leung (Fall 1999) and Rishi Batra (Spring 2000) addressed the candidate classes, detailing thereasons for taking pride in the community they have the priviledge to join, and the additional requirements. Currentofficers introduced themselves and described the responsiblities of each candidate committee. After business hadbeen taken care of, candidates and officers mingled for the next hour, indulging in the famous HKN tradition ofsharing an abundance of free food. Candidate Conversations are a follow-up to the first candidate meeting thatgives each candidate a chance to speak with one or more officers on an individual basis. Officers and candidateslearned about each other's interests and pecularities, and candidates learned everything they ever wanted to knowabout HKN. Officers like Melissa Stopponi (Publicity) and John Li (Activities) made no attempt to hide thecamaraderie and true goings on of HKN. In this picture, officer Rishi Batra is getting to know a couple ofcandidates.22

InitiationAt initiation, new candidatesare invited to join the ranksof HKN members. In anelaborate cermony full ofcandles and speeches, theylearn about the ideologybehind HKN, and aboutwhat it means to be anElectrical Engineer. Withthese requirements fulfilled,the officers of HKN initiatethe HKN candidates andwelcome them into thebrotherhood of the Muchapter. Many of thecandidates continue on afterinitiation to become futureoficers of the Mu chapter,providing new knowledgeand resources to furtherbenefit our chapter.23

ElectionsAs the semester comes to a close, the standard passing of the torch occurs in the HKN Officer Elections. HKNmembers nominiate candidates and each candidate gives a short presentation (or more often an impromtuspeech) about why he or she is the most qualified for the position. During the fall elections, Byron Yu gave a 10minute Powerpoint presentation, and Francis Hsu revealed a surprise endorsement by a fortune cookie. Thefortune read, “You will be placed in a position of great responsibility” and the HKN members agreed, grantingFrancis the position of Corresponding Secretary.24

InfosessionsAt UC berkeley, every day isChristmas! With the hi-techmarket so full of activity,companies flock to Soda hallbearing gifts of T-shirts, pens,and other small trinkets forstudents. Of course, food andrefreshments are always served.At these infosessions,companies can explain what it isthat they do, who they’relooking for, and what workinglife at their company is like.Organizing these infosessionsand keeping ties with industry isone of many services our HKNchapter provides for our fellowstudents.25

Christmas in AprilChristmas in April setup takes place on Saturday, March 11th and the actual community service takes place onSaturday, April 29th. For this year’s event, many volunteers, including 12 from Mu Chapter, paint the Berkeleypublic social services office building on Telegraph Avenue. Upon arrival, we (the officers of HKN) note the rundown look both inside and outside the office. The paint is beyond peeling. With approximately 50 volunteersworking on painting both the inside and outside of the office building, there is a lot of community spirit alive onthat Saturday. The painting is a full day’s job, and the HKN volunteers give their best effort in improving thelook of the building. The staff from the not-for-profit Christmas In April thank HKN profusely for all our help,and we are happy to improve the community around the university. This community service event is a favoriteamong HKN officers and candidates.Red Cross Blood DriveThis year HKN engaged in the noble cause to help save lives with the blood drive. In cooperation with theAmerican Red Cross, we gathered volunteers who provided enough blood to save scores of lives. Because ofour congenial nature, we were happy to work long hours, recruiting donors of this precious bodily fluid. On theday of the drive, many of us did our part, and gave up some of our very own lifeblood to assist the cause. Thiswas done not only becuase of our congenial nature. but also becuase of the free refreshments.Berkeley Neighborhood ComputingOn Saturday, November 20th, 4 candidates and a officer went to Berkeley Neighborhood Computers as one ofthe community service events for the fall semester. Berkeley Neighborhood Computing (BNC) is a non-profitorganization that provides computers for the West Berkeley area. They accept computers as donations and fixthem up. Then they deliver those computers to low income families. As we arrived at the warehouse we were putto the task of sorting out donated computer parts and labeling which parts worked and which didn't. After wesorted some computer parts, we then moved to putting complete systems together. We had to find the case of thecomputer, put in a harddrive and a floppy drive, test out motherboard components, and put in the video card. Afterwe put together the CPU, we then moved on to find a working monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Then we labelledthe computer as being ready to ship. The rest of the day, we repeated the same task and put together about 5systems ready for delivery. At the end of the day, we were pretty satisfied with our work at the BNC. We wereglad our computer skills were helpful in putting together PCs for the family who needed them.26

Eggster HuntEvery once in a while, an opportunityarises for HKN to strike out anew, totake charge, and initate a course ofevents that shakes the veryfoundations of society. In Eggster, anevent organized by the AlumniScholarship Club, a dozen HKNmembers boldly volunteer to take andhold the “I like myself because”booth. From that booth we helpyoungsters create masterpieces ofthemselves out of crayons andcolored pencils. Additionally, wesecure the “Optics” Eggster boothand spread the word about thecreation of rainbows and the manyuses of magnifying glasses.27

BroomballThis past year, HKN showed it’s immense power in the fierce game of Broomball. Broomball is a fierce contestof human skill played on a field of shuddering neutrality - ice which shows no mercy or remorse. UC Berkeley’sengineering joint counsel pits each engineering society against each other in a fierce tournament of this brutalsport. In Fall 1999, our HKN team dominated other engineering societies with our lightning-electric speed andcarefully calculated accuracy. HKN amazed other societies with both our skill in playing, and our sheernumbers.One by one our competing teams were eliminated with a precision only mastered by electrical engineers andcomputer scientists. In the end of this ordeal, only one team remained standing: Our HKN Mu Chapter. In ourspring semester, we were victorious due to our sheer determination and will to fight for the chapter. All of usmade sacrifices, to train, toil, and sweat. Our own president, Nick “The Killer” Zamora, sacrificed his own arm,breaking it in a lunge for the ball. With this kind of determination, the HKN Mu Chapter will always bevictorious.28

PicnicThe HKN Picnic allows officers and candidates to interact in a relaxing atmosphere, worlds apart from thecomputer labs where everyone sees each other every day. At the lovely Tilden Park, students started eatingalmost immediately, living up to their title of “starving students.” People munched on a big bowl of cheese puffsas they chatted and enjoyed the pleasant weather and company. The candidates, overwhelmed by the sheernumber of officers, spoke with a few after being introduced to the whole congregation. A large group braved ahike around the lake as a few officers stayed behind to take charge of the barbecue and roast up hamburgerpatties. Some people grew restless and became tired of eating and talking. Therefore a football and UltimateFrisbee game were started up. The picnic was the first major candidate-officer gathering of both the Fall 1999and Spring 2000 semesters; this event set the ball rolling on increasing candidate enthusiasm for the rest of theyear.29

PotluckThey say that food is the way to the heart of everycollege student. So on the day that the candidatesrecieved numerous home cooked(microwaved)meals from the HKN officers at our potluck, theyfell in love with the society itself. With dishes of allsorts from gourmet chinese food to gourmet friedchicken, the Mu chapter ate to it’s hearts content.Following dinner, candidates engaged in games offoosball and ping pong, which, aside from broomball, are some of the most grueling andcompetitive sports known to mankind. At the end,we cozied down with an intense and intellectuallychallenging game of Clue, lead by our head gamerand recording secretary, Michael McMartin.30

Game NightAlso known as “The McMartin Game Night”, this event features a half dozen HKN officers and candidatesshowing up to play card and board games. During the event, the members play a few games of Mafia, with bothofficers and candidates throwing wild accusations at each other. The members also play a couple rounds ofobscure games (“Give Me the Brain” and “Before I Kill You Mr. Bond.”) that are short and simple, but fun.31

VolleyballDefying the stereotype of the inactive Berkeley EECS student, HKN members often engage in various sportssuch as volleyball. Behind Soda hall, EECS students have their very own volleyball court. Here officers andmembers vent their frustrations out on the sand as they bump, set, and spike their teams toward victory.32

Ice Cream SocialAfter a long day of class and many MANY hours of writing computer code, nothing hits the spot like ice cream.I scream, you scream, HKN screams for. ICE CREAM! At our ice cream social, officers, members and newcandidates discuss the events of the day, and other miscellaneous subjects while enjoying cool, sweet, anddelicious ice cream.33

Movie NightThe semester isn’t complete without a movie night or two. The night usually starts with a small get-togetherbeforehand, while we wait for all of our officers, alumni, candidates, and guests to show up. The movie might beat the campus theater or in one of the classrooms with a projection screen, or even a rental video at someone’splace. Regardless, most of the fun of movie night comes after the movie, when we usually go out to eat. A largegroup of us will usually go to a food court and get some late-night food and enjoy the Berkeley late night culture.34

Laser TagOne of the Mu Chapter’s favorite bonding activities with its candidates is shooting at them in a friendly game oflaser tag. The moderately sized group of 12 spent an exhilirating evening at Q-Zar of Walnut Creek. Theattendees are divided into the green and orange teams, each being a mix of both officers and candidates. NickZamora led the orange team to victory, earning the title of “Top Gun”.35

BowlingHKN bowlers showed off their skills in thesemi-annual HKN bowling tournament. HKNsplit up our canidates, members, and officersinto three teams of five, and the competitionwas on. Each bowler selected their balls andlaunched them down the wooden ramps.Strikes and spares abounded as the mercilessHKN bowlers brought down many a pin thatday. When the dust cleared, one team wasdeclared the winner by points, but in terms offun, everybody was a winner.36

Pool NightWith precision and skill, HKNmembers excel at the game ofbilliards. As experts of physics, wecan calculate the angles necessaryto produce the correct trajectoriesfor our shots. In fact most of ourfunding comes from hustling billiardgames. After a fun night of pool,everyone goes out for a round ofdelicious burgers at In and Out37

Credits and AcknowledgementsNick ZamoraAlex LamFall 2000Bridge OfficersHugo ShiMelis

fair, and remarked highly of the professional atmosphere of the event. The talk around campus among the students was equally positive. The department wholly acknowledged our efforts with our first job fair, and are pushing us to make the next job fair even more successful. In summary, this job fair changed the focus of our chapter, making us