Candid conversations with chief executives in a speaker series were just one of the many unique opportunities campus alumnus Michael Li was able to experience through UC Berkeley’s Management, Entrepreneurship & Technology, or M.E.T., program.

The M.E.T. program, founded in 2017, celebrated its first class of graduates this spring. The cohort of nearly 50 students in the dual-degree program earned degrees in business and engineering, and the entire process was completed in four years.

According to Saikat Chaudhuri, faculty director of the M.E.T. program, students who are equally knowledgeable in technology and business can make smarter decisions that take both technological capabilities and economic sustainability into account.

“Getting both the technical experience and the business side has helped me a lot with my role as a product manager,” said Avanthika Ramesh, a campus alumna who graduated early from the program last year. “I can talk to technical teams with a lot more proficiency, and I have this holistic picture.”

Li, who also graduated early, said the M.E.T program involved attending many social and professional events that helped him enjoy his years on campus. Currently a software engineer at Facebook, Li credited the program with connecting him with the “right” people.

Ramesh added that the program has dedicated faculty who help students succeed in their pursuits.

“You actually have supportive staff dedicated to you and your journey,” Ramesh said. “There are so many people involved who are there to advise us and mentor us. That really goes above and beyond.”

The program was based on the Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology at the University of Pennsylvania, according to Michael Grimes, founder of the M.E.T. program. It is one of two engineering and business dual-degree programs in the nation.

The M.E.T. program is also unique in that campus’s business and engineering schools are both ranked top three in the nation, Chaudhuri noted. He said the integration of technology and leadership is essential for global impact.

“There has never been a better time in the world to come to a program like M.E.T. because to solve the world’s challenges, we need interdisciplinary programs like this,” Chaudhuri said.

Grimes added that he hopes the program instills high standards of excellence in students, as well as an “exceptional” sense of empathy.

Students within the program have many different aspirations for the future, according to Ramesh. She noted that there are many different career paths that people from M.E.T. are going to pursue.

“It’s an extraordinary set of students,” Grimes said. “This is a group of students who want to represent Berkeley in the best way, and they’ve exceeded our expectations in every way.”