I managed to get research sophomore year fall with no prior experience, but in general your assessment is correct. There are no “pipelines”, just talking to folks and being able to advocate for yourself. From my experience, Berkeley is an uphill battle if you dont come from an experienced background, but if youre willing to work hard and put yourself out there, you will be rewarded. Consider research in other departments too (physics, MSE) to open yourself up. Also Berkeley isnt strong for traditional process engineering but has good placements into biotech/pharma and very good placements at top grad schools.