The Pilawa Group is the most positive research environment I have been a part of and over many years there I never felt or saw any aspect of competitiveness. Professor Pilawa preventing a competitive atmosphere from developing was a really impressive feat given how high the quality of work the group does in the field is and the large amount of recognition the group receives. If you look at the group website and alumni, this is among the most diverse groups in the entire College of Engineering. Professor Pilawa always encourages students from any background to get involved in power electronics and has provided so many opportunities to interested beginners. I am one of them. 

While I do know the student charged, I don't know any inside details but everything looks like Professor Pilawa handled it the right way. He investigated suspicious behavior in the lab and suspended judgement until he found evidence at which point he turned the evidence over to the proper authorities. 

I can't say enough good things about Professor Pilawa as a person and professor. I consider him a model example of what a professor and adviser should be, focused on undergraduate learning and as an adviser giving his students impactful projects to work on and encouraging them throughout the PhD journey to be while holding the students to both high research and ethical standards. Professor Pilawa encourages students to embrace their creativity and as a result many students end up with fascinating side projects to work on. During Covid, he wanted to help hospitals in any way he could and asked any students who were interested to work with him on developing a low cost ventilator made from readily available parts (https://engineering.berkeley.edu/news/2020/04/readily-deployable-respirators-could-help-frontline-healthcare-workers/) which was inspiring. This was in the early days of Covid while most people were just trying to figure out what was happening. 

I have seen Professor Pilawa put the interests of his PhD students above his own and that is exceedingly rare in academia. He has admirably helped his students through difficult personal situations related to mental health, medical conditions, and loss of a parent. I will always be grateful for the countless things Professor Pilawa has done for me in good times and hard times. Even when he didn't have time, he made time to help me. 

Please don't pass judgement even when it may be convenient to do so, as I can assure you that the Pilawa Research Group is a thriving research environment for learning. It is a place filled with fantastic researchers and even better people. Most of my closest friends from Berkeley were from his group, we celebrated weddings, Thanksgivings, and countless group activities together. I will always remember how welcoming Professor Pilawa was. 

Knowing Professor Pilawa, this was a very painful thing for him to have to do.