Search Results for 'global change'
ERG Site
Affiliated Faculty
ERG has a small core faculty but a much larger group (100+) of affiliated faculty. Affiliated faculty are based in other departments on campus or at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and share ERG’s commitment to shared learning and interdisciplinary work. They are advisors, mentors, or employers to ERG students, and serve on master’s project, […]
Courses
Please note: This is a full list of ERG course offerings; not all courses are offered each term. For current course offerings, please refer to the online Schedule of Classes. ENERES 39A – Freshman and Sophomore Seminar: Complex Systems, Information Theory, and “Big Data” John Harte A premise of this seminar is that science, evolving […]
ERG Degree Requirements
Master’s Degree in Energy and Resources The purpose of the ERG Master’s program is to educate the next generation of interdisciplinary leaders. Specifically, students are taught the range of methods and subjects they should be able to understand, advance, and critique to address critical issues stemming from the interaction of humans and the environment. To […]
Faculty by Primary Interest
Areas of Interest Climate Change Ecology Energy Governance Water International Climate Change ERG CORE David Anthoff David Anthoff is an environmental economist who studies climate change and environmental policy. He co-develops the integrated assessment model FUND that is used widely in academic research and in policy analysis John Harte John Harte’s research interests span ecological […]
Give to ERG
Big Give was November 17, 2016. We thank you for giving big to ERG this year! We ask you to consider pledges to the Energy and Resources Group Annual Discretionary Fund, which was established to provide program support to respond to ERG’s most urgent needs and to build on the excellence of our program. Make […]
Harte Lab: Ecology & Global Change
Ecology and global change are the primary topics of research in the Harte Lab. Among the goals are: to characterize ecological feedbacks to climate change, to predict effects of global change on biodiversity, and to develop fundamental theory that predicts the structure of ecosystems across spatial scales.
Master’s Degree Curriculum Requirements (MA or MS)
The purpose of the ERG Master’s program is to educate the next generation of interdisciplinary leaders. Specifically, students are taught the range of methods and subjects they should be able to understand, advance, and critique to address critical issues stemming from the interaction of humans and the environment. To that end, the requirements for the […]
Program
PROGRAMS OFFERED AT ERG Master’s Degree in Energy and Resources (MA or MS) Master’s/Ph.D. Track ERG Concurrent Degree Programs (MPP/MA or MPP/MS) Matriculation from the Master’s or Track to the Ph.D. Ph.D. in Energy and Resources Undergraduate Minor in Energy and Resources Summer-Only Minor and Certificate in Sustainability Master’s Degree in Energy and Resources The purpose […]
Renewable & Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL)
RAEL is engaged in projects to develop the science, technology, policy needs and to foster engagements that explore the future of energy, specifically the transition to a low-cabon, environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable energy system.
Support ERG
ERG students and faculty work across disciplines and departments to create transformative knowledge for the planet and its people. Forty years of ERG research has advanced the fields of global change ecology, renewable energy deployment, efficient energy systems, ecological economics, and equitable and affordable access to water and energy. Donate now to support ERG's unique culture of interdisciplinary research and teaching for a sustainable environment and a just society!
Faculty
John Harte
Professor
John Harte is a physicist turned ecologist. His research interests span ecological field research, the theory of complex systems, and policy analysis. Current interests include applying insights from information theory to the analysis of complex ecosystems and empirical investigation of climate-ecosystem feedback dynamics.
Margaret Torn
Adjunct Associate Professor
The focus of my work is carbon and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems and trace-gas flux between soil and atmosphere. I conduct research on soil carbon, global change, and the impacts of human activities on ecosystem processes.
Students
Ian Bolliger
MS, PhD
High-resolution weather and climate data is fast becoming cheap and ubiquitous. As a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellow, Ian works to capitalize on this increasing availability of data to drive improvements in forecasts of the impacts of climate change on water and energy resources. In parallel to this work, he is also […]
Juan Pablo Carvallo Bodelon
MS, PhD
Since graduating as an electronics engineer in 2004, JP Carvallo has been working, studying, and researching different aspects of the energy field. His current interests relate to varied topics in sustainable development for less industrialized economies, with a geographical focus in Latin America and Asia. He brings together different disciplines – engineering, economics, political science, and […]
Catherine Ledna
MS, PhD
Catherine received a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College, with a minor in Environmental Studies. Prior to coming to ERG, she worked on issues related to U.S. energy policy and integrated assessment modeling at the Joint Global Change Research Institute. At ERG, she is interested in using statistical techniques to explore the impacts of climate […]
Niklas Lollo
MS, PhD
Inspired by ecological economics, Niklas is focused on global governance of production and consumption. At ERG, he is combining data analysis with case studies to examine the apparel industry’s attempt to improve environmental outcomes and to acquire political legitimacy. Niklas is a part of a NSF NRT for data science, and has contributed to data-based […]
Gauthami Penakalapati
MS, PhD
Gauthami’s research interests focus on how social networks influence health behaviors and decisions around access and use of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructures and its implications on the health and dignity of women and children in developing countries. More broadly, she is interested in exploring the intersection of urban planning and women’s health. Previously, […]
Dianne Quiroz
MS
I’m a first years master’s student and received a B.S. & B.A. from UC Berkeley in Integrative Biology and Molecular Environmental Biology. Prior to coming to ERG, I worked on quantifying rates of nitrogen fixation by bacteria associated with conifer foliage in Western U.S. forests. I’m broadly interested in the dynamics of community-level responses to […]
Esther Shears
MPP, MS
Esther is interested in integrated assessment models and the role of tropical forests and land cover in climate change mitigation. She also studies sustainable agroforestry and the environmental governance of global supply chains. Prior to beginning her graduate studies at UC Berkeley, she worked for the U.S. Department of Justice as a statistician in the […]
Samira Siddique
MS, PhD
Samira’s research focuses on the social, economic, and physical processes of urbanization and climate change in Asia. She was previously an international development researcher at Mathematica Policy Research, where her work included an evaluation of the Global Protocol for Community-scale Greenhouse Gas Emissions in cities worldwide. Prior to that, she was a researcher at the […]
Alumni
Nate Aden
MS, PhD
Taking the Man Out of Manufacturing: Drivers and Components of Industrial Sector Low-Carbon Transformation (PhD ’17) Nate Aden completed his PhD at the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley and is a Research Fellow with the World Resources Institute’s Climate and Energy Program. Nate’s research is focused on industrial energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in […]
Zoë Chafe
MPH, MS, PhD
Zoë Chafe is a Postdoctoral Associate at Cornell University and fellow at the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, where her work spotlights the ambient air pollution, health, and climate effects of household energy use. At ERG, Dr. Chafe was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. She has served as the IPCC AR5 Human […]
Peter Gleick
MS, PhD
Environmental Consequences of Hydroelectric Development: The Issue of Size (’80 M.S.) Regional Water Availability and Global Climatic Change: The Hydrological Consequences of Increases in Atmospheric CO2 and Other Trace Gases (’86 Ph.D.)
Gang He
PhD
Gang’s research work focuses on energy modeling, energy economics, energy and climate policy, coal and power sectors and their key role in both the global energy supply and in international climate policy framework. He also studies the interdisciplinary aspects of global climate change and the development of lower-carbon energy sources. He was a research associate […]
Chalotorn Kansuntisukmongkol
PhD
Irreversibility and Learning in the Context of Global Climate Change (’04 PhD)
Ann Kinzig
PhD
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT Ann Kinzig Ph.D. ’94 Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University Perhaps more than most alumni, Ann Kinzig’s intellectual path has traversed ERG’s interdisciplinary bounds, grappling with the physical, life and social science aspects of the world’s ecological and social problems during, and especially after, her time at ERG. […]
Sharad Lele
PhD
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: SHARAD LÉLÉ Ph.D. 1993 Senior Fellow, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (Bangalore) Sharad Lele never intended to become an academic. And even though his resume is chock-full of scholarly publications, he still believes that applying the interdisciplinary academic knowledge gained at ERG defines ERG’s crucial role. After all, he says, […]
Monkgogi Otlhogile
MA
Monkgogi (who goes by MK) was born and raised in Botswana and recently graduated cum laude with her BA from Scripps College in Environment, Economics, and Politics. Personally, MK has worked extensively with and for underrepresent students in higher education through numerous leadership roles, mentorships, and volunteering opportunities. Access to and visibility of underrepresented students […]
Carla Peterman
PhD
State-Level Regulations Effectiveness in Addressing Global Climate Change and Promoting Solar Energy Deployment (PhD ’17)
Joseph Rand
MS
Environmental, Economic, and Social Trade-Offs of Hydropower Relicensing (MS ’16) Joseph is interested in the social, environmental, and economic trade-offs in energy development, and in particular the social conflicts arising around utility-scale wind farm siting and hydropower relicensing. His master’s research focuses on the relicensing of the Yuba River Development Project, a large hydropower project […]
Jalel Sager
MA, PhD
Formerly a freelance writer and founding director of the Vietnam Green Building Council (2007-2009), Jalel remains a board member and international coordinator for Green Cities Fund (its NGO parent). In 2012 he co-founded the Southeast Asia – Renewable and Adaptive Energy (SEA-RAE) group at Berkeley. At ERG he has designed a class on ecological economics; […]
Scott Saleska
PhD
Global Climate Change and Ecosystem Carbon Storage: An Experimental Investigation of Ecologically-Mediated Feedbacks to Climate in Montane Meadows (’98 Ph.D.)
News
ERG Student Jose Daniel Lara Joins UC’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative as a 2017 Fellow
Jose Daniel Lara was recently selected to represent UC Berkeley as a fellow for the University of California’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative (CNI). Jose will foster communication about UC-wide goals to reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainability through his research on the use of biomass feed stocks to generate electric power. To learn more about the Carbon […]
Dan Kammen Discusses Climate Change Initiative Being Developed by California Universities
In a recent Nature article, ERG Professor Dan Kammen comments on the potential establishment of a California-based climate change research institute. The proposal is backed by all University of California campuses, Stanford University, the California Institute of Technology, amongst others. The leading panel of researchers hopes to have a proposal to the California state legislature prepared […]
including ERG International Team
“The fossil-free economy is already profitable.”
Kammen and Hausfather of ERG Respond to Withdrawal from Paris Agreement
ERG Professor Dan Kammen and graduate student Zeke Hausfather respond to President Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement
ERG graduate student Hausfather in LA Times
ERG doctoral student Zeke Hausfather comments in this LA Times article on a newly published analysis that reconciles different climate change data sets and confirms dominant human influence in long-term warming.
No Pause in Global Warming Says ERG Grad Student Hausfather NOAA Was Right
A controversial paper published two years ago that concluded there was no detectable slowdown in ocean warming over the previous 15 years — widely known as the “global warming hiatus” — has now been confirmed using independent data in research led by researchers from UC Berkeley and Berkeley Earth.
Kammen from COP22: Is Trump’s victory game over for climate?
Donald Trump, who has described global warming a "hoax", said in May he would "cancel" the climate-rescue Paris Agreement if elected leader of the free world.
ERG Alum Receives Microsoft Grant for Ugandan Micro-grid Systems
New Sun Road is a California technology company directed by ERGie Jalel Sager (MS’11 , PhD’15). They are committed to implementing solutions to climate change and global energy poverty, provide electricity to communities, health clinics, and education centers in remote and challenging environments. New Sun Road designs, builds and installs SolPower™ micro-grid systems with broadband […]
ERG’s Energy Research Featured in Multiple News Outlets
“Research at the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory [ERG Professor Daniel Kammen’s lab] at the University of California Berkeley highlights that while cities currently contribute to global climate change by emitting the majority of anthropogenic greenhouse gases, they could become the building blocks of sustainability. In this week’s inaugural special issue of Science Magazine on […]
Kammen: Panelists Consider Potential of Nuclear Power As Climate Change Solution
ERG professor Dan Kammen spoke on a Cornell University panel on the potential of nuclear power to address global climate change.
ERG Grad Student in Journal of Geophysical Research
ERG graduate student Zeke Hausfather co-authored a research article in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
ERG Professor Dan Kammen Speaks at Climate Change Symposium
ERG professor Dan Kammen participated in a Climate Change Symposium on Friday, April 15, at a Modesto Area Partners in Science (MAPS) lecture.
ERG Alum Dr. Peter Gleick on Arctic Warming
ERG Alum Dr. Peter Gleick warns about catastrophic artic warming.
ERG Summer Courses Available
ERG is offering four of its most popular courses this summer! Enroll Today!
One grad student’s story: from English lit to global climate talks
ERG grad student Valeri Vasquez will be at the COP21, acting as a counselor to the co-chair of the United Nations climate negotiations, Daniel Reifsnyder. She has been advising on the mediation and negotiations among the 195 national parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.
ERG at the Paris Climate Talks
The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris has begun and will continue until December 11th. Energy and Resources Group faculty, students and alumni will be playing an active role at the conference and the many peripheral activities.
NSF & More ERG Awards: Switzer Fellowships
3 current Switzer fellows, 2 more NSF fellows, and more. See the list of awards ERG students have received.
Sea Change Radio: Electricity For All with Dan Kammen
Dr. Dan Kammen speaks with Sea Change Radio on getting energy sustainably to those without access.
BOOK: Applying Anthropology and Physics to Sustainability
New book by Dove and Kammen released this week.
A unique moment in history for “sustainable energy for all”
ERG team study showing how off-grid power can improve equality in energy access published in Nature Climate Change. Interview with lead author Peter Alstone.
23-year experiment finds surprising global warming impacts
Professor John Harte and team's paper on results of a 23-year ecosystem experiment in Rocky Mountain meadowlands featured in Guardian.
UC Berkeley Ranks 1st in the World for Environment
Subject-specific rankings from US New & World Report are based on academic research performance in those subjects.
Profs. Leach & Ray Launch UN Gender Equality Report
Dr. Isha Ray at UN Headquarters discussing report on gender equality.
RAEL at UN Climate Summit
SWITCH model selected as a "Project to Watch" by the UN's Big Data Climate Challenge.
Professor Harte Featured in DOE’s Symmetry
He transitioned from physics to ecology. And at ERG, he's not the only one.
Upcoming Certificate Course on Economic Impact of Climate and Energy Policy
3-day certificate course Oct 3-5, offering a practical perspective on the economic effects of climate and energy policy.
Obama’s Carbon Rules Bring Urban Flooding Closer to Home
"It seems as if after years of feet dragging the United States is finally willing to walk its climate talk," Dr. Malini Ranganathan (MS'05, PhD'10), Assistant Professor at American University.
Kammen on UC Climate Advisory Group
UC President forms Global Climate Leadership Council including UC professors and climate experts.
ERG PhD awarded as Ashoka Fellow
Fermin Reygadas receives top international award for social entrepreneurs.
Holdren Sets New Course for US Energy
President Obama's top science advisor and ERG Co-founder, John Holdren, is confident that America's next energy plan "will make a difference."
50% of U.S. household carbon footprint Suburban sprawl
Chris Jones (ERG PhD) and Prof. Dan Kammen point out that U.S. households are responsible for about 20% of annual worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, which are driving climate change.
ERG students win United Nations award
Jalel Sager (PhD candidate) and Austin Cappon (Minor) head to Nairobi, Kenya to pick up UN prize for a sustainable energy development project in Vietnam.
Events
Topic Links
James Williams
A Vehicular Power Plant Application of the Monolithic Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (’86 MS) Fan-Lizhi’s Big Bang: Science and Politics in Mao’s China (’95 PhD)
Karin Shen
A Microclimate Model to Investigate Greenhouse Warming of a Sub-Alpine Ecosystem (MS, ’92) A Modeling Study of Experimental Warming of a Sub-Alpine Meadow (PhD, ’98)