ERG is a collaborative community of graduate students, core faculty, over 150 affiliated faculty and researchers across the campus, and over 500 alumni across the globe. Our students work across disciplines and departments to create potentially transformative knowledge for the planet. ERG is a world-renowned program with a 40-year history of outstanding research, education and […]
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, […]
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at ERG Equity and inclusion are at the heart of our mission to provide education and research for a sustainable and just society. We aspire to be an inclusive community with diverse ideas, races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, ages, abilities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. We celebrate diversity in scholarship, teaching, community […]
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 […]
Summer 2021 Curriculum ERG’s minor and certificate require a minimum of five courses and 15 total units of coursework, typically completed over two summers (or for a UC Berkeley student, a summer and a fall semester). All minor or certificate students must take EITHER Energy and Society or Climate Change Economics. UC Berkeley undergraduates may […]
ENERGY AND RESOURCES GROUP PROGRAMS Ph.D. – Doctor of Philosophy in Energy and Resources Master’s Degree – Two-year program in Master of Science (M.S.) or Master of Arts (M.A.) in Energy and Resources Concurrent ERG/Public Policy Master’s Degree – Three-year program in Energy and Resources (M.S. or M.A.) and Master’s Degree of Public Policy (M.P.P.) […]
The Minor and Certificate in Sustainability provides a comprehensive understanding of the most pressing issues facing the world today. The program offers a practical and relevant interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of environmental, economic, social, political, and cultural issues. Students complete courses in: Global and local environmental change The science, engineering, economics, and policy […]
A Brief History of ERG For thirty years, the Energy and Resources Group (ERG) at the University of California, Berkeley has provided its outstanding graduate students and exceptional faculty the scholarly conditions in which to: study the environmental sciences, analyze the social causes of our energy and environmental problems, undertake field research in a variety […]
Youjin Chung is Assistant Professor of Sustainability and Equity with a joint appointment in the Energy and Resources Group and the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management.
My research focuses on the intersections between renewable energy, gender, and rural life in northern Tanzania. Informed by critical social theory and political economy and ecology of energy, my work pivots around the gendered dimensions of rural energy use in a region where more and more large-scale ‘energy grabs’ are throwing social relations in the […]
Molly’s research is inspired by an evolving ethic of private land stewardship in Northern California. Her graduate work draws on rangeland hydrology, fire science, political ecology, behavioral science, and traditional ecological knowledge to investigate the socioecological systems that determine regional water security. Prior to ERG, Molly facilitated grassroots planning for a just climate transition in […]
Mining Data on Reclaimed Coal Mines: a Machine Learning Approach to Assessing Habitat Suitability (MS ’18) Hilary received her B.A. in Government and Biological Sciences, with a concentration in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in the latter, from Cornell University, where she graduated in 2015. At ERG, Hilary is interested in exploring the science-law nexus and […]
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. […]
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, […]
Carbon Capital: The Political Ecology of Carbon Forestry and Development in Chiapas, Mexico (’10 PhD)
Can Co-ops become Energy Producers too? Challenges and Prospects for Efficient Co-Generation in India’s Co-Operative Sugar Sector (’05 MS) Fluid Hegemony: A Political Ecology of Water, Market Rule, and Insurgence at Bangalore’s Frontier (’10 PhD)
Ida Sognnaes is a PhD student in the Energy and Resources Group. She is originally from Norway and came to Berkeley for the first time as part of her five year MSc in Applied Mathematics and Physics where she focused on Renewable Energy and Climate Science. She wrote her Master thesis with John Harte in […]
ERG is offering four of its most popular courses this summer! Enroll Today!
My research focuses on the intersections between renewable energy, gender, and rural life in northern Tanzania. Informed by critical social theory and political economy and ecology of energy, my work pivots around the gendered dimensions of rural energy use in a region where more and more large-scale ‘energy grabs’ are throwing social relations in the […]
Youjin Chung is Assistant Professor of Sustainability and Equity with a joint appointment in the Energy and Resources Group and the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management.
Surfacing Overlying Rights: Assessing Transitions in Overlying Rights to California’s Groundwater Basins (MS ’20) Jenny grew up in Fresno, California, and graduated from Stanford University with an interdisciplinary environmental science and policy degree in Earth Systems. She has supported community-led social justice movements through philanthropy, policy, organizing, and research, most recently at the grassroots nonprofit […]
Inside Out: the Power in Data-Centric Private Governance (PhD ’20) 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 […]
Carbon Capital: The Political Ecology of Carbon Forestry and Development in Chiapas, Mexico (’10 PhD)
The Importance of Cultural Understanding in International Organizations: A Comparative Study of the IBWC and the BECC (’98 M.A.)
Shifting Environmental Trends: A Life-Cycle, Consumption-Based Approach to Environmental Indicators (’04 MA) Rule by Aesthetics: World-Class City Making in Delhi (’10 PhD)
Towards Developing Agroforestry Systems for Smallholders: a Case Study from the Sarapiquí Canton, Costa Rica (MS ’99)