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 […]
Equity and inclusion banners in Sproul Plaza — a project initiated, designed, and temporarily installed by the ERG Diversity Student Committee. (C. Hyun, January 2017) Equity, inclusion, and diversity (EID) planning at ERG The mission of ERG is a sustainable environment and a just society. ERG actively promotes intellectual, racial, ethnic, and gender inclusion. […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Energy and Resources Group summer instructors understand the complex and interdisciplinary nature of sustainability. All have significant experience teaching and/or professional experience in the subject areas of their courses. For course descriptions and schedule, visit our Summer Curriculum and Schedule page. Instructors listed may be subject to change. SAMUEL EVANS Course: Climate Change Economics […]
Professor Ray’s research interests are water and development; technology and development; common property resources; and social science research methods. Her research projects focus on access to water and sanitation for the rural and urban poor, and on the role of technology in improving livelihoods.
Sobol Sensitivity Analysis for Integrated Assessment Models: Supporting Result Characterization (MS ’19) Lisa is interested in using computer science to explore issues related to the economic impacts of climate change, and to support research and policy-making in this area. She currently works on software development of the Mimi package to support the construction and use […]
The Role of Small Reservoirs in Rural Livelihoods: A Study in Brazil’s Preto River Basin (MS ’06) Just Water? Social Disparities and Drinking Water Quality in California’s San Joaquin Valley (PhD ’11)
At times the problem of understanding phenomena is one of seeing. That is why Danielle explores new ways of demystifying complexity through visual representation. She seeks new techniques to illustrate often-forgotten, yet fundamental dependencies between human society and the natural world. One such technique is terrestrial laser scanning (also known as LIDAR), which she used to create a 3-D model of her ecological study site in the Sierra Nevada. This along with her seedling research seeks to inform the uncertain future of resource management.
Tribal Participation in Water Quality Management: The Potential for Conflict or Regional Cooperation (89 MA)
The Joint Effect of Uncertainty and Inequality on Global Climate Policy (PhD ’20) Frank grew up on the central New Jersey coast, completing a B.A. in Political Science with a concentration in Environmental Policy & Sustainability from the Richard Stockton College. He went on to earn an M.A. from Columbia University’s Climate and Society Program, […]
Cultivating Partnerships: Pest Control and The Use of Integrated Pest Management on Small Farms in San Joaquin County, California (MS ’97) Contact: ehansen@downstreamstrategies.com ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: What have you been working on recently that most excites you? Please describe your work. In 2018, I was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates, and my first […]
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: ARNE JACOBSON Ph.D. 2004 Professor in the Department of Environmental Resources Engineering at Humboldt State University From his post at Humboldt State University, Arne Jacobson passionately extends his PhD research addressing the real-world barriers to providing clean energy for poor people in developing countries. In so doing, he plays a critical role […]
Citizen Participation in Water Quality Regulation: Evaluating the Total Maximum Daily Load Process at Sonoma Creek (’05, MA)
Everyday Transformations of Food to Waste: What and Why Food is Discarded in U.S. Households (PhD ’19) From digging through trash to looking inside of people’s refrigerators, Laura researches household-level food waste in the United States with a focus on measurement and behavior. In addition to examining the questions of “what?” and “how much?,” her […]
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 […]
Water Quality Monitoring for Effective Regulatory Enforcement: A Review of Options for the NPDES Program in the San Francisco Bay Region (’90 MA) Redefining Environmental Management Problems: The Shift in Dredging Management in San Francisco Bay 1967-1994 (’95 PhD)
ERG professor Isha Ray recently co-authored and published her research paper, "The reality of water quality monitoring for SDG 6: A report from a small town in India" on IWA Publishing. The paper features their study of microbial water quality in a small town (Alibag) in India, and focuses on the weaknesses of water quality monitoring and testing infrastructure. "We show the practical limitations of monitoring for fecal indicator bacteria to meet SDG 6... We find that even when water quality monitoring and testing infrastructure is in place, low institutional capacity and the pressure to not ‘fail’ the expected water quality standards can result in the failure to accurately report bacterial water quality," the paper states.
Last month, the Nanaimo and Area Land Trust co-hosted a world-class symposium on water stewardship in a changing climate. Canadian water expert and professor Bob Sandford spoke about “The Hard Work of Hope,” the title of his recent book, and the grim outlook of global climate issues, from the water cycle to temperature rise. Also […]
"Safe drinking water and sanitation are indispensable to sustain life and health, and fundamental to the dignity of all.”
The first-of-its-kind interactive map was produced by the University of California, Berkeley’s CoolClimate Network and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and covers census block groups –neighborhoods of several hundred to a few thousand households – in the nine-county area. Neighborhoods with relatively high emissions for any component of their carbon footprints show up […]
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.
Dr. Isha Ray at UN Headquarters discussing report on gender equality.
“As the dry season becomes more intense and rainfall more erratic, we’d expect to see this pattern propagating northward.”
Assessing Instream Flow Standards Under Climate Change Implications for State-Level Policy in the U.S. (MS/MPP ’17) Rebecca completed a Master’s degree in both the Energy and Resources Group and the Goldman School of Public Policy (MA/MPP). Her research interests focus on the sustainable use of water resources, integrating work in ecology, equity, and climate change […]
Understanding Urban Food Access (’05 MS) Governing Change: An Institutional Geography of Rural Land Use, Environmental Management, and Change in the North Coastal Basin of California (’10 PhD)
Opportunities for Basinwide Cooperative Management of Water Resources in the Verde River Basin, Arizona (’89 M.S.)