Pages (8 results)
TopAffiliated Faculty
ERG has a small core faculty but a much larger group of affiliated faculty. Affiliated faculty are based in other departments on campus or at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, ... Continue Reading »
Minor/Certificate in Sustainability — Courses
Summer 2022 Curriculum ERG’s minor and certificate require a minimum of five courses and 15 total units of coursework, completed over one or two summers (or for a UC Berkeley ... Continue Reading »
Courses
All Course Offerings 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 ... Continue Reading »
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.
Water Group
The ERG Water Group as an interdisciplinary collaboration focused on the social dimensions of water. Members work on issues of equitable access and efficient, sustainable management of freshwater resources for both humans and the environment in the US and across the globe.
Faculty by Primary Interest
Areas of Interest Climate ChangeEcologyEnergyGovernanceWaterInternational 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 ... Continue Reading »
Summer Instructors
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. ... Continue Reading »
Undergraduate Minor in Energy and Resources
The Minor in Energy and Resources offers undergraduates basic knowledge and skills to address issues arising from the interaction of social, economic, political, technical, and environmental factors shaping our world. ... Continue Reading »
Faculty (1 results)
Top
Meg Mills-Novoa
Assistant Professor
Meg Mills-Novoa is a human-environment geographer who researches the enduring impacts of climate change adaptation projects. She is jointly appointed to the Energy and Resources Group and the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management.
- climate change adaptation
- critical development studies
- Deforestation
- Latin America
- participatory mixed methods
- political ecology of global change
- water justice
Students (13 results)
Top
Cora Kingdon
MS, PhD
Cora Kingdon is a PhD student in the Energy and Resources Group (ERG) at UC Berkeley. Cora is interested in studying the distributional impacts of decision making under deep uncertainty ... Continue Reading »
Lynn Shiyayo
MS
Lynn is a MS student and researcher in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research lies at the intersection of transportation, climate, and equity ... Continue Reading »
- Air Pollution Modelling
- climate
- development
- ecology / environmental science
- economics
- energy
- Environmental / Climate Equity
- transportation
- transportation and land use planning
- urban planning
Ry Andresen
MS
Pronouns: he/they Ry is interested in measuring the impacts of wildfire mitigation policies in vulnerable communities across California. He is particularly interested in researching a holistic framework that incorporates the ... Continue Reading »
Kate Cullen
PhD
Kate’s PhD research examines the role of climate change in exacerbating water stress and food insecurity in urbanized and highly irrigated basins in the Andes mountains. Her research builds upon ... Continue Reading »
Jessica Katz
MS
Siting Renewable Energy in a Changing Climate: A Reimagining of BLM’s Solar Energy Zones (MS ’20) At ERG, Jessica is focusing on learning advanced methods to comprehensively evaluate the ecological, ... Continue Reading »
Nancy Freitas
MS, PhD
Arctic Lake Emissions in a Warming World (MS ’20) At ERG, Nancy research focuses on identifying existing gaps in climate science and decision-making. In her master’s research, she used a ... Continue Reading »
Jesse Griffin-Carney
MS, PhD
Integrating Fuel-Based End Uses Into a Clean Electric System: Quantifying the Trade Off Between Electrification and Electrically Synthesized Fuels (MS ’20) Jess Carney is interested in understanding how sustainable energy ... Continue Reading »
Jesse Strecker
MA, MPP
Evaluating the Role of Labor Unions in the Politics of Decarbonization: Insights from Political Economy and Socio-Technical Transition Studies (MA ’19) Jesse is a student in the concurrent Master’s degree ... Continue Reading »
- climate
- democracy
- development
- ecological economics
- ecology
- economics
- energy
- environmental justice
- governance
- Heterodox Economics
Nicholas Depsky
MS, PhD
Drought in Central America: Past Patterns and Future Projections (MS ’19) Nick’s primary research focus is on the impacts of climate change on human migration and displacement. Specific focus areas ... Continue Reading »
Lisa Rennels
MS, PhD
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, ... Continue Reading »
Salma Elmallah
MS, PhD
Characterizing Fairness, Transparency, and Openness in US Wind Project Planning (MS ’19) Salma’s dissertation studies the equity and distributional impacts of residential heating electrification policy and planning, focusing on cities ... Continue Reading »
Hilary Yu
MS
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 ... Continue Reading »
- climate
- development
- ecology
- economics
- energy
- environmental justice
- Science and Law
- sustainable development
- water
Váleri Vásquez
MS, PhD
Váleri Vásquez is a PhD candidate in the Energy and Resources Group with a Designated Emphasis in Computational Data Science and Engineering. Váleri conducts most of her work in the ... Continue Reading »
Alumni (25 results)
Top
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 ... Continue Reading »
Kathy Tonnessen
MA, PhD
Integrated Assessment of Environmental Impacts: A Regulatory Approach to the Problem (’79 MA) The Potential Effects of Acid Deposition on Aquatic Ecosystems of the Sierra Nevada, California (’83 PhD)
- air quality
- aquatic ecology
- inventory and monitoring of natural resources
- parks and protected areas
- Rocky Mountain ecosystems
Veronica Kun
MA
A Review of EPA’s Evaluation of the Environmental Impacts of New Source Performance Standards for Fossil Fuel Power Plants (’78 M.A.)
Anand Gopal
PhD
Life of Sugar: Developing Lifecycle Methods to Evaluate the Energy and Environmental Impacts of Sugarcane Biofuels (PhD ’11)
Yasemin Biro-Kirtman
MS, PhD
Economic Valuation of the Environmental Impacts of the Kayraktepe Dam/Hydroelectric Power Plant in Turkey: An Exercise Contingent Valuation and Benefit-Cost Analysis (’95 M.S.) Prospects for Local Community Participation in the ... Continue Reading »
Barbara Atkinson
MS
Regulation of Environmental Impacts of Hydroelectricity Production: The United States and Costa Rica (89 MS)
- building energy efficiency
- international energy and environmental issues
- lighting policy analysis (U.S. Canada and Europe)
- renewable energy and efficiency in Central America
Grace Wu
MS, PhD
Land Use in Renewable Energy Planning (PhD ’18) Inspired by the possibility of ecologically-bounded growth, Grace is interested in water and land use impacts of energy technologies; water management that ... Continue Reading »
- ecological economics
- GIS
- land use impacts of energy systems
- renewable resource assessment
- spatial statistics
- water-energy nexus
Maggie Witt
MS
Maggie’s research focuses on reducing the environmental impacts of transportation by decreasing both the amount that people drive and the per-mile emissions of personal vehicles. Her work focuses on California’s ... Continue Reading »
Laura Schewel
MA, PhD
Shop ‘Till We Drop: A Historical and Policy Analysis of Goods Movement in the U.S. (MS ’11) Transportation Behavioral Data and Climate Change (PhD ’20) Laura studies the environmental impacts ... Continue Reading »
Peter Marsters
MA
Peter Marsters is a Master’s candidate at ERG focusing on the environmental impacts of unconventional fossil fuel developments. He came to ERG from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, ... Continue Reading »
Michelle Sims
MS
At ERG, Michelle is interested in environmental and equity challenges within global food systems. In particular, her research focuses on the dynamics of land use change in agricultural landscapes in ... Continue Reading »
Catherine Ledna
MS, PhD
Modeling Adaption to Sea Level Rise Under Uncertainty (MS ’19) Catherine received a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College, with a minor in Environmental Studies. Prior to coming to ERG, ... Continue Reading »
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 ... Continue Reading »
Laura Moreno
MS, PhD
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 ... Continue Reading »
Niklas Lollo
MS, PhD
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 ... Continue Reading »
- ecological economics
- governance
- political ecology
- Political economy
- Science and Technology Studies
- SEEL
- supply chains
- sustainability indicators
Ian Bolliger
MS, PhD
Monitoring and Projecting the Impacts of Climate Change with Emerging Environmental Datasets and Machine Learning (PhD ’20) Ian works to provide decision-makers with quantitative, high-resolution projections of the socioeconomic impacts ... Continue Reading »
- climate
- economics
- energy
- Global Policy Laboratory
- health impacts of climate change
- machine learning
- remote sensing
- spatial statistics
- tropical cyclones
- water
Amber Kerr
PhD
Drought resilience of maize-legume agroforestry systems in Malawi (PhD ’12) Amber Kerr is an agricultural ecologist focusing on climate change impacts and adaptation. She has studied nutrient cycling in California ... Continue Reading »
Monica Testa
MA
Monica obtained her Masters in 2015 from the Energy and Resources Group. She is interested in electric vehicle adoption, alternative energy policy, and sustainable energy development. Her research involves modeling ... Continue Reading »
Rebekah Shirley
MS, PhD
Rebekah Shirley believes that there is more than one path to a bright, energy secure future. Developing nations strive to connect more and more of their communities to energy. Many have emulated the fossil fuel intensive model of developed nations, but Rebekah believes that this is not necessarily the only way.
Autumn Preskill
MS, PhD
Autumn Petros-Good received her B.S. in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College in 2009, and her M.S. from ERG in 2011 and her PhD from ERG in 2015. She worked on ... Continue Reading »
- energy distribution & management policy
- mathematical programming approaches to energy problems
- Renewable energy usage
Lara Cushing
MA, MPH, PhD
Lara is interested in the relationship between social inequalities and the environment, including how environmental and social stressors interact to impact health. Her work seeks to better understand the disproportionate ... Continue Reading »
- climate
- Community-based participatory research
- Environmental health
- environmental justice
- GIS
- Social Epidemiology
Michael Cohen
MS, PhD
Michael Cohen puts the power and complexity of the grid into students' hands via a video game. We asked Michael about his innovative project and his unique experience at ERG. "In addition to developing the game itself, I am working with teachers at local high schools to develop curriculum around it and try it out with their students this year. I hope to not only create a solid educational product but also gain some insights into how technology can be used to support learning about complex systems in general."
- EMAC
- energy
- Energy System Modeling
- Integration of renewable electricity into power systems
- Video Gaming for Education
Danielle Svehla Christianson
MS, PhD
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.
Zoë Chafe
MPH, MS, PhD
Dr. Chafe works at the intersections of public health, air pollution, climate change, and energy use. She holds a PhD from the Energy and Resources Group (ERG), as well as ... Continue Reading »
- climate
- climate change and public health
- co-benefits (ancillary benefits) of climate change mitigation
- development
- energy
- energy transitions and impacts on air pollution
- heating and cooking with solid fuels
- household energy policy options
- Household energy use trends
- short-lived greenhouse pollutants
Nkiruka Avila
MS, PhD
Designing and Adapting Appropriate Socio-Technical Systems for the Renewable Energy Transition (PhD ’18) Nkiruka has expertise in solar grid integration and climate policy in California, and in electricity access in ... Continue Reading »
News (14 results)
Top
ERG Alumni: Leaders at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
June 30, 2016
Two articles on the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory website featured the current work of ERG alumni Ryan Wiser (M.S. '96, Ph.D. '02) and Andrew Jones (M.S. '07, Ph.D. '12).
ERG Summer Courses Available
February 28, 2016
ERG is offering four of its most popular courses this summer! Enroll Today!
Only 15% of California’s Big Solar Projects are on the Right Kind of Land
October 19, 2015
Postdoctoral scholar, Rebecca Hernandez, comments on California's utility-scale solar projects.
Microsoft Awards ERG PhD Student Valeri Vasquez with PhD Fellowship
January 29, 2021
Congratulations to ERG PhD student Valeri Vasquez upon becoming a 2021 Microsoft Research PhD Fellow! This two-year fellowship is for PhD students at North American universities pursuing research aligned to the research areas carried out by Microsoft Research. Vasquez's research entails studying the "environmental drivers, economic impacts of infectious disease... and the use of genetic-based interventions, including CRISPR-Cas9 systems, to control mosquito-borne illness."
ERG Alumnus Niklas Lollo on Improving Sustainability in the Apparel Industry
October 12, 2020
ERG Alumnus Niklas Lollo recently published his research paper, "Measurement without Clear Incentives to Improve: The Impacts of the Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) on Apparel Factory Practices and Performance" on SocArXiv Papers. He discusses how the Facility Environment Module (FEM), an annual assessment of an apparel facility’s environmental management capabilities, could be improved to better the environmental performance of the apparel industry.
ERG Alumnus Patrick Gonzalez Speaks to Congress on Climate Change
June 27, 2019
ERG alum, Dr. Patrick Gonzalez presents scientific findings to Representative Mike Quigley and other members of the U.S. House of Representatives Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition Members in the U.S. Capitol
ERG Alum Patrick Gonzalez Testifies Before Congress as Expert Witness
February 21, 2019
During a recent House Natural Resources Committee event titled “Climate Change and Public Lands: Examining Impacts and Considering Adaptation Opportunities,” ERG alumnus Patrick Gonzalez (PhD ’97) provided testimony as an ... Continue Reading »
ERG Student Chris Hyun Highlighted as InFEWS Fellow
December 26, 2018
InFEWS fellowships are granted to students whose PhD research aims to provide lasting environmental solutions and alleviate poverty in the world’s poorest regions. The Blum Center for Developing Economies recently ... Continue Reading »
Isha Ray Recognized as a Trailblazer for Her Impact on Developing Economies
March 22, 2018
“Gamechangers. Engineers. Innovators. Researchers. Entrepreneurs. These are just a few of the words that describe the outstanding women of the Blum Center ecosystem. In honor of National Women’s History month, ... Continue Reading »
Ponce de Leon Lessons from Fracking in the USA and Mexico – ERG’s Kammen
October 10, 2017
Last week, Dan Kammen, Diego Ponce de Leon, and Peter Marsters published their analysis of the environmental, social, economic, and community impacts of the shale industry on Mexico. The team ... Continue Reading »
New ERG Chair Daniel M. Kammen
July 25, 2017
We are pleased to announce the appointment of the new Energy and Resources Group Chair, Professor Daniel M. Kammen. His appointment began July 1, 2017. Daniel Kammen is a Professor of Energy with ... Continue Reading »
New Study by ERG Postdoc James Rising Finds Northern States Might Profit as the Planet Warms
July 6, 2017
If you live in the South, climate change could kill your economy.
One grad student’s story: from English lit to global climate talks
December 7, 2015
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 students win United Nations award
November 13, 2013
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.