URAP

Matthew Potts - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Overview: Public debates and policies are increasingly shifting to include nature and nature-related risks and mitigations in climate discourse. Chief among nature-related risks are issues centered on biodiversity. These frameshifts are evidenced by multilateral agreements such as the Global Biodiversity Framework and a suite of regulations coming out...

Matthew Potts - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Forest restoration is an increasingly relevant topic across the globe, hailed as a key component to solutions for climate change, biodiversity crises, and sustainable development. Despite a growing awareness of the importance of forests and the need for ecosystem restoration, crucial information on natural forest regeneration processes is often lacking...

Matthew Potts - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Project Overview El Salvador is undergoing rapid transformations driven by cryptocurrency-driven urbanization (“crypto urbanism”) and the recent lifting of the metal mining ban. These developments pose significant threats to the country’s protected natural regions, including biodiversity hotspots and critical ecosystems. This project investigates the socio-environmental impacts of these...

Mary Power - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

The Angelo Coast Range Reserve is a UC Berkeley Natural Reserve System site in Mendocino County, on the South Fork of the Eel River. Angelo is the site of numerous historical and current UC Berkeley research studies, and collections by UC Berkeley Natural History museums. The proposed research project is...

Robert Rhew - Professor, Geography

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

We are will accept up to 3 Fall URAP students to join the Atmospheric Biogeochemistry Laboratory for projects involving the terrestrial sources and sinks of trace gases in the atmosphere, including methane, methyl halides, hydrogen, and hydrocarbons. Students will gain laboratory skills and experience, including: prepping air sampling equipment, conducting...

George Roderick - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: Off Campus

This project is focused on the residential urban gardens of the East Bay and how those gardens impact butterfly communities with a focus on the Western Monarch butterfly. The project covers topics of native and non-native plants, invasive arthropods, urban gardens, and changes in species interactions. This project is...

George Roderick - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

In our lab, we are interested in the ecology and evolutionary history of arthropod (insect and spider) species. We mostly study arthropods from Hawaii and other islands in the Pacific, but also species in California and elsewhere. Some are native species, some are recent invasive species, and some are introduced...

George Roderick - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Are you interested in science news and social media? In our lab, we study the ecological and evolutionary history of arthropod (insect and spider) species--the "little things that run the earth." We mostly study arthropods from Hawaii and other islands in the Pacific. Our current project aims...

George Roderick - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Biodiversity surveys often accumulate many many insect and spider specimens, but it is usually hard to figure out what the species actually are. Many species are not yet described and many are found in an area for the first time, or the species are not yet in DNA databases. In...

David Romps - Professor, Earth and Planetary Science

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

This project will design, build, and test instrumentation to measure temperature, humidity, air currents, and infrared radiation in extreme heat and humdity. These instruments are needed for laboratory studies that will evaluate models of human physiology that, in turn, are used to project the future of heat stress on a...

Albert Ruhi Vidal - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

The flux of leaf litter from the riparian zone is a major energy pathway into streams, and, thus, litter breakdown is a critical ecosystem-level process affecting both the carbon and nutrient cycles as well as stream food webs. Leaf litter decomposition is influenced by litter quantity and quality (i.e...

Albert Ruhi Vidal - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

How could we best manage local water supplies in ways that benefit communities and rivers? Los Angeles County in Southern California imports the majority of its water. After residents use this water, wastewater treatment facilities clean it and then generally discharge it into local streams, such as the Los Angeles...

Albert Ruhi Vidal - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Climate change is shifting the distribution of the Earth’s water resources spatially and temporally. In most of California, multi-year droughts are projected to increase in frequency and magnitude by the end of the century. Predicting the impacts of drought on freshwater ecosystems remains, however, a key challenge. This is...

Albert Ruhi Vidal - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

In seasonal wetlands like vernal pools, the hydroperiod fundamentally influences community composition and structure. Vernal pools are seasonal wetlands that are wet during the fall and winter, and dry during the spring and summer. They support many endemic plant and animal species, many of which are listed as federally threatened...

Christopher Schell - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Human-wildlife interactions that end with negative consequences (i.e., conflict) typically come from bolder individuals within a population that are more risk-prone and willing to approach humans and human entities. These interactions may also stem from individuals with superior cognitive abilities that use learning and problem-solving to exploit...

Jennifer Sowerwine - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

In partnership with the Eddie Souza Community Garden in Santa Clara, University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) in Santa Clara County is planning to bring community garden managers from around the South Bay together for learning and networking in November 2024. In preparation for this gathering, we would like to...

Jennifer Sowerwine - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Urban agriculture provides multiple benefits beyond food, including ecosystem services, community gathering spaces, educational learning opportunities, and physical, mental and emotional health benefits for those involved. Yet many urban farms and community gardens face challenges with accessing secure land, labor and other resources that can support the economic viability and...

Carol Spencer - Staff Curator, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

We are taking new students for Prep Lab Assistant, Bone Numbering and Tag Tying, Bird, Herp, Fish and Mammal Curatorial Assistants. See descriptions below. At the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (MVZ), University of California, Berkeley, we offer many unique opportunities to participate in MVZ endeavors and learn about natural history...

Nicole Starosielski - Professor, Film Studies

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: Off Campus

The project, called Sustainable Subsea Networks (https://sustainablesubseanetworks.com/), investigates the sustainability of subsea cables—the backbone of global digital networks that carry over 99% of transoceanic internet traffic (satellite is responsible for less than 1%). There are currently no industry-wide metrics for assessing the sustainability of the cable system...

Nicole Starosielski - Professor, Film Studies

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: Off Campus

The project, called Sustainable Subsea Networks, investigates the sustainability of subsea cables—the backbone of global digital networks that carry over 99% of transoceanic internet traffic (satellite is responsible for less than 1%). There are currently no industry-wide metrics for assessing the sustainability of the cable system. Our research...

Nicole Starosielski - Professor, Film Studies

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: Off Campus

The project, in development for Sustainable Subsea Networks, will create a 10-15 minute documentary film investigating the sustainability of subsea cables—the backbone of global digital networks that carry over 99% of transoceanic internet traffic (satellite is responsible for less than 1%).There are currently no industry-wide metrics for...

Nicole Starosielski - Professor, Film Studies

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: Off Campus

In response to the critical role of regenerative agriculture in combating climate change, we seek to conduct groundbreaking research that will drive the development of innovative policies in California to catalyze widespread adoption of regenerative practices. Our team is working to transform California's agricultural landscape through cutting-edge public-private...

Neil Tsutsui - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

The experimental removal of introduced species can provide unparalleled opportunities to examine community reassembly. Invader-removal experiments, for example, can clarify how recovery is influenced by processes acting within a given system or alternatively reflects processes acting at larger spatial scales. Despite the obvious value of such studies, surprisingly few...

Ian Wang - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

What makes some groups of animals species rich, while other groups are species poor? This project will examine the diversity of spiny lizards (genus Sceloporus), a group of 100+ described species that range across North and Central America. We will quantify the phenotypic, ecological, and genetic diversity of spiny lizards...

Ian Wang - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Understanding how phenotypic variation is generated and maintained in natural populations is a fundamental goal in biology. We are studying the evolution of color and other phenotypic traits in Aegean wall lizards (Podarcis erhardii), an island-dwelling lizard native to the Greek Cycladic islands. Our goal is to understand how...

Ian Wang - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Genetic diversity is crucial for adaptation and may be a key factor that shapes species responses to climate change, habitat loss, and other stressors. Recently, the California Conservation Genomics Project (CCGP) has gathered genomic data for over two hundred species across California in order to inform conservation efforts. This dataset...

Ian Wang - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

This research investigates the genetic basis of lizard coloration, which is an ideal trait for studying evolution. Animal coloration is divided into pigments and structural colors. Pigments, often red and yellow, are small particles that directly absorb and reflect light of different colors. Structural colors, often blue, are caused by...