URAP

Rodrigo Almeida - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

Grapevine leaf roll disease and red blotch disease are two economically important grape pathogens in California. The diseases are currently not curable, so mitigation efforts including roguing (removing infected plants) are used to reduce disease spread. Roguing requires correctly identifying infected plants, which can be difficult to do visually due...

Rodrigo Almeida - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

Xylella fastidiosa is a xylem-limited bacterium associated with several important diseases in a wide range of plants. In California, the bacterium causes Pierce's Disease (PD) of grapevine, which has economic and management implications for the state's wine industry. The range of PD in California is limited by cold winter...

Carl Boettiger - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

Become familiar with the mathematical, statistical, and computational tools used in the group and learn how to apply these methods to answer questions in ecological research and conservation decision making. Emphasis on the use of deep reinforcement learning and best practices in data science software development...

Carl Boettiger - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

Develop, test, and visualize methods for forecasting ecological variables such as carbon flux, beetle abundance, or indicators of aquatic ecosystem health...

Justin Brashares - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

Monitoring the status of wildlife populations is critical to assessing ecosystem health. Rapid advances in machine learning and engineering have recently allowed researchers to deploy acoustic recorders that autonomously capture and classify population trends for vocalizing species, such as birds. Currently, UC Berkeley is preparing to launching the first ever...

Justin Brashares - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

Several aspects of global change are changing the dynamics of fire ecology across California and around the world. Recent fires have had devastating effects on livelihoods across the state, but little remains known of the direct and indirect impacts of these fires on wildlife species and the implications of those...

Justin Brashares - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

Non-invasive techniques are increasingly valuable for ecologists to be able to collect data on the distribution, population sizes, behavior, and diet of wildlife species. The California Wolf Project led by Arthur Middleton and Justin Brashares at UC-Berkeley is teaming up with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife...

Gordon Frankie - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

Under the direction of Dr. Gordon Frankie, the UC Berkeley Urban Bee Lab is monitoring diversity and abundance of California native bee species (1600 species state-wide) and their plant preferences at various locations throughout the state. In addition to studies in California, the Lab also investigates native bee diversity...

Christy Getz - Cooperative Extension Specialist, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: Off Campus

Hmong farmers have become central in debates about cannabis cultivation and medical cannabis access in California. This community engaged research builds on 6+ years of relationship and trust building with Hmong farmers who grow crops that include cannabis. The research will explore four themes: 1) Hmong medicinal cannabis uses, cultivation...

Rosemary Gillespie - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

This project looks at how communities of organisms come together, and the role of ecology (migrating into a community, trophic level) and evolution (adaptation and speciation) in determining the composition of species in a community. This in turn will provide information on sensitivity to invasion and probability of speciation and...

Rosemary Gillespie - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

No matter the size, all organisms interact with the world via their senses. Sensory input dictates reactions to stimuli, and the ability of organisms to adapt their neurological and sensory structures is critical to success and survival. Web building spiders in particular use webs as an extension and enhancement of...

Rosemary Gillespie - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

There are two key projects here: (1) Temporal Diversification and Evolutionary History of the Cribellum in Mesh-web Spiders: Webs play many essential roles in spider biology, including communication, prey capture, locomotion, and reproduction. One interesting morphological feature of many spiders is the cribellum, a plate located near the silk...

Rosemary Gillespie - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

This project focuses on the biodiversity of insects and spiders on Pacific islands. Biodiversity surveys often accumulate a ton of specimens, but it is usually hard to figure out what the species actually are. Many species cannot be identified because they are immature, or are not yet described. In this...

Patina Mendez - Lecturer, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

Streams in California have a variety of forms including: (a) intermittent streams that only flow for part of the year, and often are dry throughout the summer, (b) protected streams in national, state, regional, and county parts, and (c) urban streams that serve recreational needs and stormwater management. The project...

Patina Mendez - Lecturer, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

Studies in ecology and evolution rely on properly curated museum material and access to museum records and specimen. Caddisflies, in the insect order Trichoptera, are aquatic insects closely related to moths and butterflies. In this project, the student will assist with labeling, organizing, and curating caddisflies. The student will also...

Michael Polson - Staff Researcher, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

Students will be working to support a project on the cannabis industry and the general work of the Cannabis Research Center in disseminating research and engaging the public. The project, overall, is a mixed method investigation of: 1) anti-competitive and monopolistic practices of cannabis investors and owner-operators; 2...

Michael Polson - Staff Researcher, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Status: Check back for status     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Accurately estimating unlicensed cultivation is crucial for assessing and designing interventions into the illicit market. This project aims to demonstrate the potential for accurate assessment of the amount and geography of unlicensed production in California with empirically-based data on cannabis cultivation, improved mapping tools, and robust ethnographic fieldwork. The...

Matthew Potts - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

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

Project Overview: California faces dual challenges of ambitious climate commitments and a severe affordable housing crisis. This project aims to address these challenges by developing and scaling the use of Engineered Living Materials (ELM)—advanced biomaterials that integrate living cells with synthetic scaffolds. These materials can sense, respond to, and...

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...

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...

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...

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...