Air is not the same everywhere. In both urban areas and wild, powerful natural and human forces combine to create intricate mixtures of chemicals that compose the air we breathe, seek for pleasure, or avoid.
Wildfire Smoke Linked to Lower Birth Weights
By David Danelski, Press Enterprise
Pregnant women exposed to wildfire smoke during Southern California’s epic 2003 fire season had babies with lower birth weights, UC Berkeley researchers have found.
Green Chemistry Wins $3.4 Million Training Grant
The Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry was awarded $3.4 million to train Ph.D. students in the principles of green chemistry and the design of clean-energy technologies.
Joanna Hsu tells us about meeting the Secretary of Energy, her work with a West Oakland food market, and her advice to incoming graduate students
ESPM interviewed second-year graduate student Joanna Hsu, of the Suding Lab. She is currently working on several projects, including a cross-site analysis of the impact of climate variability on plant communities, and research on food distribution models for a grocery store that will serve low-income neighborhoods.
Argentine Invasion: Professor Neil Tsutsui featured on NPR’s Radiolab
Professor Neil Tsutsui is a guest expert on the public radio show Radiolab, in an episode uncovering the warlike, marauding Argentine ants.
PhD Student Ellen Kersten's Paper Recognized for Outstanding Student Research by CDC Journal
Ellen Kersten and colleagues' paper, Small Food Stores and Availability of Nutritious Foods: A Comparison of Database and In-Store Measures, Northern California, 2009, examined one of the fundamental tools used in the food environment research.
On Meeting Secretary of Energy Steven Chu: an ESPM Student's Perspective
Getting an opportunity to meet with Secretary of Energy Steven Chu with fellow graduate students from my renewable energy class was definitely an extraordinary moment in my graduate career.
ESPM Alumnus Michael Wasserman Talks About Soy Diets & Primate Evolution on National Public Radio
Looking at what our closest-living relatives, monkeys and apes, eat in their natural environment, we can gain insight into the benefits and dangers of consuming estrogenic foods.
Analysis of global fire risk shows big, fast changes ahead
The study, published today (Tuesday, June 12) in Ecosphere, used 16 different climate change models to generate what the researchers said is one of the most comprehensive projections to date of how climate change might affect global fire patterns.
Let it burn: Prescribed fires pose little danger to forest ecology, study says
With a rise in wildfires predicted in many parts of the country, researchers say controlled burns and other treatments to manage risk should be stepped up.
Professor Louise Fortmann Honored With the 2012 Distinguished Rural Sociologist Award
The Society honored Dr. Formann's commitment to scholarship aimed at improving rural livelihoods, mentoring students, and championing participatory natural resource management.
Carolyn Merchant to be a visiting scholar at The Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, Fall 2012
Professor Merchant will be working on the project “Ideas of Nature in the Scientific Revolution,” a study for which she also received an American Council of Learned Societies fellowship this year.
Professor Rodrigo Almeida given distinguished Syngenta Award from the American Phytopathological Society
Professor Almeida was recognized for his outstanding recent contribution in plant pathology.
ESPM Undergrad Wins University's Top Honor
Eric Olliff, who is earning a B.S. in conservation and resource studies and a B.A. in Chinese language and literature, is the University Medalist, the annual award bestowed on Berkeley’s top graduating senior for the last 150 years.
Diversified Farming Systems Center Receives $100K from Keck Futures Initiative
The award goes to PI Claire Kremen and an interdisciplinary international team of scientists, to compare and contrast how how smallholder agricultural production versus large-scale agribusiness affect ecosystem services along commodity chains.
New Century, New Forestry Club Benches
Six new carved redwood benches, made the journey from UC Russell Reservation, a research facility in the hills of Contra Costa County, to their new home adjacent to Mulford Hall today (May 7) to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the UC Berkeley Forestry Club.
Steelhead trout lose out when water is low in wine country
The competition between farmers and fish for precious water in California is intensifying in wine country, suggests a new study by biologists at the University of California, Berkeley.
An Open Letter from Co-Directors of Diversified Farming Systems Center
The current controversy at the Gill Tract has led to the Center for Diversified Farming Systems at the University of California at Berkeley, or “DFS,” surfacing in campus and newspaper communications.
The 2012 Hans Jenny Lecture by Dr. Pedro Sanchez: Towards a 21st Century Soil Science
Pedro Sanchez is the Director of the Tropical Agriculture and the Rural Environment Program, Senior Research Scholar and Director of the Millennium Villages Project at the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
Story of Stuff's Annie Leonard to Keynote Gradfest Symposium
Annie Leonard is the creator of "The Story of Stuff", a 20-minute lecture about the economic supply chain.