The Future of Energy and the Environment
Aug 10, 2020
From measuring atmospheric circulation, to using living cells to create artificial materials, our new faculty cover a broad spectrum.
Jun 25, 2020
The U.S. Department of Energy has chosen Houlin Xin, UCI assistant professor of physics & astronomy, as an awardee in its DOE Office of Science Early Career Research Program.
Jun 1, 2020
Irvine, Calif., June 1, 2020 – The melting of glaciers and ice caps in places as diverse as the Himalayas and Andes mountain ranges, the Svalbard island group and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago has the dual effect of raising global sea levels and depleting freshwater resources that serve millions of people around the world.
May 22, 2020
Ideas can come from everywhere. They can ignite when one imagines, for instance, that there could be a connection between the light that a firefly creates and the cells in our bodies, or that there might be a way to better manage fires in the Amazon rainforest by fingerprinting the different varieties of fire that blaze there. Such ideas led eight of our School’s graduate students this year to win the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Student Research Fellowship — a research fellowship…
May 20, 2020
The international response to the coronavirus pandemic has so far slashed global carbon emissions by more than 8%, according to detailed estimates from a pair of independent research teams. That’s roughly three times the annual emissions of Italy. But energy consumption is already rebounding in China and elsewhere, and the pandemic could register as little more than a blip in the climate system as government-imposed lockdowns come to an end.
May 20, 2020
On April 7, global carbon dioxide emissions plummeted to levels not seen since 2006, according to a study released yesterday that suggests the coronavirus pandemic might have led to the largest reduction in CO2 ever recorded.
May 20, 2020
Scientists who normally study how human activities impact the planet have been given a rare opportunity over the past few months to observe what happens when industry, transportation and other sources of carbon emissions are curtailed.
May 10, 2020
In January, UCI chemistry doctoral student Brenna Biggs visited a dairy farm in Visalia, California where there are lagoons churning with cow manure. Biggs drove around the farm in a white Sprinter van owned by the University of California, Riverside, and the van had nothing in its trunk but empty space and lab equipment. Biggs used two-liter stainless steel canisters to capture samples of the air that hovered around the farm, and she stored the samples in the back of the van, which she calls a…
May 7, 2020
Every summer since 2009, the NASA Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) has brought about 30 undergraduate STEM students from across the United States to California for an internship experience with NASA Earth Science research that includes flights on a research aircraft. This year with COVID-19 travel and social distancing restrictions in place, SARP might be grounded but the internship continues with new at-home data collection as well as the analysis of previously collected aircraft,…
Apr 24, 2020
Arthur Charles used to start each day with a morning walk with his wife. The loop around his neighborhood in Bakersfield, California wasn’t usually difficult for the 50-year-old to complete. Then one day, two years ago, Charles could barely reach the corner of his street. The routine walk felt like he was running a marathon.
Apr 22, 2020
Katherine Mackey studies the boundary between the living and the nonliving worlds. She wants to know how those two worlds define one other, as things like aquatic microorganisms can alter the chemistry of the water they live in, and the chemistry of the water can then affect the kinds of organisms able to live there.
Mar 17, 2020
California’s strict environmental regulations have long concerned some farmers, who say that restrictions around things such as water use are at odds with the agricultural industry. The state’s air pollution standards, though, which are among the strictest in the country, are a boon to farmers: The reductions in ground ozone resulted in $600 million worth of increased crop production annually.