News

'Self-serving garbage': Wildfire experts escalate fight over saving California forests

December 1, 2021
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As the Caldor fire roared into the Lake Tahoe basin more than a month ago, Brian Newman took some comfort in the surroundings. An operations section chief with Cal Fire, Newman knew that thousands of acres of trees and brush had been deliberately removed from around...

Winston Cone Optics' Innovative Technology Garners State, National Attention

November 22, 2021
When people hear the word “solar,” many think of solar panels on a house, which generate electricity. But there is another way to use energy harnessed by the sun: heat. Founding faculty member and Director of the University of California Advanced Solar Technologies Institute (UC...

Study Shows Climate-Driven Forest Fires on the Rise

November 17, 2021
An upside of the increase in forest fires in the West is that they reduce the amount of fuel available for other burns. That might provide a buffering effect on western fires for the next few decades, but the threat of climate-driven forest fires is not diminishing, a new study shows. Without...

Researchers to Study, Report on Impacts of Drought on Agriculture and Communities

November 16, 2021
Just because there has been rain lately doesn’t mean California is drought-free. A new $1.5 million research grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture is supporting School of Engineering Professor Josué Medellín-Azuara, collaborating engineering professors ...

Professor’s COVID-tracking Earns Her a Spot in New Center of Excellence

November 15, 2021
School of Engineering Professor Colleen Naughton has been selected to be part of a Center of Excellence, along with colleagues at UC Davis, funded by a National Institutes of Health grant. Ceres Nanosciences, a private company that makes products to improve life science research and...

Researcher Studies Cloud Formation as a Key to Climate Change Modeling

November 15, 2021
Lots of people look at clouds and think about flying, floating or the shapes they see. When atmospheric chemistry Professor Xuan Zhang looks at clouds, she thinks about tiny particles in the air. With her first grant from the National Science Foundation, Zhang is studying how pine tree...

Keske Publication Shows Central Valley Ripe for Biochar Studies

November 10, 2021
Central Valley natives are accustomed to seeing plumes of smoke from burning tree piles after harvest. This is the traditional way farmers dispose of crop waste, such as trees, nut shells and pruned vines. But there may be a better way to get rid of residual orchard waste that is less harmful to...

Research is Clarifying Benefits of Transforming Human Waste into Useable Resources

November 8, 2021
Human waste isn’t a topic most people want to talk about. But environmental systems Professor Rebecca Ryals embraces the subject, especially when it comes to mitigating climate change, improving public health and creating sustainable food systems. In a recent publication in...

New strategies could help California meet methane goals

November 3, 2021
Environmentalists are utilizing a broad range of strategies to reduce or re-capture methane from multiple industries in California. MERCED, Calif. (KGO) -- When President Biden announced the goal of reducing methane emissions roughly 30% over the next decade, it focused attention...

NSF Grant to Help Grad Students Find Solutions to Environmental Challenges

November 1, 2021
Graduate students and a convergence of physics, engineering and environmental science could result in not only the next generation of solutions to pressing environmental challenges, but a new group of diverse and globally competitive nano-engineers, as well. A nearly $2 million grant from the...

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