Projects
Project leads come from across campus in all divisions, including Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Engineering, and Physical & Biological Sciences. Our support aims to help teams to take their solutions to scale and implement them. We also invest in projects that are piloting new ideas that can grow into solutions for coastal climate resilience.
“Promoting Resilience of the Dungeness Crab Fishery to Climate-Induced Harmful Algal Blooms,”
led by Kristy Kroeker, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.
Project details
Recent events have highlighted the acute vulnerability of marine species, ecosystems, and associated human communities along the California coast to climate change and the need for rapid adaptation. The 2014-2016 marine heatwave produced the largest and most prolonged domoic acid (DA)-producing harmful algal bloom (HAB) ever documented. Moreover, new “HAB hotspots” emerged during the heatwave that have persisted during non-heatwave periods. Importantly, these hotspots overlap with the commercial fishery for Dungeness crab, one of California’s most important fisheries, with ex-vessel annual revenues of $40-80 million over the past decade that represent 26% of all annual fishery revenue. The fishery is particularly important to the state’s central and northern California fishing communities, which have become highly dependent on it for livelihood and well-being. Ongoing interviews with crab fishery participants have identified several issues that limit the resilience of this social-ecological system to climate change. In particular, fishermen and seafood handlers have highlighted three key gaps: (1) not knowing where HABs are occurring or are predicted to occur, (2) a lack of clarity about where Dungeness crab accumulate DA from those HABs, and (3) inefficient use and communication of information from sampling, testing, and decision-making to close or reopen the fishery. We propose to leverage and combine existing expertise at UCSC to directly address all three gaps. Our theory of change is that more equitable access to and communication of HAB and DA data will enable more equitable opportunities for fishermen and seafood businesses to provide their catch to a diversity of markets.
“Restoring Chinook Salmon on the Klamath River to Rebuild Resilient Tribal Fisheries and Increase Food Security for Tribal Members,”
led by Eric Palkovacs, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.
Project details
Chinook salmon is a key component of food sovereignty for the tribes of the Klamath River Basin, but a combination of dams and climate change have had severe negative effects on the fishery, especially the abundance of spring Chinook, which are traditionally regarded as being a higher quality food source compared to fall Chinook. This project will examine the association between run timing genotypes and the nutritional content of salmon (calories, protein, fat, omega 3 fatty acids, vitamins A and D, and minerals). Semi-structured interviews with tribal members will be conducted to better understand the effects of declining spring Chinook for human health and wellbeing. Working with tribal fisheries, we will co-design approaches to restore Chinook salmon, in particular spring Chinook following the removal of Klamath River dams, to revitalize the fishery and increase food security for tribal members. This project aligns with California Climate Adaptation Strategy Goal to support California Native American tribes’ development of climate change and health equity resilience planning tools and capacity.
“Sustaining Recharge Net Metering to Benefit Aquatic Systems and Water Resources in a Changing Climate,”
led by Andrew Fisher, distinguished professor of Earth and planetary sciences.
Project details
The Pajaro Valley is in a coastal groundwater basin impacted by seawater intrusion, where salt water contaminates fresh water, making groundwater unusable for decades or longer. Proposed work will help to increase water supply, improve water quality, and empower local communities to “connect” with their aquifers and engage in shared resource management. Sustaining groundwater will also improve aquatic health in linked streams and near-shore estuaries. Recharge Net Metering (ReNeM) offsets costs to landowners and tenants who infiltrate stormwater runoff to improve groundwater resources, generating an annual rebate on pumping fees based on system performance. Wells in the agency service area are metered, and pumpers pay fees based on water extracted. Although charging for groundwater pumping is not (yet) common in California, many agencies are developing plans that will require generation of revenue needed to implement groundwater sustainability practices. Thus this is an opportune time to both make ReNeM work in the Pajaro Valley, and demonstrate effectiveness for consideration by other regions. Proposed work leverages existing partnerships and trust that have been developed and nurtured over 10+ years. By scaling ReNeM as a constructive solution, we can help to solve groundwater challenges throughout coastal California, while enabling a new approach to unlock resource management innovation in other parts of California and the U.S.
“Coordinated Fire Management for Resilient Coastal Prairies,”
led by Karen Holl, professor of environmental studies.
Project details
Land management groups are increasingly using prescribed burns in coastal prairies to slow woody encroachment, reduce fire risk, and promote grassland diversity, though the outcomes of such efforts have been minimally monitored. Recent fires have catalyzed awareness of the need for better fire management coordination amongst the many landholders along the California coast to protect human infrastructure and strengthen the climate resilience of this ecosystem. California coastal prairies, grasslands influenced by maritime fog, have evolved to depend on fire and other natural disturbances (e.g. burrowing mammals, Pleistocene grazers) after millions of years of infrequent lightning‐strike fires and then many millennia of cultural management by Native Americans. California coastal prairies were considered a special plant community by California Tribes who burned to maintain open landscapes for hunting wildlife and to promote growth of plants used for basketry, food, and medicine. This systematic burning sustained a mosaic of habitat types and prevented a buildup of fuels that could create catastrophic, unmanageable fires in adjacent forest. Since Western contact in the 16th century, coastal prairies have been reduced in size and diversity due to altered disturbance regimes including fire suppression and widespread cattle grazing, the introduction of invasive species, and conversion for agriculture and development. While fire often benefits plant diversity, the effects of fire on carbon storage are less clear and little information is available for CA coastal prairie. Monitoring carbon stocks following coastal prairie fires will narrow this knowledge gap and allow land managers to make decisions based on the best available science.
“Evaluation of Cost-Effectiveness and Equitable Distribution of Adaptation Benefits through CoSMoS ADAPT,”
led by Borja Reguero, associate research professor at the Institute of Marine Sciences.
Project details
Two-thirds of California’s residents live in coastal counties where more than 675,000 people and $250 billion in property are at risk of flooding from sea level rise and a 100-yr storm by 2101. Recent storms demonstrate that California is already experiencing growing costs from coastal climate impacts. State agencies and local communities have been scaling up adaptation efforts, but they have expressed a lack of tools to evaluate local adaptation options and the distribution of benefits at local and regional scales. The main goal of this project is to develop solutions, including nature-based approaches, to reduce climate risks. The project will advance the USGS’s Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS), which was developed with significant state funding, to create the first toolkit for quantitative evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of coastal adaptation options in the state, including nature-based solutions (NBS), in support of management and policy decision making.
“Carbon Dynamics in Coastal Wetlands – Understanding Controlling Processes to Assess Wetlands Nature-Based Climate Mitigation Potential,”
led by Adina Paytan, research scientist at the Institute of Marine Sciences.
Project details
Carbon sequestration in natural and working lands is one of several diverse nature-based climate action solutions that can provide additional benefits to people and ecosystems. Coastal wetlands are particularly effective in capturing carbon-dioxide from the atmosphere and burying this carbon for millennia in the waterlogged wetland soils, but wetlands are diverse; their physical (elevation, soil type), biological (vegetation, species), chemical (salinity, oxygen), management (flooding), landownership (private, state, federal) and use (agriculture, recreation, hunting) vary, and these differences affect their effectiveness as net carbon sinks. Moreover, some of these wetlands emit potent greenhouse gases such as methane which can offset carbon storage. It is therefore crucial to design and manage coastal wetlands to effectively remove carbon while also contributing to other benefits. This project aims to inform and facilitate effective implementation of wetland restoration and conservation projects aimed at increasing carbon sequestration and reducing greenhouse gas emissions for the co-benefit of human and natural systems. Ultimately, a set of practical restoration design and management recommendations, that increase net C sequestration and co-benefits, will be developed. Our data will also provide insights into how fluxes may change in the future because of climate change and their value in carbon markets, informing restoration planning and contributing to California’s GHG emissions reduction goals.
“Democratizing Access to Climate-Change Scenarios to Support Climate-Resilient Coastal Conservation,“
led by Erika Zavaleta, Howard Hughes Medical Institute professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.
Project details
Climate uncertainties and nonlinearities require “horizoning work” – processes to “bring an unknown or runaway future into the present as an object of knowledge and intervention” (Petryna 2018). We propose to expand and implement an existing spatial tool built by collaborating UCSC ecological, climate and computer scientists to enable widespread horizoning work for land decisions that enhance biodiversity conservation for nature and people in California. Our goal is to implement an interactive, map-based climate-change scenario tool co-designed to enable widespread exploration of how decisions made today will affect long-term climate resilience for coastal California’s biodiversity. California’s 30×30 and State Wildlife Action Plan offer a huge opportunity to democratize landscape conservation and
restoration decisions. Our tool will allow the California public, and in particular our tribal partners, to explore the consequences of climate change and conservation decisions and to have a participatory role in safeguarding the state’s culturally and ecologically important species. In the next two years, we will pursue three components of tool development and implementation in parallel: (A) model-building and validation; (B) interface co-design; and (C) best practices for tribal access and co-stewardship in the land-protection decisions this tool supports.
“CSP Fellows and Professional Development Certificate Pilot to Strengthen workforce development in coastal climate resilience and policy,”
led by the Coastal Science and Policy Program.
Project details
The Coastal Climate Resilience Fellowships will help build the cadre of rising leaders who reflect the diversity of California and beyond and are eager to address complex coastal resilience issues relevant to the foci of the Center on Coastal Climate Resilience (the Center). Our goal is to help seed and ensure a greater number of rising leaders in the coastal resilience workforce who reflect the full diversity of our communities and emphasize designing effective, socially just and equitable solutions.
With the CCCR support, the Coastal Science and Policy Program will launch a Coastal Resilience and Policy Certificate Pilot, with a goal of enhancing access to transformational coastal resilience training. Drawing on the needs expressed by partners in the field of insurance and nature-based solutions, the first pilot specialization module will focus on coastal resilience and insurance or advancing municipalities’ adaptability and resilience. In the second year, we will offer multiple specialization modules informed by a market and needs assessment commissioned in the first year.
“Coastal Resilience Exhibit Development,”
led by the Seymour Marine Discovery Center.
Project details
The Seymour Marine Discover Center plans to transform into an impact accelerator for — and public expression of — UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Coastal Climate Resilience by becoming the coastal climate connector of people, expertise, and action. With funding from the CCCR, the Seymour Center will:
- Install three new experiences to share the work done by the CCCR with the public
- Introduce a new space for climate professionals to connect with each other, share ideas, and collaborate on meaningful actions
- Fund three staff positions to [1] facilitate campus/community collaborations and [2] elevate the profile of UCSC’s impact and leadership by finding and sharing stories relevant to coastal climate resilience science and solutions.
This model will be spread by offering playbooks, workshops, and other resources to help California coastal communities establish their own climate action hubs.
“Communications Fellow in Coastal Climate Resilience,”
led by the Science Communication Program.
Project details
The UC Santa Cruz Science Communication Program is an international leader in inclusive science communication training and practice. The program currently offers a Master’s of Science in Science Communication (M.S.), but there is increasing demand for additional training in science-based public engagement at the University of California and beyond. The UC Santa Cruz Science Communication Laboratory, housed within the Science Communication Program, will leverage the program’s expertise to drive greater public and community engagement with research in coastal climate resilience and related fields across many formats (print, digital, multimedia, social media, and events). Among other activities, the program will focus on training diverse students to use evidence-based communication strategies in public discourse on climate and science issues, and work with students and other communicators to focus on identifying and discussing adaptation solutions, not just climate risk and problems with solutions – and where appropriate on Nature-based Solutions.
“Coastal Climate Risk & Value of Nature to Vulnerable Nations” and “Visualization of Climate Risk & Reef Benefits,”
led by the Coastal Resilience Lab.
Project details
Coastal zones provide key services to local communities but also carry significant risks from the land and ocean including impacts from waves, storm surges, and sea level rise, which are growing with climate change. Protecting and restoring coastal ecosystems such as coral reefs and mangroves can help mitigate these threats while also supporting local economies. As part of the “Large-scale CoPe: Reducing Climate Risks with Equitable Nature-based Solutions: Engaging Communities on Reef-Lined Coasts” or eNBS Hub, the Coastal Resilience Lab explores risks and benefits to communities in tropical coastal areas where replenishing coral reef and mangrove ecosystems have been piloted and can be scaled up to national and/or regional management levels as “Nature-based Solutions” (NBS) to better protect communities. The work focuses on key sites across three regions with diverse coastal, coral reef-dependent communities in Florida, the US Virgin Islands, and in Belize.
“Enhancing Climate Resilience of Coastal Biodiversity and Food Diversity via Aquaculture,”
led by Anne Kapuscinski, professor of environmental studies
and director of the Coastal Science & Policy program.
Project details
Native biodiversity is essential for climate change resilience of socio-ecological systems. The goal of this implementation project is to integrate aquaculture and agriculture of native species to diversify sustainable and resilient coastal food systems. The approach is to implement and assess a model of integrated aquaculture-agriculture (IAA) at Pie Ranch, Pescadero, CA involving farming rainbow trout in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) and reusing aquaculture backwash water to propagate native plants for ecological restoration and establishing a hedgerow of edible plants chosen by and for the Amah Mutsun Land Trust. Results will inform opportunities for wider adoption of IAA to benefit coastal food systems and ecological restoration.
“SeeMore HQ Exhibit Development,”
led by Jonathan Hicken, director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center.
Project details
SeeMore HQ will be an interactive exhibit dedicated to sharing high-impact coastal science and innovative solutions with the public. It will serve as a dynamic digital hub within the Center, making the research and findings of the UCSC Center for Coastal Climate Resilience (CCCR) accessible to diverse audiences. Through real-time data visualization, interactive content, and engaging experiences, SeeMore HQ will empower visitors to understand and contribute to solutions for coastal resilience in the face of climate change.
“Investing in Indigenous-Led Sustainability Solutions,”
led by Heather Tallis, CCCR senior fellow.
Project details
Most current climate finance mechanisms were developed without the benefit of Indigenous perspectives on management, economics and finance, limiting what is on offer today. As groups explore the future of climate and nature finance, Indigenous voices are often missing. To help overcome these challenges, we will catalyze networks of conservation investors and Indigenous communities across North America to improve connections within the community, increase investment in Indigenous-led climate and nature solutions, and create new options for investment that reflect Indigenous concepts of economics and finance.
“Visualization Lab,”
led by the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience.
Project details
The Visualization Lab will to serve as a hub for engaging stakeholders, utilizing advanced visualization technologies, and translating cutting-edge environmental research into actionable insights for decision-makers.The Visualization Lab’s primary purpose is to help researchers empower their stakeholders by making climate risk and resiliency data more accessible and approachable.
“Supporting Meaningful Community Participation for Climate Justice in Pajaro,”
led by Sikina Jinnah, professor of environmental studies, and
Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, professor of astronomy and astrophysics.
Project details
Climate risk and vulnerability is unevenly distributed, with marginalized groups impacted most by climate stressors and shocks, and the least able to recover and adapt to these events. This project will provide comprehensive training, resources, and financial support to Pajaro residents as they develop skills to effectively advocate for climate justice for their communities. Additionally, the project will facilitate the creation and implementation of two resident-led projects that address specific local challenges.
“Coastal Monitoring for Adaptation Planning and Beach Safety Using Network of Video Cameras,”
led by Alex Pang, professor of computer science and engineering.
Project details
California is home to 840 miles of beautiful coastline that hosts diverse marine lives, natural resources, and vibrant local economies and residents. Sea level rise affects coastal communities, making them more vulnerable to tidal and storm events, affects erosion, geomorphology, and hydrodynamics. This study will focus on coastal monitoring to help us understand the rate of sea level rise at a local scale, and with the same technology also promote beach safety using machine learning-based analysis of video from a network of webcams in Santa Cruz. The video analyses will extract shorelines at different time scales, beach use, as well as presence of rip currents. The methodology used in this pilot, as well as data and analyses that are generated, will be documented and made available via open-source software.
“Working Group Proposal: Accelerating Biological Adaptation to Climate Change,”
led by Beth Shapiro, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.
Project details
Climate change is altering habitats across California, often at a rate that outpaces a species’ capacity to adapt, but a new suite of tools informed by genomics, including translocation and gene editing, promise to accelerate the rate of adaptation. While these approaches are promising, their application for biodiversity conservation introduces novel risks, some of which are as yet unknown or undescribed. This potential risk profile has led to hesitancy toward adoption, governance challenges, and questions of environmental justice. Our working group will convene to identify coastal climate risks that might be addressed through the application of new biotechnologies; explore barriers and opportunities to using new biotechnologies to address these risks, including questions of environmental justice and Indigenous sovereignty; and clarify strategies to influence policy and decision-making specific to the implementation of new biotechnologies to biodiversity conservation.
“Disaster rebuilding costs and climate adaptation and mitigation: are we building back better?”
led by Galina Hale, professor of economics.
Project details
Due to increasing frequency and severity of climate-related disasters, such as flooding and wildfires, large sums of public and private funds are spent on rebuilding. Yet the equity of access to such funding is in question, as is the effectiveness of policies directed at rebuilding more resilient and “greener” structures. In the process of restoring their real estate, financially vulnerable households and small businesses might not have the ability to rebuild in a way that is consistent with climate mitigation and adaptation needs. As a result, their vulnerabilities will intensify, furthering climate injustice. This project will identify the key financial factors and policies that underlie the ability of households and businesses to rebuild in ways consistent with climate adaptation and mitigation and improve communities’ climate resilience.
“Greener Greenhouses: LiFi and RF-Backscatter Enabled IoT Monitoring for Drought Resilient Food Production,”
led by Katia Obraczka, professor of computer science and engineering.
Project details
The goal of this project is to develop next-generation open-source greenhouse monitoring technology to improve greenhouse food production while minimizing greenhouse water use, which will build drought resilience for the coastal agricultural sector. The proposed greenhouse monitoring system uses a visible-light (LiFi) and RF-backscatter enabled Internet of Things (IoT) system to autonomously and continuously monitor greenhouse conditions to optimize food productivity while reducing greenhouse resource consumption, e.g., water and power usage. Additionally, the LiFi and RF-backscatter IoT can operate battery-free which is environmentally friendly and also contributes to further reducing greenhouse resource consumption footprint. Our “greener” greenhouses will serve as a model for how technology can increase coastal climate resilience to drought and other extreme weather while helping improve food. production.
“Evolutionary resilience in kelp for climate adaptation,”
led by Malin Pinsky, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.
Project details
The extent of climate and heat tolerance provided by rapid evolution, and the populations most likely to evolve, remain largely unknown. Both questions are critical for guiding climate adaptation in management and restoration, particularly for foundation species such as giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) and bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana). Populations with heat- and climate-tolerant genotypes and evolutionary resilience to climate change may sustain ongoing harvest, while populations unable to rapidly evolve are likely to require restoration or assisted evolution. This proposal will develop genomic tools, community partnerships, and a proof of concept with kelp for integrating evolutionary resilience into restoration and conservation. Considerations of evolutionary resilience remain in their infancy for all species, providing an opportunity for rapidly scaling this demonstration to other regions and species.
“The Probability Engine: Using Augmented Reality and 3D Printing to Envision Futures of Resilience to Sea Level Rise,”
led by micha cárdenas, associate professor of games and playable media.
Project details
The Probability Engine aims to tell stories that move audiences to act for climate justice. Thisseries of artworks, including an Augmented Reality app, 3-D printed sculptures, and short stories that embody possible climate futures, will engage audiences through multiple senses that allow them to feel themselves within the story of California coastal resilience to climate change. The forms these sculptures and objects take will be determined by interviews with climate scientists, activists, and artists, in dialogue with the fields of climate fiction, augmented reality, bioart, and virtual sculpture. The first and title sculpture in this series, The Probability Engine, is inspired by artists and intends to make clear to audiences that there is a way to choose our futures together.
“Engaging Coastal Climate Vulnerable Communities in CA Policy Making on Solar Geoengineering,”
led by Sikina Jinnah, professor of environmental studies.
Project details
Solar geoengineering (SG) is an emerging climate technology which would enhance climate resilience by reflecting 1% of incoming sunlight, mitigating global temperature rise. Research indicates potential benefits, especially for vulnerable coastal areas facing climate impacts. Despite increasing global interest, SG remains largely ungoverned in California, nationally, and globally due to equity, governance, and environmental concerns. This project emphasizes environmental justice, and will engage historically marginalized voices—youth, low income, and BIPOC—in weighing the risks and benefits of SG as a climate resilience solution. With national and global policy discussions of SG rapidly increasing, this project will position the state to lead the country and the world in developing equity-centered SG policy that integrates the perspective of climate vulnerable communities into SG research and policy.
“Electrochemical water desalination for coastal homes and agriculture,”
led by Yat Li, professor of chemistry.
Project details
This project addresses coastal freshwater scarcity through the development of cost-effective, efficient, and scalable water desalination systems utilizing capacitive deionization (CDI). As water scarcity intensifies, particularly in coastal regions where rising sea levels threaten freshwater supplies, harnessing CDI methods to desalinate water with low to medium salinity (e.g., brackish water) is a compelling alternative to pressure-based approaches. Unlike traditional methods, CDI consumes minimal energy, extracts salt ions efficiently, and has the advantage of utilizing simple equipment which is easy to operate, making it possible to scale for use in coastal or remote areas. In addition, brackish water desalination has a lower environmental impact because it generates a brine solution with lower salinity comparable to seawater.
“Climate Action Lab: Combining Science & Art to Help Coastal Communities Understand and Respond to Climate Risks,”
led by Jennifer Parker, professor of art.
Project details
The OpenLab Collaborative Research Center is UC Santa Cruz’s most prominent creator of multidisciplinary art, science, + technology experiences. Seymour Marine Discovery Center is the university’s most prominent public interface, annually welcoming 65,000+ people to campus. OpenLab’s expertise and student engagement, combined with the Seymour Center’s space, staff support, and community accessibility, create the perfect collaboration to launch the Climate Action Lab—a multi-disciplinary and co-creative initiative dedicated to researching and creating place-based responses to the impacts of climate change by prototyping an innovative set of art & science exhibitions, events, and community-engaged experiences.
“Increasing Coastal Climate Change Impacts on Pinniped Breeding Habitat: Prediction, Planning, and Mitigation,”
led by Rachel Holser, assistant research scientist for the Institute of Marine Sciences.
Project details
Global climate change is expected to have myriad impacts on marine mammals, from changes in prey availability to habitat loss. For land-dependent marine mammals such as seals and sea lions, sea level rise and other coastal hazards could result in the loss of habitat required for reproduction and rest. This will likely result in altered distributions of these populations or increased crowding if movement to more favorable sites is not possible. As current haul-out sites disappear, these animals will look for new places to rest and breed, which will increasingly put them in conflict with human activities. Using data from the USGS Coastal Storm Modelling System and in collaboration with reserve managers, this project has the main objective to identify which haul-out sites in central California are most likely to be impacted by sea level rise and coastal climate change.
“Augmenting the California Firefighter Toolkit with Usable and Smart Data-Driven Technology,”
led by Ricardo Sanfelice, professor of electrical and computer engineering.
Project details
The effects of extended droughts, widespread climate change, and a widespread buildup of fuels due to fire exclusion have increased the devastation wrought by recent wildfires. More frequent and severe wildfires are wreaking havoc on communities, infrastructure, wildlife, ecology, and local economies, and underserved communities tend to bear the brunt of the impacts from these fires. Emerging mobile technologies, such as airplanes, helicopters, and operator-supervised drones can provide much needed solutions for the prevention, management, and suppression of wildfires, but adoption of this technology has been challenging. To address this challenge, we propose to deliver a deployable integration of such technologies in a “firefighting toolkit” that can provide locally distributed firefighting crews with global real-time information about fire progression, environmental conditions, and resources available to make more effective yet agile decisions.
“Turning the Tide: Understanding Access Social Inequalities in Coastal California,”
led by Katherine Seto, assistant professor of environmental studies.
Project details
This project will examine the role of coastal access and proximity for understanding central social inequalities. Such inequalities show no signs of diminishing. If we want to turn the tide to mitigate these harmful outcomes, then we must understand: our history of coastal access; current patterns of social inequalities; and which communities are most likely to shoulder the consequences of coastal hazards and lost coastal access. This research will be relevant for policymakers at multiple scales, such the California Coastal Commission and coastal cities and counties. In addition, coastal planning and development agencies are in need of these analyses to inform policy. The work will provide a detailed understanding of how social and biophysical drivers differentially affect disadvantaged communities in the coastal zone. These findings are profoundly relevant to the broad research community and policy and management audiences seeking to mitigate the uneven effects of coastal climate change.
“Dynamic Planning, Sensing, and Policies for Optimized Mobility in the Future Workforce,”
led by Carlos Martinez, assistant professor of Latin American and Latino studies.
Project details
The striking affordable housing crisis in the Bay Area makes clear that the burdens of the jobs-housing spatial mismatch are experienced unequally by people depending on income and occupation. Middle-income households are increasingly moving to more affordable exurban locations, trading off more affordable housing with longer and more expensive commutes. Many low-income households, often including people with multiple low-income jobs, can’t afford the time or costs of commuting, and end up living in overcrowded housing closer to job centers, often with multiple families living in a single house or in trailers and RVs. Our vision is to explore solutions to the jobs/housing spatial mismatch in our coastal region by developing smart schedulers, and help commuters, transportation authorities, employers, and other community service providers (e.g. health providers, child care, schools) use the tools we develop to mitigate the problems of the job-housing mismatch.
“Bio-intensive No-till Research for Climate-Smart Mini-Farms & Urban Gardens,”
led by Joji Muramoto, assistant adjunct professor of environmental studies.
Project details
The goal of this pilot project is to investigate no-till organic cultivation as a climate-smart strategy for small-scale growers raising vegetable and fruit crops on less than five acres. There are well-documented benefits of no-till systems in commodity crops (corn, soy, cotton, wheat) helping to ameliorate climate change through the transformation of soil properties and farm practices: increased water holding capacity, decreased fertilizer applications, decreased diesel fuel use, and increased soil carbon sequestration. However, there has been very little work adapting these systems for organic vegetables and fruits, and only limited studies on small farms practicing no-till in hand-worked systems or with only small implements (no tractors). This project seeks to evaluate the claims around productivity and carbon sequestration for micro farms.
“Designing Just and Fire Resilient Landscapes in Coastal California,”
led by Andrew Mathews, professor of anthropology.
Project details
Climate change is combining with legacies of fire management, population and housing growth, and human-caused ignitions to increase wildfires in the Central Coast of California. Responses to increased wildfire risk include prescribed fire, mechanical vegetation management, land use planning, ignition prevention, and home hardening. This project will study how the densely inhabited forest landscapes of the Central California coast can be made more ecologically resilient and socially just in an era of rapid climate change and increasing wildfires, and directly address the obstacles to and equity impacts of fire risk reduction practices, focusing on the knowledge and perceptions of fire managers, officials, local residents, including home owners, renters, poor people, homeless people, people of color, and Indigenous people.
“Integrated Rainwater to Food Systems for Santa Cruz,”
led by Alexie Leauthaud-Harnett, assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics.
Project details
The goal of this pilot program is to design and build integrated rainwater-to-food systems, and work with community members to understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities as part of a larger effort to study how the greater Santa Cruz community could benefit from the deployment of such systems. We will study a number of methods for conserving water and measure how long rainwater tanks can irrigate gardens under local conditions and with locally popular crops. Data and experience collected from this program will help to build foundations for local sustainable policy advocacy in Santa Cruz and to apply for larger funding opportunities. Our team is diverse, multifaceted, interdisciplinary, harnessing the creative vision and energy of undergraduates, graduates, and faculty, and builds on existing community relationships with local schools.
“Quantitative Analysis of Reforestation Best Practices to Guide Funding & Improve Outcomes,”
led by Karen Holl, professor of environmental studies.
Project details
In recent years, the urgency of climate mitigation actions has led to
the increasing promotion and funding for tree-growing as a nature-based solution. This project will assess how well tree growing organizations follow best practices to enhance the likelihood of successful outcomes and analyze tree cover data from supported project locations for a subset of intermediary organizations to more directly link stated practices to empirical results. The results will not only provide much needed accountability for tree growing intermediary organizations but also verify the impact of existing guidelines on increasing tree cover to establish clear priorities and guide organizations and funders to achieve target goals.
“Integrating the Economic Value of Coastal Ecosystems into the IMF’s Debt Sustainability Framework,”
led by Galina Hale, professor of economics.
Project details
This project will review how the economic value of coastal ecosystems and related risks are incorporated in the current IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) framework, conduct case studies for specific countries, and propose improvement in this component of the DSA. The outcome is a long-term collaboration plan going beyond coastal ecosystems to explore additional ecosystem services, as necessary and aligned with World Bank and IMF ambition, as well as the interest of credit rating agencies.
“Advancement of a Novel Mosquitocidal Agent to Address Climate Change Driven Spread of Mosquito-borne Diseases,”
led by John MacMillan, professor of chemistry & biochemistry.
Project details
Climate change is an enduring challenge for vector-borne disease prevention and control, particularly mosquito-carried diseases, which have expanded over the last decade in both rural and urban environments. The MacMillan laboratory has been studying a potent and selective mosquitocidal agent derrived from a cultured-marine bacteria which has demonstrated the ability to kill adult and larval stage mosquitos but displays no toxicity to beneficial insects such as honeybees, moths or butterflies. The development of non-toxic, natural mosquitocidal agents to control the vector could play a major role in disease mitigation.
“An Intelligent 3-D Air Monitoring Network to Pinpoint Wildfire Smoke,”
led by Javier González-Rocha, professor of applied mathematics.
Project details
Providing agricultural communities like the Pajáro Valley with access to an easy-to-use measurement-modeling tool to obtain accurate, timely, and relevant air quality data to empower residents to effectively mitigate health impacts associated with air pollution from agricultural operations, environmental flow hazards, and wildfires.
“Climate Risk Information and Migration,”
led by Grace Gu, professor of economics and
Jeremy West, professor of economics.
Project details
Focusing on climate-induced migration within the United States, this project will study the interaction between public policy, such as public provision of climate risk mitigation and adaptation (e.g., mangrove restoration), and private household behavior as viewed through finances, migration, and insurance decisions.
“Saul Villegas, CCCR-IMS Artist-In-Residence,”
led by Christina Ravelo, professor of ocean sciences.
Project details
The Institute for Marine Sciences and CCCR is suppporting an artist-in-residence to explore collaborations with marine and coastal scientists. A framework for interdisciplinary collaboration will be built through consultation of scientists interested in expanding the impact of their research through the production of digital and printed materials.
