UC Davis News: Environmental Sciences

When, where and how wood is used impact carbon emissions from deforestation

Mon, 14 May 2012 08:20:00 -0700

A new study from the University of California, Davis, provides a deeper understanding of the complex global impacts of deforestation on greenhouse gas emissions.

The study, published May 13 in the advance online edition of the journal Nature Climate Change, reports that the volume of greenhouse gas released when a forest is cleared depends on how the trees will be used and in which part of the world the trees are grown.

When trees are felled to create solid wood products, such as lumber for housing, that wood retains much of its carbon for decades, the researchers found. In contrast, when wood is used for bioenergy or turned into pulp for paper, nearly all of its carbon is released into the atmosphere. Carbon is a major contributor to greenhouse gases.

“We found that 30 years after a forest clearing, between 0 percent and 62 percent of carbon from that forest might remain in storage,” said lead author J. Mason Earles, a doctoral student with the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies. “Previous models generally assumed that it was all released immediately.”

The researchers analyzed how 169 countries use harvested forests. They learned that the temperate forests found in the United States, Canada and parts of Europe are cleared primarily for use in solid wood products, while the tropical forests of the Southern Hemisphere are more often cleared for use in energy and paper production.

“Carbon stored in forests outside Europe, the USA and Canada, for example, in tropical climates such as Brazil and Indonesia, will be almost entirely lost shortly after clearance,” the study states.

The study’s findings have potential implications for biofuel incentives based on greenhouse gas emissions. For instance, if the United States decides to incentivize corn-based ethanol, less profitable crops, such as soybeans, may shift to other countries. And those countries might clear more forests to make way for the new crops. Where those countries are located and how the wood from those forests is used would affect how much carbon would be released into the atmosphere.

Earles said the study provides new information that could help inform climate models of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading international body for the assessment of climate change.

“This is just one of the pieces that fit into this land-use issue,” said Earles. Land use is a driving factor of climate change. “We hope it will give climate models some concrete data on emissions factors they can use.”

In addition to Earles, the study, “Timing of carbon emissions from global forest clearance,” was co-authored by Sonia Yeh, a research scientist with the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, and Kenneth E. Skog of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.

The study was funded by the California Air Resources Board and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

UC Davis plans 13 commencements, will graduate first nursing students

Tue, 08 May 2012 11:25:00 -0700

Thousands of students from the University of California, Davis, will participate in 13 commencement ceremonies this spring, including the first class from the new Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.

Commencement season begins Thursday, May 17, and concludes Sunday, June 17.

Guest speakers will include:

Goodwin Liu, an associate justice of the California Supreme Court, at the commencement for the School of Law on May 17;
Marie V. McDemmond, president emeritus of Norfolk State University in Virginia, at the commencement for the School of Education on June 13;
James C. Davis, president of Chevron Energy Solutions, at the commencement for the Graduate School of Management on June 16; and
Secretary General Chris Buijink of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation for the Netherlands, at the commencements for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences on June 17.

For more about speakers, visit: http://commencement.ucdavis.edu/speakers.html.

Commencement dates, times and locations are as follows:

May 17 — School of Law at 2 p.m. at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts;
May 19 — School of Medicine at 10 a.m. at the Mondavi Center;
June 13 — School of Education at 4 p.m. at the Mondavi Center;
June 14 — Graduate Studies at 4 p.m. in the ARC Pavilion;
June 15 — College of Biological Sciences at 9 a.m. in the ARC Pavilion;
June 15 — School of Veterinary Medicine at 10 a.m. at the Mondavi Center;
June 15 — College of Engineering at 3 p.m. in the ARC Pavilion;
June 16 — College of Letters and Science at 9 a.m., 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. in the ARC Pavilion;
June 16 — Graduate School of Management at 10 a.m. at the Mondavi Center; and
June 17 — College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the ARC Pavilion.

In addition, the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing will hold a special celebration of its first graduates at 12:30 p.m. on June 14 at the UC Davis Conference Center, before students participate in the Graduate Studies commencement. About 25 nursing students are candidates for a Master of Science degree.

Established in 2009, the nursing school admitted the first students to its master’s and Doctor of Philosophy programs in fall 2010. The school focuses on preparing graduates as educators, researchers and leaders to promote health, advance quality of care and safety, and shape policy.

The School of Law will award 23 Master of Laws and 202 Juris Doctor degrees at its ceremony, and the School of Medicine will award 108 Doctor of Medicine, four Master of Health Informatics and 24 Master of Public Health degrees.

Estimates of degrees to be awarded at the other ceremonies will be available in June. In 2010-11, UC Davis conferred 8,350 degrees.

Tickets are required for all commencement ceremonies except Graduate Studies, and they are distributed to graduating students by individual schools and colleges.

UC Davis will offer live and on-demand webcasts of each of the commencements at http://commencementvideo.ucdavis.edu/.

UC Davis academic associations award prizes for faculty teaching, research, service

Fri, 04 May 2012 15:04:00 -0700

The UC Davis Academic Senate and Academic Federation have announced their 2012 teaching and research prize recipients.

The senate each year presents Distinguished Teaching Awards and Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Awards. The federation honors its members for Excellence in Teaching and Excellence in Research.

ACADEMIC SENATE

Distinguished Teaching Award: Undergraduate

• Frances Dolan, professor, Department of English — Teaching is central in her work and in her own scholarship. Describing her as a “dazzling lecturer” and mentor for students, English professor Margaret Ferguson said: “Whether teaching a course of 200 or mentoring a single MURALS (Mentorships for Undergraduate Research in Agriculture, Letters and Science) student, Fran pays extraordinary attention to the details of pedagogy; she is interested not only in introducing students to new texts, genres and critical questions, but also in strengthening their ability to read closely and to ask big questions of what they read.”

• Ari Kelman, associate professor, Department of History — He shines at the front of a lecture hall in a way that few others do, said David Biale, professor and chair, Department of History. “Working largely without notes, responding frequently to student questions without losing the thread of his own thought, he proceeds through a lecture, crafting a clear narrative and analysis as he goes along.” He added: “While he sometimes ventures into theater — his lecture on the caning of Sen. Charles Sumner is legendary — students appreciate his lectures most for their combination of sophistication and accessibility.”

• David Osleger, lecturer, Department of Geology — He has “an exceptional ability to get students involved in the course material,” his faculty colleagues wrote in nominating him. In evaluating his classes, students use words like “fascinating,” “fun” and “enlightening.” For many students, taking a general education geology class from Osleger led them to either take more geology classes, or to become geology or natural sciences majors. Osleger also is committed to recruiting students, especially from underrepresented groups, into natural sciences and geology, and mentoring undergraduates on career choices in geological sciences.

• Jay Stachowicz, associate professor, Department of Evolution and Ecology — He is a motivator, engaging and entertaining in the classroom, and “an incredible mentor,” encouraging students to participate in his lab. “He teaches students more than just the skills needed to run different marine ecology experiments,” Natalie Caulk, Elise Hinman and Kristen Kelley wrote in a nomination letter. “He teaches the process of scientific inquiry.” Faculty colleagues Artyom Kopp and Rick Grosberg said Stachowicz’s research experience energizes all of his classes: “His teaching embodies all that a great research university stands for.”

Distinguished Teaching Award: Graduate and Professional

• Richard Sexton, professor and chair, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics — He is a master of his subject matter, communicates well and is remarkably adept at maximizing classroom participation. In addition, he has played an integral role in curriculum development, especially earning praise for master’s-level macroeconomic theory, which he began teaching in 1994 and later expanded into a two-course sequence. Those courses now attract students from many other disciplines. Sexton pioneered the incorporation of industrial organization concepts into instruction on agricultural market analysis.

• Richard Tucker, professor of cellular biology and human anatomy, School of Medicine — He is the primary instructor for the single largest course in the four-year curriculum: “Gross, Radiologic and Developmental Anatomy,” which includes foreign terminology and physically demanding laboratory sessions. Students laud his caring and motivational style, “fantastic ability to present a large amount of developmental information in a short period of time,” and his knowledge of the material, which he “can explain at any level of detail the moment demands.”

Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award

• Liz Applegate, senior lecturer, Department of Nutrition — She puts as much effort into public service as she does to her teaching, notably Nutrition 10, which draws rave reviews, owing to her philosophy of making nutrition and fitness education actionable and pertinent. Off campus, she gives countless lectures and workshops to a broad range of community groups, particularly those comprising underrepresented populations — people who are disabled or chronically ill, for example. She also works with state and national organizations, and youth sport groups. In addition, she is a valuable resource for the media.

• John Largier, professor, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, and the Bodega Marine Laboratory — He has played a notable and sustained role in service to the public by providing scientific advice on matters related to the health of marine and coastal environments via media events and interviews, membership on assessment and advisory teams, participation in working groups and on task forces, and presentations at public meetings. His efforts are across the spectrum from service intended to spur development of science beyond the university, to the application of science in policy, advising agencies and informing the public.

• Mark J. Mannis, professor and chair, Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science, and director, Eye Center — Recognized for his efforts to increase the number of high-quality ocular tissues available for transplant, as well as the number of ophthalmologists and technicians trained in the latest corneal transplant and eye-banking methodologies — thus restoring sight for tens of thousands of people with blinding diseases around the globe. Starting 30 years ago, Mannis and the UC Davis Medical Center turned the Lions Club’s fledgling eye bank into the well-established Sierra Eye and Tissue Donor Services.

• Robert K. Washino, emeritus professor, Department of Entomology — Throughout his academic career and now in retirement, he gives freely of his time and expertise to local, state, federal and international agencies, as well as the private sector. He served on U.S. Department of Agriculture and California Department of Food and Agriculture task forces targeting such insects as the Africanized honeybee and Mediterranean fruit fly. He added breadth and depth to such organizations as the Entomological Society of America and the World Health Organization.

ACADEMIC FEDERATION

Excellence in Teaching

• Eric Mann, lecturer, Department of Microbiology — His faculty colleagues said he is enthusiastic about his teaching and strives to stimulate his students to think independently. In their evaluations, students praise his clear lecture style, meticulous organization and remarkable sense of humor. His extensive work in curriculum development included a revamp of introductory microbiology to meet the needs of preprofessional students, and a reorganization of the MIC 101 labs so they could be offered in the summer. His dedication is astounding, said his colleagues, noting that he supervises lab instruction 18 hours a week in a typical quarter.

• John Rundin, lecturer, Classics Program — He is described as being abundantly generous to students inside the classroom and out, keeping an open door for those in need of assistance in one of the most difficult subjects: Latin. “His office is next to mine, so I can hear him patiently explaining Latin forms or grammar — never losing his sense of compassion and his conviction that every student can grasp the language — and also offering encouragement and advice,” wrote Emily Albu, associate professor and Classics Program director. “I see the academic results in the number of students who continue to a classics major or minor.”

Excellence in Research

• Wei Yao, assistant adjunct professor, School of Medicine — Her most recent work, published in Nature Medicine earlier this year, involved the development of a novel technique (using the molecule LLP2A-Ale) to enhance bone growth — offering a potential treatment for osteoporosis. Nancy E. Lane, who holds the Endowed Chair in Healthy Aging and Geriatric Medicine, said Yao has made a number of seminal scientific discoveries at UC Davis. “The scope of inquiry, the importance of the topic matter, the methodical construction of a unified approach to the questions and the gratifying results all speak for themselves,” Lane said.

Lighting innovator assumes first Rosenfeld Chair in Energy Efficiency

Thu, 03 May 2012 08:50:00 -0700

Michael Siminovitch, director of the California Lighting Technology Center, has been named the first Arthur H. Rosenfeld Chair in Energy Efficiency at the University of California, Davis.

The designation honors both Siminovitch, a professor of design whose work is revolutionizing lighting throughout California, and Rosenfeld, considered the “father of energy efficiency.”

“I am absolutely delighted that Michael has received this recognition,” said Jessie Ann Owens, dean of the Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies, which encompasses the Department of Design. “He is a visionary leader and the perfect person to inaugurate this chair.”

Siminovitch has directed the CLTC since it was established in 2003, under the UC Davis Department of Design. It has since become one of the most respected lighting research centers in the United States. Working with industry partners, utilities, government agencies, and others, CLTC is dedicated to advancing energy-efficient lighting and daylighting design.

High-efficiency lighting developed at CLTC now illuminates buildings statewide, as well as UC Davis parking lots and garages, the Richmond Department of Public Health and other state agencies, higher education campuses outside UC Davis, such as California State University-Long Beach, and Raley’s supermarkets.

The lighting retrofits at UC Davis are part of the university’s Smart Lighting Initiative co-developed by Siminovitch to reduce the campus’s electricity use for lighting by 60 percent by the end of 2015. When the initiative is complete, the campus is expected to reduce its carbon footprint by about 10,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent and save an estimated $3 million each year. The CLTC also advised developers of UC Davis West Village, the nation’s largest planned zero net energy community.

CLTC is part of the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center, of which Rosenfeld is a founding advisory board member. Rosenfeld is currently a professor emeritus of physics at UC Berkeley, co-founder and former director of the Center for Building Science at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and retired California Energy Commissioner.

“We’re thrilled to recognize both Art Rosenfeld and Michael Siminovitch — two extraordinary people who are doing good things for California and the world,” said Nicole Biggart, Chevron Chair in Energy Efficiency, director of the Energy Efficiency Center, and professor in the Graduate School of Management.

In the 1970s, Rosenfeld was one of the first in the nation to propose that conserving energy was cheaper and smarter than building new power plants and finding more nonrenewable energy sources. His contributions to energy efficiency are so profound that a new unit to describe energy saved — the Rosenfeld — was named after him in 2010.

While working as a student researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Siminovitch was mentored by Rosenfeld, whose ideas left a deep impression on him.

“He was an enthusiastic champion of this thing called energy efficiency,” said Siminovitch, recalling those early years. “At the time, he was one of the few in the country linking technology, design and human behavior all together with energy efficiency. The California Lighting Technology Center is based on those cornerstones, which I learned from him.”

Like Rosenfeld, Siminovitch is intent on using science and design to make an impact. In addition to teaching the next generation of lighting designers and helping to develop new energy-efficient technologies, he has helped to shape public policy in California. He often advises regulatory agencies, manufacturers and architects, all with a focus on bringing energy efficient technologies to the public. His efforts to make adaptive lighting a standard in building design helped shape changes to Title 24 codes and standards.

“The Rosenfeld Chair is about the can-do culture of UC Davis and the California Lighting Technology Center — a culture of innovation and cooperation,” Siminovitch said. “We’re creating real change and moving ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace by working collaboratively with industry.”

The new chair was endowed by more than 70 individuals and organizations. Major donors include Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Sempra Energy, Southern California Edison, the California Clean Energy Fund, Chevron, ClimateWorks Foundation, Exelon Corporation, Goldman Sachs, Power Integrations Inc., and Wendy and Eric Schmidt. A full list of donors is online at: http://eec.ucdavis.edu/events/rosenfeld_donors.php.

The endowment will help the chair holder promote the EEC’s mission to develop and commercialize energy-efficient technologies, teach future leaders in energy efficiency, and conduct critical policy-supporting research.

Siminovitch is a graduate of Carleton University in Canada and received his master’s degrees in both industrial design and architecture from the University of Illinois. He earned his doctorate degree in architecture and human factors engineering from the University of Michigan.

Expert sources on Calif. governor’s new green-building order

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:00:00 -0700

The following UC Davis experts are available to talk about the bold targets outlined in the governor’s green building order issued April 25. The executive order (B-18-12) aims to ensure that state facilities waste less energy on lighting, water, air-conditioning and heating.

UC Davis leadership in California energy savings

Nicole Woolsey Biggart, director of the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center, holder of the Chevron Chair in Energy Efficiency, and professor at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, is an expert in organizational theory and management of innovation, and can discuss the barriers to implementation of energy efficient technologies in the commercial building industry. The Energy Efficiency Center works with inventors, utilities and investors to propel promising energy efficiency solutions to the market, with a focus on lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and water use and transport. Contact: Nicole Woolsey Biggart, Energy Efficiency Center, (530) 304-5052, nwbiggart@ucdavis.edu.

How to slash lighting energy use

When the California Public Utilities Commission called for a 60 to 80 percent statewide reduction in electrical lighting consumption by 2020, UC Davis was the first large institution in the state to act. Guided by UC Davis’ California Lighting Technology Center, campus administrators began a Smart Lighting Initiative to reduce the campus's electricity use for all lighting by 60 percent by the end of 2015. Already, some campus facilities have achieved greater than 70 percent savings with the latest technologies. Contact: Michael Siminovitch, CLTC, (530) 747-3835, mjsiminovitch@ucdavis.edu. Also reach Siminovitch through Kelly Cunningham, CLTC outreach director, (530) 747-3824, kcunning@ucdavis.edu.

How California purchasing power can drive change

“The governor’s new executive order provides an opportunity for the state to further demonstrate leadership by using its purchasing power to drive innovation and adoption of efficiency technologies and strategies,” said Anthony Eggert, executive director of the new UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment and the Economy. Before Eggert came to UC Davis in January, he advised Gov. Brown on clean energy and efficiency policy. Contact: Anthony Eggert, UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment and the Economy, (530) 752-1083, areggert@ucdavis.edu. (Traveling in China until April 29; use e-mail, expect delay.)

Curbing lighting’s big energy appetite

Lighting accounts for nearly 30 percent of California's electricity use. Due to continued use of inefficient lighting, much of this energy is wasted. The California Public Utilities Commission has called for a 60 to 80 percent statewide reduction in electrical lighting consumption by 2020. The California Lighting Technology Center at UC Davis works closely with state agencies, manufacturing partners, and the research community to add new requirements in the pending state building code. “Upgrades for state facilities represent a significant opportunity to achieve our energy efficiency goals, provide green jobs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions statewide,” said Michael Siminovitch, director of the California Lighting Technology Center and holder of the UC Davis Rosenfeld Chair in Energy Efficiency. Contact: Michael Siminovitch, CLTC, (530) 747-3835, mjsiminovitch@ucdavis.edu. Also reach Siminovitch through Kelly Cunningham, CLTC outreach director, (530) 747-3824, kcunning@ucdavis.edu.

Making rooms comfortable with less energy

Energy-efficient heating, ventilation and air-conditioning/cooling (HVAC) is the mission of UC Davis’ Western Cooling Efficiency Center. The center is supported by the California Energy Commission, as well as industry affiliates including utilities, manufacturers and contractors. Its research has changed California Title 24 policy to make rooftop packaged cooling units more efficient. The center has also installed and evaluated energy-saving strategies for the CEC’s Public Interest Energy Research program, such as “demand control” kitchen ventilation. Western Cooling Efficiency Center director Mark Modera developed Aeroseal, for sealing HVAC ducts in homes, recently named the “best home improvement” product by This Old House Magazine and currently under study in a Stockton home. Modera holds the UC Davis Sempra Energy Chair in Energy Efficiency. Contact: Mark Modera, Western Cooling Efficiency Center, (530) 754-7671, mpmodera@ucdavis.edu.

Less energy to use and move water

Almost 20 percent of electricity used in California is spent moving, using and treating water. Frank Loge, director of the UC Davis Center for Water-Energy Efficiency said, "Public policy and business practice have treated water and energy as separate resources, but they are inexorably linked.” The center’s researchers have worked with the UC Davis Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to commercialize water- and energy-conservation technologies, such as a system to convert wastewater into biodegradable plastic (being developed by Micromidas in West Sacramento). Center researchers have also begun work on a statewide strategic plan for water-energy conservation. Loge is a professor of civil and environmental engineering. Contact: Frank Loge, Center for Water-Energy Efficiency, (530) 754-2297, fjloge@ucdavis.edu.http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=10221&preview=yes

Deepwater Horizon exposed serious gaps in deepwater oil spill research

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:00:00 -0700

On the second anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a national team of scientists, including two researchers from the University of California, Davis, warns that inadequate knowledge about the effects of deepwater oil well blowouts threatens scientists’ ability to help manage comparable future events.

The findings are reported in a paper titled “A Tale of Two Spills: Novel Science and Policy Implications of an Emerging New Oil Spill Model,” published in the May issue of the journal Bioscience. The authors comprise a renowned group of ecotoxicologists, oceanographers, and ecologists — calling themselves the Gulf Oil Spill Ecotoxicology Working Group — who convened under the auspices of the National Science Foundation-supported National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis while the 2010 spill was still active.

The article argues that a fundamentally new approach to the study of deepwater spills is needed, particularly because the oil industry is now putting most of its exploration efforts into deep water.

“We really don’t know the effects the Deepwater Horizon spill had in the deep sea because we know little about the ecosystem processes there,” said group co-leader Gary Cherr, director of UC Davis’ Bodega Marine Laboratory. “The deep sea is not a dead zone. It’s not a desert. There’s a lot of life down there. Unfortunately it’s not until a disaster happens that we try to piece together the impacts. That’s difficult to do when you don’t have a complete — or even partial — understanding of the ecosystem.”

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was unlike any other oil spill science and society had encountered. The well blowout occurred at unprecedented depths and released enormous quantities of oil (an estimated 4.9 billion barrels or 206 million gallons). Marine and wildlife habitats suffered major damage and, the authors assert, continue to suffer today, out of sight. Local economies and livelihoods were hurt, as well.

According to the paper’s authors, the cleanup and containment response to the spill followed a framework that assumed the oil’s behavior would mimic that seen in more familiar shallow-water and surface spills, despite the fact that the dynamics and effects of deepwater oil on ecosystems are not well understood.

The paper represents the first complete conceptual model for understanding both the Deepwater Horizon spill and analogous disasters in the future.

This new model accounts for how a deepwater oil spill unfolds and where the resulting ecological impacts are felt. It also emphasizes that the vast majority of the oil is retained at depth — rapidly emulsified and dispersed due to the physics of the pressurized oil jetting from the wellhead — and, among other response actions, calls into question the overall efficacy of dispersants in that situation.

“We have generally hailed the use of [chemical] dispersants as helpful, but really are basing this on the fact that we seemed to have kept oil from getting to the surface,” said Cherr. “The truth is, much of this oil probably was staying at depth independent of the amount of surfactants we dumped into the ocean. And we dumped a lot of dispersants into the ocean, all told approximately one-third the global supply.”

Co-author Ron Tjeerdema, chair of the UC Davis Department of Environmental Toxicology, concurs. “The problem is we really must address the downside of such compounds, particularly in light of the fact that the upside probably was not so great as it seemed at the time,” he said.

Armed with a new foundation for research and policy implications, the UC Santa Barbara-based NCEAS Gulf Oil Spill Ecotoxicology Working Group is calling for further investigation on the long-term effects of deep-water oil spills like that of the Deepwater Horizon.

“We now have a sense that the bulk of the impact was probably in the mid-water and deep ocean. Who the heck knows what oil does to the mid-water open sea and deep-dwelling critters?” said the study’s lead author, Charles “Pete” Peterson, a professor at University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. “We need an integrated collaboration between deepwater explorers, modelers, ecotoxicologists, microbial ecologists, and so on, all working together in unprecedented ways. We need a whole new type of marine ecology.”

For a list of UC Davis expert sources on the Gulf oil spill, visit http://news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=9530.

ScienceWatch lists UC Davis as the 3rd-ranking U.S. university and 7th in the world for “Top 20 institutions on oil spill citations.” http://sciencewatch.com/ana/st/oil-spills/institutions/.

UC Davis Magazine in its fall 2010 issue reported on the work of UC Davis oiled wildlife expert Michael Ziccardi in the wake of the Deepwater spill. Ziccardi led the marine mammal rescue operation: http://ucdavismagazine.ucdavis.edu/issues/fall10/oil_spill_rx.html.

Researcher's waste-to-energy technology moves from the lab to the marketplace

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:00:00 -0700

Technology invented by a University of California, Davis, researcher that converts solid waste into renewable energy is debuting today as the first commercially available, high-solid anaerobic digestion system in the United States.

Ruihong Zhang, a UC Davis professor of biological and agricultural engineering, has been working on her anaerobic digester technology for the past decade, bringing it from the laboratory to the pilot stage in 2006. When Clean World Partners, a Sacramento-based startup that licensed the technology from UC Davis, unveils the biodigester today at a Sacramento, Calif., packaging company, it will mark the first time her research has reached the market.

“I applaud Professor Zhang for this tremendous accomplishment," said UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi. "Scientists like Professor Zhang are helping UC Davis address the most pressing global problems of our time. Her work brings us a giant step closer to the sustainable future we all hope for.”

The anaerobic digestion system is located at American River Packaging. It will convert 7.5 tons per day of food waste from regional food producers, including Campbell’s Soup Company, and a half ton each day of unrecyclable corrugated material from ARP into natural gas. The system will generate roughly 1,300 kWh of renewable energy per day, meeting about 37 percent of ARP’s electricity needs and preventing an estimated 2,900 tons of waste from entering landfills each year. The project has created about 22 jobs.

“This kind of project and technology is actually changing how societies treat and view waste as a resource, which, overall, leads to a better world, a cleaner environment and new jobs,” said Zhang.

Anaerobic digestion relies on bacteria to break down biodegradable waste material in the absence of oxygen. Zhang’s system turns that waste into such valuable byproducts as renewable energy, compost, water, and natural fertilizer. While anaerobic digestion is not a new technology in itself, operational and material-handling limitations had prevented its commercial adoption.

Unlike most other digesters that primarily treat liquid waste, such as manure from dairy farms and municipal wastewater, Zhang’s high-rate digester technology can convert both liquid and solid waste, including food waste, yard waste, plant residues, paper and cardboard.

Zhang also sought to overcome two key barriers to the widespread use of anaerobic digesters: time and money. The new technology makes such waste conversion systems replicable, with many components prefabricated, reducing the time it takes to build them. For example, the Clean World Partners system at ARP went from bare ground to energy production within 90 days and cost about $2 million to $3 million.

Zhang’s system also turns waste into energy in half the time of other digesters and produces more gases that can be turned into clean energy. These efficiency improvements are expected to drive down cost and maximize the amount of energy produced and the volume of waste diverted from the landfill.

Clean World Partners formed in 2009 to commercialize Zhang’s anaerobic digestion technology and bring it to a wider market. The company plans to open a second waste conversion facility using Zhang’s technology at Sacramento County’s south area transfer station in June.

“Ruihong’s contributions continue to be critical to our success as a key adviser,” said Clean World Partners CEO Michele Wong, a UC Davis alumna. “We are proud to work with UC Davis and Ruihong to commercialize these technologies.”

The anaerobic digestion facility was first developed and tested as a pilot plant at UC Davis. The university is currently working with Clean World Partners to bring a full-scale biodigester to campus. Though still in the planning stages, that biodigester is expected to help UC Davis West Village, the nation’s largest planned zero-net-energy community achieve its goal of generating as much power as it consumes in the course of a year.

Major public funding for Zhang’s biodigester research came from the Department of Energy’s Community Renewable Energy Development project, the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research program, and CalRecycle.

UC Davis dean elected to Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:30:00 -0700

Immunologist James Hildreth, dean of biological sciences at the University of California, Davis, has been elected to the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars.

Hildreth, a leading AIDS researcher, came to UC Davis in 2011 upon his appointment as dean. He left Tennessee’s Meharry Medical College, where he was a professor and director of the Center for AIDS Health Disparities Research.

Before that he served on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he began his research on HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

His work at Johns Hopkins University qualified him for the Society of Scholars. Established in 1967, it includes former postdoctoral fellows, postdoctoral degree recipients, house staff, and junior or visiting faculty who served for at least one year at Johns Hopkins and later gained marked distinction in their fields of physical, biological, medical, social or engineering sciences, or in the humanities.

Hildreth earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1979; his doctorate in immunology from Oxford in 1982, as a Rhodes scholar; and his medical degree from Johns Hopkins in 1987.

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Newly awarded fellowships are supporting a half-dozen University of California, Davis, faculty members in their research and writing.

Simons Foundation fellowships went to Anne Schilling, professor, and Dan Romik, associate professor, both of the Department of Mathematics; and Warren Pickett, professor of physics.

The awards provide support to extend academic leaves for up to a year, allowing recipients to focus solely on research.

The American Council of Learned Societies is supporting three faculty members in their book projects on medieval French farces, Mark Twain and human rights in the Middle East. The recipients:

• Noah Guynn, associate professor, Department of French and Italian, who is writing The Many Faces of Farce: Ethics, Politics, and Urban Culture in Late Medieval and Early Modern France, challenging assumptions that such farces were used to entertain the masses while reconciling them to lives of subservience. Instead, Guynn reveals evidence of cultural resistance and political risk in the genre.

• Hsuan L. Hsu, professor, Department of English, who is writing Sitting in Darkness: Mark Twain and America’s Asia. Hsu describes it as “the first book-length study of Mark Twain’s responses to trans-Pacific historical phenomena such as Chinese immigration, diplomatic relations with China, the annexation of Hawaii and the U.S. regime in the Philippines.”

• Keith David Watenpaugh, associate professor, Department of Religious Studies, who is writing Bread from Stones: The Middle East and the Making of Modern Humanitarianism, the first major study of the history of human rights and international humanitarianism in the Middle East.

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Professor John Eadie of the University of California, Davis, has been honored for his waterfowl conservation efforts.

The waterfowl biologist, affiliated with the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, received the awards at the 77th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference.

Ducks Unlimited presented a Wetland Conservation Achievement Award, commending Eadie for his research on food resources for migrating ducks in the Central Valley’s seasonally flooded wetland and rice land — data that contributed to a conservation model for these critical wintering grounds.

Eadie received the National Blue-Winged Teal Award from the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, a joint project of the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Eadie, who runs the Avian Conservation and Ecology Lab, joined UC Davis in 1995 as the first holder of the Dennis G. Raveling Professorship.

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Composer-musician Kurt Rohde of the faculty at the University of California, Davis, has scored two commissions and two residencies.

One commission is from the Lydian String Quartet at Brandeis University, and the other is from the independent and nonprofit Meet the Composer, part of New Music USA. For the latter, Rohde is collaborating on a work for small ensemble, with narrator and projected images.

Rohde’s residencies will be at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, where he will work on the chamber opera projects during the 2012-13 academic year; and the Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga (Santa Clara County), where, during the summers of 2013 and 2014, he will collaborate on a film project.

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With a swearing-in ceremony in Washington, D.C., physics professor Robin Erbacher of the University of California, Davis, officially became a member of the federal government’s High Energy Physics Advisory Panel.

It advises the government on research in theoretical and experimental physics, reporting jointly to the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.

Erbacher earned her doctorate from Stanford University and joined the UC Davis faculty in 2004. She is a member of the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland.

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Professor Laura Marcu of the University of California, Davis, has been elected a fellow of the professional organization SPIE, in recognition of her achievements in biomedical optics.

For example, she developed handheld probes for identifying the edges of tumors during surgery, and probes that can be inserted through catheters to investigate atherosclerotic plaques in heart disease.

SPIE began in 1955 as the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, and has changed names twice. It is now known simply as SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

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Nancy McTygue, executive director of the California History-Social Science Project, based at the University of California, Davis, has taken a seat on the California Instructional Quality Commission, by appointment of the state Board of Education.

The Instructional Quality Commission, known as the Curriculum Commission up until Jan. 1, 2012, serves in an advisory capacity to the state board, on issues related to kindergarten through grade-12 curriculum and instruction.

This is McTygue’s forte. The only panel member with a university-affiliated post, she oversees seven regional sites, each a collaborative of teachers (kindergarten through four-year college) and scholars dedicated to improving history and social science curriculum and instruction in the state’s schools.

The sites range from the UCI History Project at UC Irvine in the south, to The History Project at UC Davis in the north.

Environmental superstar Bill McKibben, author Chris Mooney, physicist Lisa Randall to speak

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:20:00 -0700

April brings three renowned authors, including environmental leaders and a leading physicist, to the UC Davis campus for free, public presentations.

Chris Mooney

On Friday, April 13, science and political journalist Chris Mooney will present “The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science and Reality, ” which is also the title of his new book.

Mooney is the bestselling author of three other books, including "Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future," and "The Republican War on Science." During his presentation, he will discuss the psychological factors that contribute to today’s polarized political environment. Climate change and evolution are two classic scientific issues where views tend to fall along party lines. In his lecture, Mooney will review research that suggests that liberals and conservatives are fundamentally different, with different ways of processing information, particularly when it comes to science with political implications. He will explain why understanding these differences is critical to building a society grounded in reality and reason.

Mooney’s presentation and book signing will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon, in the Activities and Recreation Center at UC Davis. The event is free and open to the public. It is hosted by the UC Davis John Muir Institute of the Environment, Institute of Government Affairs, Department of Geology, and Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

Bill McKibben

On Monday, April 16, environmental superstar Bill McKibben will visit UC Davis to give a presentation hosted by the UC Davis John Muir Institute of the Environment and Capital Public Radio.

McKibben is the author of a dozen books about the environment, including "The End of Nature." Published in 1989, it was one of the first books to warn a general audience about climate change. More recently, his 2011 book "Eaarth" describes a planet that has reached its tipping point and is nearly unrecognizable from the world we know. McKibben is also a frequent contributor to The New Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, Orion Magazine, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone and Outside.

As much as he is a writer and speaker, McKibben is one of the country’s preeminent environmental activists. He founded the grassroots climate campaign 350.org, which has coordinated 15,000 rallies since 2009. A Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College in Vermont, he helped lead a five-day walk across Vermont in 2006 to demand action on global warming. In 2007, he founded stepitup07.com to demand that Congress enact curbs on carbon emissions to cut global warming pollution 80 percent by 2050. With six college students, he organized 1,400 global warming demonstrations across the country on April 15, 2007 — considered the largest day of protest about climate change in U.S. history.

McKibben will speak from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in the UC Davis Conference Center Ballroom. The event is free, but participants must RSVP. For more information and to RSVP, visit http://www.capradio.org/events/2012/04/capital-public-radio-presents-bill-mckibben.

Lisa Randall

On Tuesday, April 17, Lisa Randall, a professor of physics at Harvard University, will give a public lecture based on her recent book, "Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World." Her talk will begin at 8 p.m. in the ARC Ballroom on the UC Davis campus. Admission is free.

“Knocking on Heaven's Door” is an exhilarating and accessible overview of recent developments in physics, and an impassioned argument for the significance of science, according to the Department of Physics website. Randall, bestselling author of "Warped Passages" (2006), is an expert in both particle physics and cosmology. In her new book, she explores how we decide which scientific questions to study and how we go about answering them. She examines the role of risk, creativity, uncertainty, beauty and truth in scientific thinking, and explains with wit and clarity the latest ideas in physics and cosmology.

The event is sponsored by the UC Davis High Energy Frontier Theory Initiative and the Department of Physics.

More information: http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/hefti/lectures/randall/index.php

Leadership for BGI@UCDavis appointed

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:15:00 -0700

Bart Weimer, a professor in the Department of Population Health and Reproduction in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, and Hao Zhang, chief operating officer of BGI Americas, have been appointed co-directors of BGI@UCDavis, a partnership between UC Davis and BGI, the world's largest genome sequencing organization.

Weimer and Zhang will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the center, to be located on UC Davis' Sacramento campus.

"Professor Weimer brings a wide range of experience both in genomic science and industry partnerships to this role. This exciting joint venture will benefit greatly from his leadership," said Harris Lewin, vice chancellor for research at UC Davis.

The center will be managed by a steering committee, of which Weimer and Zhang will be members, and a governance committee. The two committees will include both UC Davis and BGI personnel, consistent with the closely collaborative nature of this partnership.

The co-directors will also act as liaisons to their respective institutions to develop projects and look for opportunities to bring BGI's capabilities to bear on scientific problems and challenges in areas including human and animal health, agriculture and the environment.

Weimer joined the faculty at UC Davis in 2008 from Utah State University, where he was director of the Center for Integrated BioSystems, which provided core biotechnology services to the campus and conducted genomic science research. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona and his Ph.D. from Utah State, and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He has worked in both academia and the private sector, including three startup companies based on technology developed in his lab.

In his research, Weimer uses functional genomic techniques to study microbial systems biology, especially of bacteria that can cause foodborne illness.

Zhang was born and educated in China. After he received his bachelor's degree from Peking University, he moved to the U.S., where he earned his Ph.D. degree from The Ohio State University in 2007. He joined Cambridge, Mass.-based BGI Americas in 2010 as an application biologist before becoming the organization’s chief operating officer. As co-director of BGI, he will be based in Sacramento.

Through BGI, campus researchers will have access to the capabilities and expertise of one of the world’s premier genomics and bioinformatics institutes, while BGI researchers will have the ability to collaborate with UC Davis researchers, thereby benefiting from the university’s diverse resources and expertise, especially in biology, medical sciences, agriculture, the environment and education.

An interim facility with three DNA sequencing machines began operations in renovated space on the Sacramento campus at the end of 2011. The eventual facility, once completed, will house up to 20 such machines. Renovation and construction of the new facility should be complete by end 2012.

Teaching prize awarded to soil science professor Randy Dahlgren

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 03:30:00 -0700

The phrase “dull as dirt” does not apply to professor Randy Dahlgren’s soil science classes. Time and again on his student evaluations, the words “enthusiasm,” “passion” and “energy” pop up. In the classroom, his movements are bold, his voice animated, his excitement contagious.

His distinctive teaching abilities were recognized today, April 5, when UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi interrupted his “Crisis in the Environment?” class with a cake to announce that he is the recipient of the 2012 UC Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement.

Established in 1986, the prize was created to honor faculty who are both exceptional teachers and scholars. The $40,000 prize is believed to be the largest of its kind in the country and is funded through philanthropic gifts managed by the UC Davis Foundation. The winner is selected based on the nominations of other professors, research peers, representatives from the UC Davis Foundation Board of Trustees, and students. An event to celebrate the award will be held May 3.

Dahlgren’s energy comes across in his lectures, where, drawing from his vast research experience, he manages to take a subject commonly viewed as uninteresting and makes it relevant to students’ lives. Moving beyond silt and loam, Dahlgren helps non-science students discover the role that soil plays in the environment — from affecting climate change to rangeland management to creating good fish habitat.

“Excellence in teaching does not get rewarded like excellence in research does,” said Dahlgren. “We need to give this kind of reward to so many more people. There are teachers here who are much better than I am, so I’m a little embarrassed, but honored, too.”

"Randy’s ability to engage students while challenging them underscores his commitment to student success,” Katehi said. “He has inspired many of them to pursue careers in environmental science, while also maintaining his own active research and administrative load. It is an honor to award Randy the 2012 UC Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement.”

In addition to being an active soil science and biogeochemistry teacher, Dahlgren is chair of the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources and director of the Kearney Foundation of Soil Science. He also holds the Russell L. Rustici Endowed Chair in Rangeland Watershed Sciences, is a fellow of the Soil Science Society of America and received the 2008 UC Davis Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award.

“It is not possible to overstate Professor Dahlgren’s ability as a teacher,” said Neal Van Alfen, dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, in his nomination letter. “To state that he is an exemplary and inspirational teacher who motivates students does not fully do justice to his skills and passion for teaching.”

"This prize, generously funded by donors, recognizes that student success begins with the strong commitment and expertise of the faculty," said Kevin Bacon '72, chair of the UC Davis Foundation. "The trustees are very pleased to award the prize to Professor Dahlgren, who is an excellent example of the first-rate teaching under way at UC Davis."

From tractor to volcanoes

Dahlgren grew up on his family’s grain farm in Kennedy, Minn., a town of 400 people at the time. He remembers driving the tractor with his father when he was 7 years old, “working the soil.” He recalls long summers of sitting on that tractor for $1.25 an hour, and cold winters of skating across miles of ice covering the creek that ran behind the farm. The town was 60 miles from the nearest movie theater. Being outdoors was simply the way of life.

“Having grown up there, we had to be totally self-sufficient,” says Dahlgren. “If things broke, we had to use duct tape and bailing wire to fix it. It cultivated common sense and critical thinking.”

Back then, he was not thinking about how chemistry worked all around him. That came later, when he was a graduate student at the University of Washington, studying ash from the recently erupted Mount St. Helens.

“Suddenly, I was away from the mundane textbook stuff to actual scientific discovery,” he said. “That feeling was pretty fantastic.”

Most of his graduate research took place east of Mount St. Helens at Findley Lake, which had not received ash from the volcano. His research team helicoptered in volcanic ash to create plots and study the effect ash had on the soil. They found that periodic volcanic eruptions engender productive soils and aquatic environments.

“Most people focus on the devastation of volcanoes,” said Dahlgren. “I focus on the rejuvenation.”

After his experience with Mount St. Helens, Dahlgren became somewhat of a volcano chaser, traveling to Japan, New Zealand, Iceland and the Canary Islands to research active volcanoes there.

His research has also helped explain the relevance of nitrogen in rock, which had rarely been considered before his work. Nitrogen in rock converts to nitric acid, which can acidify soils and contribute to nitrates in groundwater and surface water.

“It’s a natural source that’s been neglected,” he said. “Nitrogen out of rock is like a slow-release fertilizer.”

His current research with colleagues at Mount Shasta connects the threads of his work — soil and water chemistry and unexpected sources of nutrients. Groundwater from glaciers melting at the top of Mount Shasta takes about 30 years to trickle down the mountain to the valley, where it emerges as spring water. Along the way, it picks up nitrogen and phosphorous.

“Here is a natural source of nutrients, and the fish love this,” he said.

The nutrients feed aquatic vegetation along the Shasta River, which feeds bugs, which in turn feed the fish. This historically made the Shasta River one of the most productive rivers for salmon, Dahlgren explained. In Dahlgren’s work, it is yet another example of volcanoes not as destroyers, but life-givers.

Class act

Dahlgren takes his experiences from the field and incorporates them into his classroom lessons.

Since he first came to UC Davis in 1989, his main teaching assignments have been “Concepts in Soil Science,” “Field Study of Soils in California Ecosystems,” and “Ecosystem Biogeochemistry.” He is also one of three professors teaching “Trees and Forests.”

In 2004, he created the class “Crisis in the Environment? ”— with a very deliberate question mark — which is now one of the most popular classes in the Science and Society Program. Examples from the day’s news headlines help the class relate what they are learning to real life.

Recognizing that everyone learns differently, Dahlgren uses lectures, slides, YouTube videos, writings and discussions to reach all types of learners.

While helping students connect soil science with their own lives is rewarding to Dahlgren, he also gets something unexpected out of teaching: “Relaxation. Does that sound funny?” he said. “In the administrative part of my life, I’m multitasking all day long — I’m checking emails, answering phones, having people come in and out of my office. When it’s time for class, I go in there, and I’m focused on one thing. It’s actually relaxing. And that feedback from the students, I can feel that energy. … I’m in there, and the only thing on my mind is to share my understanding of how the world works with this next generation of students.”

Sharing that knowledge has helped change the course of some of his students’ lives.

Former student Rebecca Sutton is currently a senior scientist in Oakland, Calif., with Environmental Working Group, a public health and environmental nonprofit. “While I originally came to UC Davis with the intention to study environmental science, I had no interest in dirt,” she wrote in a nomination letter. “I expected Randy’s introductory soil science class to be a dull but necessary requirement that I might as well complete during my first quarter of college, in 1994. Within a few weeks, my attitude had changed dramatically.”

Sutton went on to earn a Ph.D. in soil chemistry at UC Berkeley. “Exposure to Randy’s dynamic vision of the world of soil was a formative experience for me — an experience that placed me on my path to professional success,” she continued. “His impact on my life is a true measure of the excellence of his teaching.”

If Dahlgren is a lively teacher, it is partly attributable to two energetic teachers from his life: Jim Richardson, his mentor as an undergraduate at North Dakota State University, and Fiorenzo Ugolini, his graduate major professor at the University of Washington and someone Dahlgren calls his “academic father.”

“From them, I’ve learned that a fairly high-energy presentation and a little humor keeps the students engaged,” said Dahlgren. “Engaging students is a critical aspect of the learning experience.”

3 from UC Davis are new fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Three professors at the University of California, Davis, are among the newest class of fellows in the American Academy of Microbiology:

• Patricia Conrad — Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine.

• Jonathan Eisen — Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, and Department of Evolution and Ecology, College of Biological Sciences. He is also affiliated with the Genome Center and the Center for Population Biology.

• Wolf Heyer — Departments of Microbiology, and Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Sciences. He is also affiliated with the Cancer Center.

The academy describes itself as the honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology, the world’s oldest life science organization.

Peer voting determines who gets in to the academy, based on the candidates’ scientific excellence, originality and leadership; high ethical standards; and scholarly and creative achievement.

The academy then calls upon its membership for authoritative advice and information on critical issues in microbiology, from responding to congressional inquiries to organizing meetings and workshops.

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James Sanchirico, a natural resource economist at the University of California, Davis, has been named the 2012 recipient of the Rosenstiel Award in Oceanographic Science.

Sanchirico received a doctorate in agricultural and resource economics at UC Davis and later joined the faculty of the Department of Environmental Science and Policy.

He applies quantitative methods to study the design and evaluation of policy instruments aimed at conserving natural resources. His ocean-related research takes in marine population and habitat management, and the design of market-based policies, such as fishing quota systems.

His website lists the following among the projects that he is working on at this time: bioeconomic analysis of stellar sea lion conservation, and coral reef and mangrove management.

He serves the National Research Council as a member of two new committees, one that is reviewing the National Ocean Acidification Research Plan and one that is evaluating the effectiveness of stock rebuilding plans in the 2006 Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act.

The University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science administers the award, with support from the Rosenstiel Foundation. A school spokeswoman said the award (including a $10,000 prize) will be presented to Sanchirico during a dinner April 24.

And, while visiting the school, Sanchirico will deliver one or two lectures, the spokeswoman said.

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Mathematics professor Naoki Saito of the University of California, Davis, has been elected to a two-year term as vice chair of the Activity Group on Imaging Science of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

Saito is chair of the Graduate Group in Applied Mathematics.

His own studies take in such topics as harmonic analysis, signal processing, image analysis, data analysis and compression, pattern recognition and human and machine perception.