Baskin Engineering researchers are leading major projects to address climate crisis issues, including green computing, conservation genomics, more efficient greenhouses, smart power, climate-wise agricultural technology, wildfire management and more. These initiatives leverage engineering expertise and partnerships to provide meaningful contributions that are improving our resilience to climate change. Innovative technical solutions are reducing greenhouse gas emissions, helping communities adapt, and providing a deeper understanding of the impacts of climate change.
Engineering faculty take on innovative climate resilience projects
Understanding the threat of sea level rise is crucial for protecting coastal areas. This project will employ a machine learning-based algorithm to analyze changes in the Santa Cruz shoreline and nearshore dynamics such as rip currents using video from a network of webcams in the study area. The shoreline data captured at various time scales and rip current occurrence data can be used for climate modeling, prediction, and policy making, such as long-term studies on sea level rise and rip currents to help with beach safety. The software will be open source so it can be replicated for other settings and extended for future projects.
Climate focused education
COURSE CLOSE-UP
Empowering students to take positive action in the face of climate change
The innovative UC-wide course Bending the Curve: Climate Education for All is designed for students interested in climate change and environmental and social justice. Open to all majors, the course helps students learn practical steps for making a positive difference.
BE climate courses
CMPM 20: Psychosocial and Planetary Resilience in the Age of the Climate Crisis
ECE 80G: Creating and Financing a Sustainable Startup in the Global Economy
ECE 80H: Bending the Curve Solutions to Climate Change
ECE 80S: Sustainable Engineering and Practice
ECE 177: Power Electronics
ECE 222A: Special Topics in Agricultural Technology
ECE 275: Energy Markets, Modeling, and Pricing
ECE 180J: ***PE-E Advanced Renewable Energy Sources, Storage, & Smart Grids
ECE 280Z: Seminar on Smart Grids & Data Analytics
STAT 7: Statistical Methods for the Biological, Environmental, and Health Sciences
Research in action
Global warming is happening, but not statistically ‘surging,’ new study finds
The new study, published on October 14 in the journal Nature Communications Earth & Environment, confirms the broad consensus that the planet is getting warmer, but at a statistically steady rate—not at a sufficiently accelerated rate that could be statistically defined as a surge.
UC Santa Cruz research will harness advanced AI to better measure, predict climate-change impacts
Two UC Santa Cruz research projects designed to leverage advanced forms of artificial intelligence to improve how scientists measure and predict the effects of climate change have won funding from a $20 million investment by the National Science Foundation.
SpikeGPT: researcher releases code for largest-ever spiking neural network for language generation
Using neuromorphic (“brain-like”) computer architectures to imitate the computational principles of the brain and drive down the energy cost of artificially intelligent systems.
Multidisciplinary team will develop advanced rhizosphere carbon imaging for climate change research with support of major DOE grant
Researchers are focused on exploring the ongoing debate surrounding the rhizosphere’s contribution to the global carbon cycle.
A new project will develop safer, highly accurate GPS alternative
Developing a resilient system in rural forested territory will improve tracking and navigation of aerial vehicles for search-and-rescue, emergency services, and more.
Innovative techniques aim for climate-safe restoration of Ms. Blue
After decades of exposure to the elements, the iconic blue whale skeleton Ms. Blue had cracks in her bones that needed repairs, which would normally be expensive and involve materials harmful to the environment. A team of researchers developed a climate safe bone-repair putty made of materials from the ocean.
BE experts
Shiva Abbaszadeh
Ashesh Chattopadhyay
Yihsu Chen
Anne Criss
Luca De Alfaro
Nathan Ellis
Jason Eshraghian
Becca Fenwick
Javier Gonzalez-Rocha
Matthew R Guthaus
Katherine Isbister
Colleen Josephson
Nobby Kobayashi
Sri Kurniawan
Heiner Litz
Robert Lund
Patrick Mantey
Michael Matkin
Steve McGuire
Katia Obraczka
Alex Pang
Jose Renau
Marco Rolandi
Ricardo Sanfelice
Magy Seif El-Nasr
Abel Souza
Norman Su
Yu Zhang
For media inquiries contact: Emily Cerf, Engineering Writer and Media Relations Specialist: ecerf@ucsc.edu
Using technology and games to build climate resilient communities
Linda Hirsch, a computational media postdoctoral fellow, developed an interactive game to increase flood preparedness in the local Santa Cruz community—demoing the game at the UC Santa Cruz Seymour Marine Discovery Center.
Specialty areas
AgTech
Innovations in agricultural technology that contribute to addressing climate impacts and supporting sustainability are examples of Baskin School of Engineering’s priority of developing technology for societal benefit and UC Santa Cruz’s long history of thoughtful leadership in agroecology and sustainable food systems.
Green computing
Smart innovations, like spiking neural networks that emulate the brain and biological systems to process information more efficiently, are addressing the environmental impact of the energy demands of AI-related neural networks and large language models.
Power systems and energy engineering
Advancements in power systems and energy engineering are improving efficiency, integrating renewable sources, and enhancing grid resilience. These innovations support climate solutions by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping build energy systems that are cleaner, smarter, and more resilient.
Smart power
Baskin Engineering researchers are developing innovative strategies to optimize energy efficiency and sustainability in power systems by integrating artificial intelligence and data analytics technologies, as well as new materials and hardware solutions.
Coastal Climate Resilience at UCSC
Strengthening coastal resilience, UCSC is collaborating with local partners, developing future leaders, and innovating solutions to address the impacts of climate change.
Bold new solutions to society’s most complex issues
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