30 x 30: Conservation Science & Policy in Action
It was an honor to have guest lecturer Dr. Jennifer Norris at the 2023 UCLA La Kretz Center Public Lecture to speak about her work leading California’s 30×30 Initiative and…
Projects
Assessing invasive plant species eradication efforts on Santa Cruz Island
In collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, our team will be researching the efficacy of eradication efforts for highly invasive plant species on Santa Cruz Island. Situated off the coast of…
Assessing the determinants of collective behavior of seed dispersing ants at the UC Sedgwick natural reserve
Awardee: Sean O'Fallon, Ph.D. student in the Pinter-Wollman lab. His research focuses on the collective behavior of ant colonies.
Characterizing the Evolutionary History of Southern California UC Reserves with an Integrated Computational Approach
Awardee: Maya Chari, senior Computational Biology student, interested in mathematical and computational applications to Ecology. Maya has worked both field and computational jobs and enjoys collecting data and processing it.
Developing a sustainable procurement policy for the Aquarium of the Pacific
The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California is the largest aquarium in Southern California and the fourth-largest aquarium in the United States. Founded in 1998, the Aquarium’s mission…
Developing Novel Coastal Infrastructure Habitat Through Beneficial Reuse of Carbon Sequestration Spoils and Cutting-Edge Biosurvey Methods.
Awardee: Gabriela M. Carr, IoES Ph.D. student focused on improving coastal infrastructure as marine habitat.
Effects of interspecific competition on habitat use by Stephens’ kangaroo rat
Awardee: Janine Fischer, Ph.D. student co-advised by Dr. Grether and Dr. Shier at UCLA. Janine is interested in how aggressive interference between species influences their coexistence and habitat use.
Field-testing innovative and sustainable agricultural technological solutions to improve employment for incarcerated youth in Cameroon
Within the West African country of Cameroon, intense food and job insecurity has led to an increase in crime as young Cameroonians resort to committing petty crimes as a means…
Impacts of domestic dogs on gray fox behaviors in the Santa Monica Mountains
Awardee: Madeleine Zuercher, Ph.D. candidate advised by Greg Grether and Debra Shier in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Madeleine is interested in how invasive species affect native carnivore behavior and ecology.
Investigating Local Adaptation of Heteromeles arbutifolia using a Common Garden Approach.
Awardee: Laurel Thomas, undergraduate student completing her degree in Environmental Science with minors in Conservation Biology and Environmental Engineering. Laurel is passionate about conserving and increasing access to California native plants and their respective ecosystems
Modeling the impact of invasive annual grasses on wildfire behaviors in Southern California.
Awardee: Bowen Wang, undergraduate student with majors in Climate Science and Geography. Bowen has a wide interest in both the physical and social impacts of anthropogenic climate change, particularly in droughts, floods, and wildfires in the Western US and tropical cyclones, and he likes to develop and run models to represent these processes.
Native Bees Team: Identifying and Increasing Native Bee Presence and Raising Awareness on UCLA’s Campus
There is no current research on native bee populations specifically at UCLA, but UC Davis and UC Berkeley both conducted research on numbers of native bee species and population size.…