Team members Karen Adrade (right) and Zack Fischmann (next to Karen) making their pitch for the Science Shop.

Big Ideas@Berkeley is an annual innovation contest which aims to provide support, funds, and encouragement to interdisciplinary teams of students on campus.

A team led by ESPM graduate and undergraduate students took first place in the category of Improving Student Life and third place in the Grand Prize Pitch Day with the UC Berkeley Science Shop Project.

The Science Shop proposes to be a visible and accessible entity within the University that connects community members with researchers. Small businesses, non-profits, local government, and other civic organizations can submit research questions to the Science Shop which will then funnel these questions to students seeking research projects. This will give students the opportunity to merge their interest in research with their desire to contribute to the welfare of their communities.

ESPM Team members include:

• Karen Adrade
• Hekia Bodwitch
• Jenny Palomino
• Melissa Eitzel
• Zack Fischmann, Conservation and Resource Studies Junior
• Ellie Lum, Conservation and Resource Studies Junior
• Ashley Ellis, Conservation and Resource Studies Senior
• Michelle Endo, Society and Environment Sophomore

Outside-ESPM members include:

• Sushma Bhatia, MBA Candidate Haas School of Business
• Leah Rubin, Graduate Student, Chemistry
• Erik Behar, Sr Programmer San Francisco Tech Startup

Nathan Bickart shows a group of graduate students how to identify and uproot invasive grass.

Conservation and Resource Studies major Nathan Bickart is one of seven graduating seniors selected as recipients of the 2013 Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize, it was announced this week.

Bickart, a music minor, was given an award to partner with local residents of Richmond and San Pablo to construct raised bed community gardens and work to restore the natural ecosystem of the Wildcat Creek riparian corridor.Read more about the project.

The prize, now in its eighth year, offers financial support for research projects and is administered by the Office of Undergraduate Research in the Undergraduate Division of the College of Letters and Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Read the complete list of 2013 Stronach Prize recipients.

Written by Ann Guy

In announcing the award during the GradFest Symposium in early May, GSA president Lauren Hallet gave the following statement:

This year’s faculty mentor award recipient has a philosophy that a lab group is a home, where labmates prepare each other to meet academic challenges, celebrate each others’ successes, and support each other in hard times. His dedication makes this simple model highly effective.

His students hit the ground running. From the beginning he asks students for ideas and helps them plan summer research well in advance, and he readily offers financial support for early graduate work. Throughout he actively engages in his students’ research, even when “active engagement” involves donning chainsaw chaps and a hard hat to saw logs in the hot summer sun. From letters of recommendation timestamped at 5 am, to car rides filled with research questions, to reliable and rapidly returned edits on manuscript drafts, he is committed to helping students succeed.

His students admire his academic and personal integrity. He leads by example, and is unafraid to speak up and take action when these standards are not met by others. Academically, he maintains rigorous practices for error-checking and quality assurance of data; he advises his students to preemptively discuss authorship before beginning manuscripts. He has a strong moral compass and a sense of obligation to confront difficult or awkward situations, ensuring that his students feel comfortable and productive in his lab.  He makes it abundantly clear that he values his students as both colleagues and as people – and has been incredibly flexible as their lives have grown to include families and children of their own.

This faculty mentor’s commitment to mentorship extends far beyond just his lab. As a teacher of both 201c and 100ES, he makes the time and effort to provide all students with meaningful mentorship. In the example of 201C, he has vastly increased its utility to PhD students by incorporating conversations with ESPM graduates in many careers. He also redesigned the course expressly to meet graduate student needs. The course now offers detailed criticism of grant proposals, and a competitive review process that actually awards grants. Simultaneously, more advanced PhD students are offered experience in panel reviews and critical academic service; opportunity and training that would not be available without his dedication to mentorship.

Finally, this mentor also provides extraordinary support for undergraduates who are interested in exploring the research and teaching paths of graduate students. One undergraduate recalled that this mentor spent hours teaching and helping him interpret results, concluding that “due to his ability to make science less intimidating through his friendly disposition, he has truly impacted my scholastic and professional goals.” Another recalled, “When I expressed a desire to be an Undergraduate GSI for 100 ES, he immediately drafted a proposal and provided me with the opportunity to test out the life of a student instructor. This opportunity allowed me to work closely with current graduate students and gain practical experience in teaching.” These anecdotes are just a handful of the many instances in which this mentor fosters the intellectual curiosity of his students and inspires them to continually strive for self-improvement.

In case you haven’t guessed it yet, the 2013 GSA faculty mentor award goes to John Battles. Across the board, John is recognized as an advocate, supporter, and role model, and it is a pleasure to recognize his dedication to mentorship.

Brad Balukjian received the Inaugural ESPM Distinguished Service Award during GradFest 2013, Photo courtesy of Katy Seto

The ESPM Graduate Student Association honored graduating PhD student Brad Balukjian with the newly created ESPM Distinguished Service Award. This award officially recognizes a member of the ESPM community who has worked hard to improve the department.

Brad was nominated for the award with the full support of the ESPM graduate student body and the ESPM Graduate Student Association.

“Brad epitomizes what we hope this award represents: the current ESPM graduate student experience would be drastically worse without Brad’s tireless work and fight for funding, resources, and great ideas to improve the department and graduate services and graduate life”, wrote fellow graduate student in an email to the department chair.

Following is a list of Brad’s accomplishments to improve life in ESPM:

2007-08: First ever ESPM Grad Student Coordinator

2013 GradFest Awards, Photo courtesy of Thomas Azwell

Food sovereignty advocate Malik Yakini gave the keynote speech during GradFest 2013.

The Department’s annual Graduate Research Symposium, also known as The ESPM GradFest Symposium, celebrates and showcases graduate student research. This year’s day-long GradFest took place on Friday May 3, at the David Brower Center and included finishing talks from graduating PhD students. Talks ranged in topics from social justice to floodplain restoration to urban forests, with keynote speaker Malik Yakini attracting a large audience for his talk on food sovereignty and advocacy.

Fellowships and awards were also presented to ESPM members, including:

• Baker-Bidwell Research Fellowship: Stella Cousins
• Tanada Endowed Fellowship in Entomology: Traci Grzymala
• William Carroll Smith Fellowship: Kate Wilkin
• Robert L. Usinger (Usin-gr) Memorial Award: Madeline Girard
• Johannes Joos (Yoos) Memorial Award: Jeremy Andersen
• Julius H. Freitag Memorial Award: Kate Mathis
• Steven Bradley Suoja (Soy-yeh) Memorial Award: Mike Peterson
• Edward A. Steinhaus Memorial Award: Rebecca Sandidge, Jeremy Andersen
• Edward A. Colman Fellowship in Watershed Management: Lisa Marrack, Hekia Bodwitch
• Frank Myers Forestry Scholarship: Lakshmi Narayan
• W.S. Rosecrans Fellowship: Joshua O’Neill
• Hannah M & Frank Schwabacher Memorial Scholarship: Maya Hayden, Erin Condit-Bergren
• Howard William Siggins Fellowship: Melissa Eitzel
• James P. Bennett Agricultural Fellowship: Sheri Spiegal

The following graduate students were recognized campus-wide as Outstanding Graduate Student Instructors for excellence in teaching:

• Kate Cahill
• Laura Driscoll
• Margot Higgins
• Freyja Knapp
• Anu Kramer
• Abigail Martin
• Sarah Reed
• Hillary Sardiñas

Special awards were presented to the following ESPM members:

• John Battles: 2013 Graduate Student Association Faculty Mentor Award
• Brad Balukjian: 2013 ESPM Distinguished Service Award

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We hope to see all of you today at the Jenny Lecture: 3 pm, 159 Mulford. The Rocks Don’t Lie is an outstanding book, and Montgomery is an excellent speaker. It promises to be a great way to end the academic year. Don’t miss it – and the reception that follows.

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I provide a list of all the Fellowship and GSI winners at last Friday’s GRADfest – pulled off with great aplomb by Hekia Bodwitch.

• Baker-Bidwell Research Fellowship: Stella Cousins
• Tanada Endowed Fellowship in Entomology: Traci Grzymala
• William Carroll Smith Fellowship: Kate Wilkin
• Robert L. Usinger (Usin-gr) Memorial Award: Madeline Girard
• Johannes Joos (Yoos) Memorial Award: Jeremy Anderson
• Julius H. Freitag Memorial Award: Kate Mathis
• Steven Bradley Suoja (Soy-yeh) Memorial Award: Mike Peterson
• Edward A. Steinhaus Memorial Award: Rebecca Sandidge,Jeremy Anderson
• Edward A. Colman Fellowship in Watershed Management: Lisa Marrack, Hekia Bodwitch
• Frank Myers Forestry Scholarship: Lakshmi Narayan
• W.S. Rosecrans Fellowship: Joshua O’Neill
• Hannah M & Frank Schwabacher Memorial Scholarship: Maya Hayden, Erin Condit-Bergren
• Howard William Siggins Fellowship: Melissa Eitzel
• James P. Bennett Agricultural Fellowship: Sheri Spiegal

Outstanding Graduate Student Instructors – the outstanding GSI award is a campuswide program to give recognition to excellence in teaching by Graduate Student Instructors:

• Kate Cahill
• Laurel Driscoll
• Margot Higgins
• Freyja Knapp
• Anu Kramar
• Abigail Martin
• Sarah Reed
• Hillary Sardinas

I do want to make special mention of two winners:

• John Battles for Grad Student Mentoring Award.
• Brad Balukjian for the new Distinguished Service Award. There was only one person suitable for the inauguration of this new ESPM award. ESPM is simply a better place for all of Brad’s efforts.

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400

ppm

While the unseasonably warm weather has dissipated, lessening the uneasy feeling that we were witnessing Berkeley’s climate future already, we are still racing toward a landmark in our alteration of the planet’s geochemistry. By the time we convene again in August, the atmosphere will be well beyond the 400 ppm CO2 barrier.

Sixty years ago next year, another 4:00 barrier was broken by Roger Bannister. Speculation on whether the 4 minute mile could be broken, or whether the person who achieved it would live to tell about it, raged for many years. Once Bannister passed through it, on the track at Oxford, it became just a number (though still prestigious – it is REALLY fast!) on the path to faster times.

I hope we will all be here in the fall (in the new 400+ atmosphere), but it will be a new world – one where each day we set a new “record”. But, there are signs of optimism – in ESPM – that allow one to remain hopeful.

I was inspired this week at the two day event launching the Berkeley Sustainable Food Institute – led by Claire Kremen and Alistair Iles. A diverse and forward thinking group of panelists, speakers, and participants created an exciting sense of optimism about our food future – at least what Berkeley can do to help it. I had another of these unexpected signs of hope on Wednesday when a financier, working with NASA Ames, invited me (as our ESPM rep) to what seems to be the beginning of a very exciting government/academy partnership to energy and climate solutions. I hope by September, at the second meeting of this evolving consortium, the 400+ world will seem (a little) less ominous.

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The ESPM Newsletter Staff is signing off for the summer, while the site undergoes “renovation and repairs”. We wish you a restorative and productive summer, and look forward to the adventures that lie ahead in the Fall.

Dr. Montgomery is a Professor of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he leads the Geomorphological Research Group and is a member of the Quaternary Research Center. He received his B.S. in geology from Stanford University in 1984, and his Ph.D. in geomorphology from University of California, Berkeley in 1991. His research addresses the evolution of topography and the influence of geomorphological processes on ecological systems and human societies. His published work includes studies of the role of topsoil in human civilization, the evolution and near-extirpation of salmon, morphological processes in mountain drainage basins, the evolution of mountain ranges, and the use of digital topography. He has conducted field research in eastern Tibet and the American Pacific Northwest.

In 2008 Dr. Montgomery received a MacArthur Fellowship. His book, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations won the 2008 Washington State Book Award in General Nonfiction. His most recent book is The Rocks Don’t Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah’s Flood.

Lecture Details:

• Friday, May 10, 3-4 PM, reception following lecture
• 159 Mulford Hall, UC Berkeley Campus
• Free and open to the general public

View Larger Map

Lecture Poster:

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Today’s finale has nothing to do with science, the environment, or academics – just a note to acknowledge the passing of a musical/artistic legend: George Jones, whose funeral was yesterday. I have no idea how many readers know of Jones (the NY Times obituary points out how he was never a cross-over artist and thus, he is unknown to many people who have never listened to country music). For those who wish to understand his artistry, I highly recommend The Essential George Jones: The Spirit of Country – available on Amazon and in local outlets. His personal life was more tumultuous than the songs he sang – but what a life. Its up there with Dylan, Lennon, Cash, Merle Haggard, and all the rest.

To hear the brilliance of his baritone voice – and a glimpse of the life he actually lived, listen to the original recordings. But if you have a moment, watch him sing a couple of his songs – all masterpieces (one with his former wife Tammy Wynette – who unfortunately died at 55 – her work is equally as amazing):

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We begin today by congratulating Jeff Romm for his recent award for GSI mentoring. Congratulations Jeff!

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Not long now until GRAD FEST 2013. This year at the Brower Center!  See all of you, especially faculty, on May 3 (next Friday).

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As we conclude Earth Week, what better topic to consider than the Earth itself. For the past few evenings, I have been greatly enjoying David Montgomery’s book The Rocks Don’t Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah’s Flood. You may remember that David is speaking to us on May 10.

The reviews have all noted the introspective and nuanced way in which Montgomery explores the interplay between faith and reason as scholars used faith to understand the earth, and reason was used by theologians to better interpret faith (of course, sometimes reason got a “little” ahead of faith, as Galileo learned). Possibly the pivotal moment in the geological understanding of the age of the earth occurred in the late 18th century, when James Hutton (a financially independent scholar, who arrived at his wealth for devising a method to extract ammonium chloride, a valuable flux in metal working, from chimney soot) recognized the significance of geological strata to inform us of the immensity of earth history.

Montgomery makes the astute observation that :

In contrast to Darwin’s epic voyage around the world, Hutton began forming his radical ideas about the age of the world by watching the dirt wash off his fields. (1)

Hutton, a deist, firmly believed in an earth created specifically for the preservation and continuance of life. The slow but persistent erosion of soil required (in his view) an equally slow replacement of the land surface, setting in place a potential endless cycle of crustal change (the late SJ Gould wrote a whole book on this subject, one that is also a great read). Hutton sought geological evidence for his ideas.

Hutton was nearly 60 (so much for the idea that only young people have brilliant breakthroughs) when he began scouring Scotland’s coast (where else to look for geological exposures?) for evidence. He sailed to the south of Edinburgh with John Playfair (a former Presbyterian minister) and the 27 year old Sir James Hall (who funded the trip) in search of the perfect outcrop: one where horizontal sedimentary strata directly overlay vertically oriented strata – with a geological unconformity of unknown time separating them.

Both Hall and Playfair were originally skeptics of Hutton’s claim of an earth of immense age. But the outcrop, combined with Hutton’s illuminating explanation, converted the both of them. In fact, after Hutton’s death, Playfair became his “apostle”, writing the seminal book (1802) of Hutton’ ideas called Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth.

It has been said, by the late Berkeley historian of science Thomas Kuhn, that paradigm shifts (changes in the way we see things) are like suddenly being given glasses after years of near sightedness. Listen to Playfair (with new glasses) describe Hutton explaining to them, on the Scottish coast, the significance of the now famous outcrop:

The mind seemed to grow giddy by looking so far into the abyss of time; and while we listened with earnestness and admiration to the philosopher who was now unfolding these wonderful events, we became sensible how much further reason may sometimes go than imagination can venture to follow.

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(1) Some 200 years after Hutton went on his “journey”, Scotland has created the James Hutton Institute.  It is interesting that the logo of the Institute is a stylized schematic of the outcrop that changed our perception of geological time.