Master's Project Directory

Overview of MEDS Capstone projects Overview of MESM Group projects

Teamwork engineer wearing safety uniform standing crossed arms at wind turbine

Modeling the Impact of Decarbonization on Labor in California’s Central Coast

This project maps the shifting energy job landscape on California’s Central Coast as offshore wind development accelerates. By visualizing job gains and losses, it empowers labor, environmental, and community groups to advocate for a just transition to clean energy.

Group Members: Liz Peterson, Marina Kochuten, Brooke Grazda

Faculty Advisors: Ranjit Deshmukh

Clients: The 2035 Initiative, UCSB Community Labor Center

Understanding US Wind and Solar Energy Siting

Identifying the historic drivers of wind and solar power plant siting, and generating a predictive model for future siting using machine learning.

Group Members: Paloma Cartwright, Joseph (Joe) DeCesaro, Daniel Kerstan, Desik Somasundaram

Faculty Advisors: Ranjit Deshmukh

Clients: UCSB Environmental Science Department

Climate Change Impacts to City of Santa Barbara Water Supplies

This project provides an analysis of a range of potential variations in streamflow for the Santa Ynez River watershed, and therefore inflow to the City of Santa Barbara's reservoirs, from 2020 to 2058.

Faculty Advisors: Arturo Keller, John Melack

Clients: City of Santa Barbara Public Works

Five female students standing with two male faculty members

Managing Endemic Species Across the California Islands Archipelago in the Face of Climate Change

This project team worked with The Nature Conservancy, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, and other island conservation organizations to better understand how climate change will impact island oaks and their recovery.

Faculty Advisors: John Melack, Bruce Kendall

Clients: The Nature Conservancy, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

Clients: The Nature Conservancy

Analyzing the Environmental Impacts of Simple Shoes – A Life Cycle Assessment of the Supply Chain and Evaluation of End-of-Life Management Options

Faculty Advisors: John Melack, Patricia Holden

Clients: Simple Shoes

Conserving Monterey County's Ranchland: Trends and Strategies

Faculty Advisors: John Melack, Frank Davis

Clients: Big Sur Land Trust

Evaluation of Rainfall-Runoff Relationships to Develop Stormwater Reduction Strategies in South Coast Watersheds

Faculty Advisors: John Melack, Thomas Dunne

Clients: Santa Barbara Channelkeeper

Program

Clients

Year

Faculty Advisors

Modeling the Impact of Decarbonization on Labor in California’s Central Coast

Understanding US Wind and Solar Energy Siting

Climate Change Impacts to City of Santa Barbara Water Supplies

Managing Endemic Species Across the California Islands Archipelago in the Face of Climate Change

Eco-Entrepreneurship: Roots

Securing Water Rights from Retiring Coal-Fired Power Plants for Instream Flow

The Living Laboratories- Improving Management at Two University of California Natural Reserves

The Waterfowl of Wall Street: Using Water Markets to Provide Habitat for Migratory Birds

A Citizen Science Monitoring Protocol for the Rocky Intertidal Habitat

Beaver (Castor Canadensis) Impact on Water Resources in the Jemez Watershed, New Mexico

Sustainable Supply Chain Management for UCSB

Sustainable Visitorship at the Angeles National Forest: Strategies for Solid Waste Management

From Sea to Table: Recommendations for Tracing Seafood

Analyzing the Environmental Impacts of Simple Shoes – A Life Cycle Assessment of the Supply Chain and Evaluation of End-of-Life Management Options

Conserving Monterey County's Ranchland: Trends and Strategies

Evaluation of Rainfall-Runoff Relationships to Develop Stormwater Reduction Strategies in South Coast Watersheds