Overview of MEDS Capstone projects     Overview of MESM Group projects    

Projects
Year
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Eco-Entrepreneurship: InGrain: Transforming Brewery Waste Into Sustainable Packaging and Marketing Solutions

Eco-Entrepreneurship: InGrain: Transforming Brewery Waste Into Sustainable Packaging and Marketing Solutions

Faculty Advisors: Emily Cotter, Matt Potoski

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Finding a Place for Conservation: A bio-economic analysis to inform the re-zoning of the Galápagos Marine Reserve

Finding a Place for Conservation: A bio-economic analysis to inform the re-zoning of the Galápagos Marine Reserve

Faculty Advisors: Christopher Costello

Clients: National Geographic Society Pristine Seas

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Gallatin Valley Water Exchange: A market-based approach to sustainable water management in Western Montana

Gallatin Valley Water Exchange: A market-based approach to sustainable water management in Western Montana

Faculty Advisors: Thomas Dunne

Clients: The Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited

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A Citizen Science Monitoring Protocol for the Rocky Intertidal Habitat

A Citizen Science Monitoring Protocol for the Rocky Intertidal Habitat

Faculty Advisors: John Melack

Clients: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

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Assessing the Environmental and Economic Impacts and Benefits of PV-battery Microgrid Systems in Off-Grid Communities

Assessing the Environmental and Economic Impacts and Benefits of PV-battery Microgrid Systems in Off-Grid Communities

Faculty Advisors: Roland Geyer

Clients: First Solar, Inc.

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Assessing the Effectiveness of Fire Mitigation Strategies in the Wildland-Urban Interface

Assessing the Effectiveness of Fire Mitigation Strategies in the Wildland-Urban Interface

Faculty Advisors: Sarah Anderson

Clients: City of Santa Barbara Fire Department

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Factors Influencing the Expansion of Environmental Water Markets

Factors Influencing the Expansion of Environmental Water Markets

Faculty Advisors: Gary Libecap

Clients: Mammoth Trading, Inc., Water for Food Daugherty Global Institute - University of Nebraska

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Economic Analysis of Invasive Giant Reed (Arundo Donax) Control for the Lower Santa Clara River

Economic Analysis of Invasive Giant Reed (Arundo Donax) Control for the Lower Santa Clara River

Faculty Advisors: Derek Booth

Clients: UCSB Riparian Invasion Research Lab

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Not a Drop to Spare: Sustainable Water Management Solutions for the South Coast of Santa Barbara County

Not a Drop to Spare: Sustainable Water Management Solutions for the South Coast of Santa Barbara County

Faculty Advisors: Robert Wilkinson

Clients: Santa Barbara Channelkeeper

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Microfiber Pollution and the Apparel Industry

Microfiber Pollution and the Apparel Industry

Faculty Advisors: Patricia Holden

Clients: Patagonia

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More Housing, Fewer Cars: Reducing Commute-Related Emissions on the South Coast

More Housing, Fewer Cars: Reducing Commute-Related Emissions on the South Coast

Faculty Advisors: Mark Buntaine

Clients: City of Santa Barbara Planning Commission

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Global Spatial Analysis to Identify and Characterize Wood Sourcing Regions

Global Spatial Analysis to Identify and Characterize Wood Sourcing Regions

Faculty Advisors: Lee Hannah

Clients: The Sustainability Consortium

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Biological and Social Tradeoffs of Implementing Fair Trade USA in Small-Scale Fisheries: A Case Study of Costa Rican Snapper

Biological and Social Tradeoffs of Implementing Fair Trade USA in Small-Scale Fisheries: A Case Study of Costa Rican Snapper

Faculty Advisors: Hunter Lenihan

Clients: Conservation International

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Eco-Entrepreneurship: Fruit Forward: Recapturing the Beneficial Properties of Wine Grape Skins and Seeds to Produce an Organic Preservative

Eco-Entrepreneurship: Fruit Forward: Recapturing the Beneficial Properties of Wine Grape Skins and Seeds to Produce an Organic Preservative

Faculty Advisors: Emily Cotter, Bruce Kendall, David Tilman

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EVMatch: Reducing the Barriers to Electric Vehicle Use by Matching EV Owners With Reliable Charging Options in Their Community (Eco-E)

Connecting EV owners in need of reliable charging with nearby owners of residential EV charging infrastructure on a reservation basis.

Faculty Advisors: Emily Cotter, Kyle Meng

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Evaluating Management Scenarios to Revitalize the California Commercial Swordfish Fishery

The goal of our project was to evaluate different management scenarios composed of the main gear types used to catch swordfish to simulate an increase in domestic swordfish catch while incorporating current and proposed conservation regulations in the California swordfish fishery.

Faculty Advisors: Hunter Lenihan

Clients: NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, The Nature Conservancy

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Eco-Entrepreneurship: Solo Energy: A Social Impact Venture Providing Affordable Electricity to Energy-Impoverished Individuals in Less-Developed Nations Throughout Latin America and the Caribbean

Solo Energy builds standalone renewable energy kits for individuals with energy needs that cannot be satisfied through traditional fuels. The kits are complete and contain a solar panel, battery, and everything else needed to ensure the electricity produced is reliable and available.

Faculty Advisors: Emily Cotter, Jeff Dozier

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Incorporating Life Cycle Screening into Alternatives Analysis

A case study exploring the Life Cycle impacts of methylene chloride in paint strippers and alternative paint stripping methods.

Faculty Advisors: Arturo Keller

Clients: California Department of Toxic Substances Control, California Environmental Protection Agency

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Addressing Sedimentation of Ecuador's Rio Chone Estuary: A Watershed Perspective

This project's work showed that sheetwash erosion is the dominant geomorphic process generating sediment in the Rio Chone estuary, located on the Pacific Coast of Ecuador.

Faculty Advisors: Steve Gaines

Clients: Global Student Embassy

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TURFtools: A Community-Inclusive Management Design Tool for Small-Scale Fisheries

TURFtools is a user-friendly Microsoft Excel tool that incorporates best available science, local ecological knowledge, and social objectives to facilitate community-driven management decisions. The tool was applied in the Philippines as part of the global Fish Forever initiative.

Faculty Advisors: Christopher Costello

Clients: Environmental Defense Fund