Projects
Year
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Eco-Entrepreneurship: Powered by Moxie

Powered by Moxie is an Eco-Entrepreneurship Project that analyzes the environmental impacts of different types of grocery and snack packaging and offers a solution to reduce packaging waste by using reusable packaging. Powered by Moxie delivers farmer’s market produce and snacks to corporate offices as a supplemental employee benefit program.

Faculty Advisors: Matt Potoski

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Whales, Vessels, and Fish: Economic Valuation of Whale Watching and Marine Spatial Planning Surrounding Dominica

To reduce the risk of vessel strikes on the Caribbean community of sperm whales off the coast of Dominica, this project created a dynamic marine spatial plan for the coast waters of Dominica and proposed shipping lanes that will avoid high suitable habitat of sperm whales.

Faculty Advisors: James Frew

Clients: Dominica Sperm Whale Project

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Quantifying and Managing Microplastics From Footwear Use: Outsole Loss Through Wear

In partnership with Adidas AG, the Future Footwear team seeks to understand the microplastic problem that is generated from the footwear industry within the United States.

Faculty Advisors: Roland Geyer, Patricia Holden

Clients: Adidas

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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

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Evaluating Connectivity in the Northern Appalachian and Acadian Region to Improve Wildlife Mobility

This project developed a framework for habitat connectivity in the Northern Appalachian/Acadian ecoregion to improve conservation outcomes through specific conservation goals, enhanced connectivity models, and methods for priority setting. The framework was applied to a case study in the Mohawk Valley of New York State, a new Staying Connected Initiative priority area. The case study informs future road barrier mitigation and land conservation work undertaken by SCI partners, The Nature Conservancy , and the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy. 

Faculty Advisors: Frank Davis

Clients: The Nature Conservancy

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Managing the Impacts of Environmental Education in Protected Areas: A Case Study at the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve

The project analyzed the potential ecological impacts of environmental education and other activities on the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve in Lompoc, California as a case study, and to develop a long term monitoring program that can be used by preserve management agencies.

Faculty Advisors: Sarah Anderson

Clients: The Nature Conservancy

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Understanding Multiple Benefits of Managed Aquifer Recharge for the Resilience of California’s Water Supply

This project team designed a transferable decision support tool to help Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) in California’s Central Valley to identify the most suitable sites for MAR, giving them the information they need to plan for a more reliable and resilient water supply that can provide the most benefit for local communities and ecosystems.

Faculty Advisors: Scott Jasechko

Clients: Environmental Defense Fund

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Using Food Waste to Reduce Food Waste: Evaluating the Impacts of Sourcing Food Waste as a Raw Material for Production

This project worked with Apeel Sciences, a small biotechnology startup interested in sourcing food waste as an input to their product, to evaluate the environmental impacts of sourcing waste using two different Life Cycle Assessment methodologies, economic allocation and substitution.

Clients: Apeel Sciences

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Assessing Agricultural Carbon Quantification Methods

This project assessed the effectiveness of regenerative organic practices to store soil carbon, modeled greenhouse gas emissions and evaluated the effect of different regenerative organic practices on total GHG emissions, and developed recommendations for Patagonia on which practices have the largest impact on carbon sequestration in the soil.

Faculty Advisors: Kyle Meng

Clients: Patagonia

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Improving Citizen Science Data Management for Resource Protection

This project team analyzed the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary's current citizen science data management system and identified improvements that will maximize the usability of this rich dataset.

Faculty Advisors: James Frew

Clients: Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary

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Cumulative Impacts Assessment for Timber Harvest: How Best to Incorporate Wildfire Risk and Hazard

The CITE Plan Project ​investigated the relationship between timber management, fire regimes and fire severity and their future regulatory incorporation by the California Board of Forestry and Fire Prevention (CalFire) into the Timber Harvest Plan (THP) permit process.

Faculty Advisors: Christina Tague

Clients: California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection

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Managing the Risks of Emerging Contaminants in the Denver Water Supply

This project team and their client, Denver Water, sought to understand the threat contaminants of emerging concern may pose to drinking water quality in their collection system.

Faculty Advisors: Arturo Keller

Clients: Denver Water

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Economic Quantification of Delaying Management in the Midriff Islands, Mexico

Trade-offs associated with marine reserves are believed to have played a key role in the network’s delayed implementation; potential long-term gains in sustainable fishing and the conservation of biodiversity likely generate short-term losses in fishery revenue due to fishery closures. The trade-offs between conservation and livelihood led our team to ask: What are the consequences of delaying the implementation of a reserve network, and how much area should be protected to enhance both fish biomass and catch?

Faculty Advisors: Hunter Lenihan

Clients: Comunidad y Biodiversidad (COBI)

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Guiding Insurance Instruments to Leverage Natural Infrastructure for Climate Change Resilience

The Nature Conservancy enlisted this group project team to help determine whether investments in natural infrastructure could lower insurance costs to hoteliers and coastal development sites.

Faculty Advisors: Ashley Larsen, Samantha Stevenson-Karl

Clients: The Nature Conservancy

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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