We are facing environmental problems head on through groundbreaking, data-driven research that crosses disciplines.
Research
The greatest environmental challenges of our time - climate change, sustainable energy, conservation, and mitigating pollution, just to name a few - are highly complex issues, and understanding how to solve them requires teams that collaborate across disciplines, oftentimes across the globe.
The Bren School is a leading center of environmental research conducted by faculty, postdoctoral scholars, visiting researchers, and students. Bren researchers are leaders in disciplines and issues that span the natural sciences, data science, engineering, law, policy, economics, business, and more under the umbrella of environmental science and management.
Bren faculty, lecturers, and visiting scholars are subject matter experts in areas that span the natural sciences, data science, law, policy, corporate practices, and economics.
Bren School PhD researchers immerse themselves in the process of conducting research to analyze, quantify, and develop solutions to complex environmental problems.
Every Bren master's student completes a research-driven thesis project on behalf of a client, developing comprehensive solutions to real world environmental problems.
Research Centers and Partners
Researchers at the Bren School collaborate across disciplines and departments, and oftentimes across the globe, to make a real impact solving environmental problems. Graduate students, post-docs, and visiting researchers benefit from Bren’s close partnership with these centers, institutes, and labs around the world
Strategic Environmental Research Initiatives
The Bren School's Strategic Environmental Research Initiative (SERI) program was launched to create new collaborations aimed at developing timely solutions to the grand environmental problems of our time. Involved faculty have the opportunity to assemble a broad community of scholars from the Bren School, the greater UCSB campus, and beyond to achieve significant progress in addressing these large-scale environmental challenges. SERI topics are also integrated into the Bren master's and PhD curricula, the Bren public colloquium series, and campus-wide activities.
SERI-Fire
Wildfires have been increasing in the western U.S. and elsewhere, a trend that is expected to continue with climate change. And while fire plays a vital role in maintaining the health of many ecosystems, it can also be a destructive force that puts human communities at risk. Recent ecological research has highlighted how changes in climate and land-management practices can affect fire regimes and their impacts.
Wildfire risk and climate change is the theme of SERI-Fire, a project funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC). Participating scientists develop new management strategies to prepare for and respond to wildfires in a changing climate. Learn more about the partners, research, and their findings at Serifire.com.
Research News Spotlight
Bren researchers and students develop solutions to critical environmental problems around the world. We are expanding our scientific understanding, planning and implementing viable solutions, and building sustainable industries.
Globally Coordinated Efforts to Protect the Ocean Offer Lasting Benefits for Humanity's Most Pressing Challenges
A team of 26 international researchers mapped priority ocean protection areas based on global targets for marine conservation, food security and climate action.
May 3 2021
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Trust, Collective Action, and Ecological Design: Transforming The Way We Think About Marine Conservation
An insightful conversation with Bren researcher, Anastasia Quintana, exploring the benefits, drawbacks, and lessons learned from a small-scale fisheries management study in the Gulf of California
Aug 5 2021
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Extreme Fire Weather Conditions Projected to Be Global "New Normal" this Century
Taking fire risk elements into account, Bren researchers calculate that extreme fire weather will become the new normal for two-thirds of the world by the end of this century.
Jan 21 2021
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Widespread River Water Leakage into Aquifers Could Lead to Disappearing Streams
Through an unprecedented data-compilation project, Bren researchers reveal the extent to which rivers are losing water to underlying aquifers across the U.S.
Apr 9 2021
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Gary Libecap Receives Ostrom Lifetime Achievement Award
Dr. Libecap recognized for his academic contributions to understanding the economics and politics of property institutions pertaining to land, natural resources, and the environment
Aug 31 2021