Environment & Energy

As part of NSF project, UCI engineer to test water samples from storm-ravaged US Virgin Islands

UCI environmental engineer Sunny Jiang traveled to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, in the second half of November as part of a National Science Foundation Rapid Response Research project. Almost two months after two Category 5 hurricanes (Irma and Maria) struck the region, Jiang and her U.S. Geological Survey collaborator Christina Kellogg gathered samples for water […]

UCI chemists’ solar-powered device generates electricity through ion transport

Innovative technology could lead to low-cost seawater desalination

New Greenland maps show more glaciers at risk

UCI-created high-resolution charts will inform future ice and sea level forecasts

UCI scientists see order in complex patterns of river deltas

Landforms ‘self-organize’ to withstand human and natural disturbances

UCI makes sustainability ‘honor roll’ for 5th time

UCI has been selected for The Princeton Review’s 2018 Green College Honor Roll, the fifth time it has made the list, which salutes universities earning a perfect score of 99 in The Princeton Review’s sustainability rating system. This year, 24 U.S. schools were listed, out of 629 evaluated, and UCI was the only UC campus included. […]

ARPA-E funds UCI-led study of kelp farming

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy has awarded $1.8 million to UCI oceanographic engineer Kristen Davis to study offshore kelp cultivation. “Macroalgae are fast-growing and highly versatile; they can be used for feedstock, fuels, chemicals and many other commercial products,” said Davis, assistant professor of civil & environmental engineering and Earth system […]

In a warming climate, ocean- and land-based floods are a disastrous duo, UCI researchers find

Coastal areas are threatened by both oceanic and terrestrial flooding, and the combination of these factors is especially concerning as sea levels continue to rise. Untangling how oceans and rivers interact – their so-called compounding effects – is a challenge for scientists and engineers trying to estimate the current and future risk of flooding. UCI researchers have […]

UCI among Sierra magazine’s top 10 ‘Cool Schools’ for eighth straight year

Campus’s green transportation, water conservation, innovation are credited

Engineers pioneer platinum shell formation process – and achieve first-ever observation

UCI researchers have devised a new method of dynamically forming a platinum shell on a metallic alloy nanoparticle core, a development that may lead to better materials for oxygen reduction reactions in fuel cells that power some cars and electronic devices. In a first, engineers were able to observe the process directly, in real time, […]

UCI: Earth is losing its fire power

Industrial farming disrupts burn-regrowth cycle in grasslands, study finds