MOSAIKS announced winner of the SDG Digital GameChangers Award /  by GlobalPolicyLab Member

The prestigious SDG Digital GameChangers Award, organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the UNDP, honored individuals and organizations that are working towards rescuing the Global Goals through digital. The process invited submissions from the youth, government, private sector, civil society, international organizations and UN agencies, as well as from academia and the technical community. The submission process closed in July with over 450 solutions received.

MOSAIKS won the Planet category for making satellite imagery and machine learning more accessible for all and its contribution to the UN sustainable development goals. See the video below that won the award.

sébastien, Xio Hui, Shikhar, Sol, and Josh Coauthor Scientific Reports Paper on COVID-19 and Mobility /  by GlobalPolicyLab Member

Sol, in conjunction with Professor Josh Blumenstock (Data-Intensive Development Lab) and a team of PhD, postdoctoral and staff researchers—Cornelia Ilin, Sébastien Annan-Phan, Xiao Hui Tai and Shikhar Mehra—recently published a paper in Scientific Reports. This paper, Public mobility data enables COVID-19 forecasting and management at local and global scales, analyzes how this type of data can be used to gauge the spread and management of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Welcome to new Postdoc Sherrie /  by GlobalPolicyLab Member

Sherrie Wang, an S.V. Ciriacy-Wantrup Postdoctoral Scholar, will be joining the lab this week! She recently finished her PhD at Stanford University, focusing on machine learning and sustainable development. During undergrad, Sherrie studied biomedical engineering at Harvard.

As part of her research, Sherrie will contribute to the Aerial History Project and analyze satellite imagery to investigate climate change and shifts in agricultural patterns in Africa, as well as work with large datasets of crop photography.

We’re thrilled to have you with us, Sherrie!

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Summer Lab Meetup 2021! /  by GlobalPolicyLab Member

Members of the lab got together in Glen Park after 15+ months of not having seen each other in person (there were plenty of Zoom calls in the meantime, however!)

It was great catching up and enjoying a nice potluck in the park. There were also plenty of friendly canine visitors to keep the animal-loving folks in the lab entertained :-)

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We are looking forward to regularly gathering in person again once campus restrictions fully lift and everyone returns to Berkeley!

Lau to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency /  by GlobalPolicyLab Member

Congratulations to Peiley Lau, who completed her PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics (ARE) with the dissertation "Essays in Monitoring and Enforcement of Environmental and Agricultural Policies".

She will be moving on to Federal Triangle to work as an Environmental Economist at EPA’s National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE) with Al McGartland’s team.

Enjoy your time in DC—we will miss you very much!

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Englander to UCSB Postdoc and World Bank /  by GlobalPolicyLab Member

Congratulations to Gabe Englander, who completed his PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics (ARE) with the dissertation “Empirical Essays on Natural Resource Exploitation”.

His next destination will be as a postdoctoral fellow at UC Santa Barbara, working with Professor Chris Costello at the emLAB.

Following that, Gabe will begin his position as an Economist in the Development Research Group at the World Bank.

Congratulations, Gabe!!

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Proctor Publishes Atmospheric Opacity Paper in Nature Food /  by GlobalPolicyLab Member

Jon Proctor, a former GPL Fellow now at Harvard as a postdoctoral researcher, recently published a paper in Nature Food analyzing the impact of atmospheric opacity on crop yields worldwide.

He determined that heavier cloud cover accounted for improved maize and soy yields compared to clear-sky days, and that air pollution may play a negative role in future crop yields due to altered sunlight levels caused by changes in cloud composition.

Congrats, Jon!

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Hsiang Coauthors Nature Perspectives Article /  by GlobalPolicyLab Member

Sol, along with a team of other environmental scientists + economists, authored a Nature Perspectives commentary on how lockdowns implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic affected the planet, and shed additional light on how anthropogenic factors contribute to changes in the Earth system.

On the plus side, during the first six months of the pandemic, the world saw a significant reduction in human mobility due to shelter-in-place restrictions. This led to a notable drop in CO2 emissions, improvement in air quality and decrease in electricity usage.

However, non-pharmaceutical interventions mandated by virtually all national governments also led to socioeconomic disruptions, resulting in long-term effects which may not be apparent on a societal or Earth systems level until further into the future.

Welcome new GPL Fellows! /  by GlobalPolicyLab Member

The lab is thrilled to welcome four new fellows to the Global Policy Lab: Nick Depsky, Hikari Murayama, Simon Greenhill, and Miyabi Ishihara.

Nick is a 4th year PhD student in the Energy & Resources Group who plans on researching climate extremes and drought impacts, along with continuing his work with the Climate Impact Lab on analyzing cyclones and sea level rise.

Hikari is a 2nd year PhD student in the Energy & Resources Group who is interested in studying air pollution patterns, particularly in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as social equity in the context of voting rights.

Simon is a 1st year PhD student in the Agriculture and Resource Economics department who is interested in the impacts of flooding on housing policy and how weather conditions affect agriculture in foreign countries.

Miyabi is a 4th year PhD student in the Statistics department who is interested in studying the effect air pollution has on public health outcomes in the United States and how property values are impacted by adverse environmental factors.

Celebrating The End of Fall Semester! /  by GlobalPolicyLab Member

The lab wrapped up this socially distanced semester with a high-stakes trivia night hosted by Research Analyst Emma Krasovich and her partner, Alan. Their new initiative, aeroTRIV, aims to connect teammates and coworkers through virtual game nights and raises money for nonprofit organizations in the process.

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Despite increasingly close competition, Team 5, Santa’s First Dose, ultimately prevailed. They opted to give to the National Immigration Law Center, Communities for a Better Environment, and the Berkeley Food Network.

We had a blast!! Way to go, everyone!

Bolliger Coauthors AGU Paper /  by GlobalPolicyLab Member

Ian Bolliger, a former GPL Fellow and current climate data scientist at the Rhodium Group, has coauthored a paper recently published in Water Resources Research, published by the American Geophysical Union.

The paper models and analyzes present-day flood hazards across the United States as well as in 2035 and 2050, per the RCP4.5 pathway, allowing for a comprehensive estimate of flood risk across all properties in the contiguous United States.

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Quantitative Sustainable Dev. Project Contributes to UNDP Report /  by GlobalPolicyLab Member

GPL’s Quantitative Sustainable Development Project provided input on the United Nations Development Programme’s 2020 Human Development Report.

Project Manager Jeanette Tseng and Postdoc Kendon Bell wrote about the importance of valuing natural resource assets and impacts of the environment on economic outcomes. Their contributions are spotlighted on page 218 of the UNDP report.

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