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 /
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!
Summer Lab Meetup 2021! /
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 :-)
We are looking forward to regularly gathering in person again once campus restrictions fully lift and everyone returns to Berkeley!
Huang to Waymo /
Congratulations to Luna Huang, who completed her PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics (ARE) with the dissertation “Essays in Development Economics”.
Her next destination will be in Mountain View with Waymo as a Data Scientist.
It’s been such a pleasure having you in the lab, Luna!
Lau to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency /
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!
Englander to UCSB Postdoc and World Bank /
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!!
Proctor Publishes Atmospheric Opacity Paper in Nature Food /
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!
Hsiang Coauthors Nature Perspectives Article /
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.
GPL COVID-19 paper listed as one of Altmetric's top 100 articles of 2020 /
The lab’s research paper, The effect of large-scale anti-contagion policies on the COVID-19 pandemic (Nature, 2020) was listed by Altmetric as one of the Top 100 Articles of 2020 (#22, to be exact!)
This is the fourth time a GPL paper has made it into the top 100.
Thanks to Altmetric for the recognition and to all of those who had a chance to read it.
Kelton Presents Working Paper at AMS /
Kelton Minor, our Visiting Student Researcher, presented his new working paper Ambient Heat and Human Sleep at the American Meteorological Society’s 12th Conference on Environment and Health. He has also recently been announced as the computational social science lead for the Climate Change Artificial Intelligence (CCAI) initiative. Congratulations!
Welcome new GPL Fellows! /
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.