Media Watch
Blueprints become reality for Team Orange as components arrive to begin building its Solar Decathlon home
Orange County Register -
Founder of the U.S. Department of Energy competition ... [Richard] King’s stop provided an unexpected burst of excitement to Team Orange, a collaboration among four Orange County schools: UC Irvine ... Recent UCI graduate Andy Truong is heading the project’s construction management and plumbing teams. ... Gregory Washington, dean of UCI’s engineering school, said the competition gives students experiences that are impossible to replicate in a classroom setting.
California's drought spurs unexpected effect: eco-friendly development
NPR -
Alex McDonald, of the University of California, Irvine, is project manager for Team Orange County, a group studying drought-friendly housing models. "The industry ... is trending toward this notion of net-zero," he says, referring to communities that produce as much energy as residents use.
Should we be expecting El Niño to blow us away with rain?
LA Weekly -
Amir AghaKouchak, UC Irvine hydrologist, engineer and climatologist, is an expert in such matters. He says it's too soon to tell. But he does admit that the signs so far are pointing in the direction of a strong El Niño winter and spring.
The Loh Down on Science - Calamari camo
Southern California Public Radio -
Squid, also known as calamari, are geniuses of camouflage. But how do they do it? University of California, Irvine scientist Alon Gorodetsky knows. His lab studies materials inspired by the skin cells of squid.
UCI professor breaking ground in wireless tech
Orange County Register -
UC Irvine's professor Syed Jafar, 39, of Irvine is one of three winners of the Blavatnik Family Foundation's annual national young scientist award for his work on wireless technology.
With one-third of largest aquifers highly stressed, it's time to explore and assess the planet's groundwater
National Geographic -
“In most cases, we do not know how much groundwater exists in storage,” write the authors of a study published last month in Water Resources Research (WRR), a journal of the American Geophysical Union. ... One-third of the world’s 37 largest aquifers are highly stressed to over-stressed, according to a companion study published in the same issue of WRR. ... Scientists at the University of California, Irvine led both studies, with doctoral student Alexandra Richey serving as lead author.
UC Irvine professor receives national science award
Orange County Register -
Three University of California researchers are the winners of a national young scientist award that carry a cash prize of $250,000 each. The awards are given annually by the Blavatnik Family Foundation … The winners are … Syed A. Jafar, a 39-year-old professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Irvine.
Study: A third of world's major aquifers threatened
USA Today -
In two new studies, a team of researchers led by hydrologists from the University of California, Irvine assessed the depletion of groundwater on a global scale using readings from NASA satellites. ... "If we continue to use groundwater the way it's being used, then there's a high chance that it could be depleted to the point that we can no longer use it in my lifetime in certain areas," said Alexandra Richey, the lead author of the studies.
Many of the world's water basins are being depleted studies find
Los Angeles Times -
"We know we're taking more than we're putting back in – how long do we have before we can't do that anymore?" said Alexandra Richey, who conducted the studies as a graduate student at UC Irvine. "We don't know, but we keep pumping. Which to me is terrifying." … Jay Famiglietti, senior water scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a UC Irvine professor, said that aquifers should be studied and valued the same way as precious oil reserves.
UC Irvine looks to revitalize ocean research center in Newport Beach
Orange County Register -
UCI associate professor Kristen Davis said Kerckhoff’s close access to the ocean will help researchers get data quickly during events like last year’s unseasonably warm ocean waters .... Davis said the OCEANS Initiative could also tackle difficult coastal issues, like sea level rise, that will need a comprehensive look from several scientific disciplines before real answers emerge.