Search: Research Centers

The mission of the Center is to promote and disseminate the use of entrepreneurial methods to improve the health of families in developing countries. CEIHD brings the expertise of business and public health professionals to focus on problems related to the unmet need for health services and products, and to create market conditions that facilitate the reduction of indoor air pollution.

The Institute for Legal Research (ILR) is an Organized Research Unit of the University of California, Berkeley, established by the UC Regents in 1967. The Institute's mission is to serve as a center for interdisciplinary research, teaching, and public service. The ILR has initiatives in the program areas of environmental law and policy and ocean law and policy, as well as others.

The Berkeley Geochronology Center (BGC) is a non-profit scientific research institution dedicated to establishing the history of the Earth, its various inhabitants, and its interactions with the rest of our Solar System, throughout the 4.6 billion years of our Planet's existence. Using the most advanced technology available, BGC scientists determine the ages of rocks and other materials to date important events in geological and biological history. Through understanding such information in geologic context, BGC research provides key insights into such processes as continental drift, volcanism, mountain building, mass extinctions, climate change, and the evolution of humankind itself.

The Center for Sustainable Resource Development is located in the College of Natural Resources and brings together UC Berkeley's leading environmental and social scientists with other experts and stakeholders from industry, government, and environmental organizations to address complex resource-use issues such as global climate change, sustainable agriculture, water reliability, and population, poverty and the environment.

The Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve protects a valuable remnant of coastal salt marsh habitats once common throughout Southern California estuaries. Despite major alterations to the surrounding land and water, this small, heart-shaped wetland at the northern edge of Mission Bay remains remarkably productive, providing rich intertidal habitats. Research at Kendall-Frost includes: The leptostraca of coastal California: A survey based on morphological and molecular evidence, The effect of different reproductive strategies on the genetic variation of eastern Pacific eelgrass taxa, and Final hosts (birds and mammals) as determinants of community structure of castrating trematodes in California horn snails.

The Environmental Measurement Laboratory (EML) is an EPA/California Department of Health Services certified analytical lab within the Earth Sciences Division (ESD) for researchers at DOE laboratories and the University of California. The EML has the capabilities to conduct a variety of analyses covering both organic and inorganic methods, including examination of water, soil, sediment, seawater, and waste water samples.

With a fully equipped modern laboratory and computing facilities, the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory (SNARL) serves as a major center for research for the eastern Sierra Nevada and Owens Valley. Research at SNARL includes: Ecology of Mono Lake: UC research since 1976 on Mono Lake influenced a 1994 decision of the State Water Resources Control Board to raise the lake level, helping to restore its ecosystem; ongoing projects there include physicallimnology modeling and monitoring of brine shrimp and alkali fly populations, Sierran snowpack: SNARL scientists operate a snow laboratory on Mammoth Mountain; the National Science Foundation and NASA Earth Observing System Project fund ongoing studies of snowpack properties and snowmelt runoff, and Aquatic biology: Ongoing studies examine impacts of livestock grazing on stream ecology and effects of nonnative trout on Sierra Nevada lake ecosystems.

Effective water management is not purely a scientific problem, a political problem, a technological problem, a computer science problem nor a socioeconomic problem; it is a complex, 21st Century problem that demands collaborative coordination between all of these disciplines. The Berkeley Water Center has been developed to integrate expertise across disciplines in support of a new research mode for water investigations. The plan of the Berkeley Water Center is to: Develop a seamless integration of LBNL and UCB expertise and apply the expertise to water problems; Develop Research Thrust Areas (RTAs) that integrate Berkeley water expertise within those areas, Create collaborative opportunities between Berkeley Water Center and other expert groups and resources; Create strong, mutually beneficial partnerships between Berkeley and other academic, governmental, and private sector institutions. Accelerate development of RTA research results into applications through strategic partnerships; Function as a CITRIS member institution.

The Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center is located in the rugged Granite Mountains of the East Mojave Desert. Research at Sweeney includes: Linkages between biotic and physical components of piedmont landscapes. Characterization of microbial communities and desert soil crusts, Ecomorphology of desert lizards. Systematics of scorpions. Ecology of ants. Systematics of wasps and bees, Bighorn sheep demographics and dietary requirements. Rattlesnake life history/ distributional ecology. Kangaroo rat physiology and foraging behavior, and Ecology and evolutionary factors that maintain genetic diversity in annual plants. Long-term demographics of desert shrubs.