- Climate science through lectures by experts;
- Computational tools through virtual labs; and
- A challenge inviting participants to compete for prizes by designing and implementing solutions for climate resilience.
An particularly exciting part of this initiative is the possibility to win cash prizes for innovative research ideas. You can find more information about labs and lectures here at https://nex.nasa.gov/opennex
and to participate in the challenge, you can go directly at https://www.innocentive.com/ar/challenge/9933584.
Pay attention! Especially grad students and young researchers! The first part of the challenge is the ideation challenge which will close on the 31st of July, 2014 and will follow up with another solvers challenge based on the ideas as selected form the ideation challenge. This will run through October so ample time to participate and win prizes.
The Geospatial Innovation Facility at the University of California, Berkeley is recruiting for an Executive Director (Academic Coordinator). The mission of The Geospatial Innovation Facility (GIF) http://gif.berkeley.edu is to help people better understand the complex challenges facing our changing world through the acquisition, analysis and visualization of spatial data. We strive to fulfill our mission by developing engaging applications that leverage and build upon state-of-the-art geospatial and web technologies, and by providing opportunities for new researchers to learn how they can use spatial data to answer critical questions.
Responsibilities include managing the facility’s budget, spending, and new business development; delivering workshops and training; supervising a talented team of web application developer and IT staff; and managing projects, including Cal-Adapt, LandCarbon, and the Berkeley Ecoinformatics Engine; developing future vision and work plans and reports to the faculty advisory board and external oversight committee; and promoting the adoption of geospatial technology on campus.
The minimum requirement to be considered an applicant is an advanced degree in a related field by the time of application. Preferred qualifications include advanced understanding of geospatial technology and Open Source GIS and webGIS programming; excellent commination skills; experience in grant writing, fundraising, and managing large budgets; and strong leadership skills associated with project management.
Salary range is $75,000 – $95,000/annually, depending on prior experience and qualifications. Generous benefits are included (http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/benefits).
For more information about the position, including required qualifications and application materials, go to https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/apply/JPF00460. The deadline to apply is July 31, 2014.For questions, please contact Ruxin Liu at ruxinl@berkeley.edu. UC Berkeley is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
It is graduation season around Berkeley, which means some time to look forward to the future, and take stock of the past. For me, taking stock of the past happened unexpectedly today when, in cleaning up my desk, I found a print-out of one of Tim De Chant's earlier blog posts from Per Square Mile entitled "The map that started it all" about his early fascination with this map, from John T. Curtis, published in Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth. Tim is now senior digital editor at NOVA and editor of NOVA Next, which is very cool.
Tim describes the map documenting a transition from a wild Wisconsin dominated by a deciduous forest to a landscape in which the remaining woodlots are barely visible. This was proto-GIS, as Curtis recreated the scenes from survey data and his own observations, painstakingly piecing together handwritten records of the six-by-six mile township.
This is such a nice entry, and reminds me of many things: past students now gone on to great things, past times reading Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth in the 1980s in McCone Hall for an exam in Hooson's class, and my own nascent interest in all things landscape palimpsesty and patterny.
Here is my copy (at right) of the venerable tome, Volume 2, complete with its ridiculous price tag: $6.95!
I've always been in love with maps, and am fortunate now that my career allows me to learn about them and their uses daily. Thanks Tim for the reminder!
/span>- Author: Shane Feirer
The California Climate Commons (http://climate.calcommons.org/) will be hosting a new version of the California Basin Characterization Model, sometimes called the BCM or Flint data (after the modelers, Lorraine and Alan Flint). The new version of the BCM is currently being processed and is planned to be hosted by California Climate Commons in the next month. Lorraine Flint discusses what's new in this dataset in the following Forum. California Climate Commons will be hosting the California model outputs initially and a Nevada dataset will be added later this year. This new dataset features 18 modeled futures; you can read the California Climate Commons article called "Why So Many Climate Models?" to find out more about them as well as learn about how to work with the large number of climate models that are available.
/span>Despite some not-very-flattering-but-taken-with-really-rad-tintype-photography pictures of us all, this is an interesting article that focuses on our public participation in the SNAMP project.
Check it out! http://cnr.berkeley.edu/breakthroughs/sp14/taming-sierra-flames