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Past Seminars

Fall 2022

Main organizer: Dr. John Abatzoglou

Sept. 1 Dr. Lace Padilla, UC Merced
Sept. 15                PhD student speakers: Taylor Fugere and Marcelo Silva
Sept. 29 Jason Kelley, USDA/ARS
Oct. 13 Olivia Olivares, UCM Library
Oct. 27 Dr. Duy Dao, U. Calgary
Nov. 10 Science communication and media panel
Dec. 1 Paul Maglio, UCM
Dec. 8 PhD student speakers: Deseret Weeks, Chris Bernal, Kenneth Prewitt

Spring 2022

Organizer: Dr. Jeffrey Jenkins

Jan 28 Max Eriksson, UC Merced
Feb 4 Emily Wilkins, U.S. Geological Survey
Feb 11 Elizabeth Perry, Michigan State University
Feb 18 Felber Arroyave, UC Merced
Feb 25 Ai Hisano, University of Tokyo
Mar 4 Anna Miller, Utah State University
Mar 11 Meredith Gore, University of Maryland
Mar 18 Rachel Golden Kroner, Conservation International
Apr 1 Dev Jennings, University of Alberta
Apr 8 Jose Sanchez, U.S. Forest Service
Apr 15 Brian Peterson, Kansas State University
Apr 22 Anjali Bhatt, Harvard University
Apr 29 Vartuhi Tonoyan, California State University, Fresno
May 6 Yolonda Youngs, California State Universty, San Bernardino

Fall 2021 

The fall speaker series was organized around the theme of Climate Justice by Dr. Tracey Osborne. 

Talks are Fridays, 12:00-1:00pm (Pacific)

Aug. 27 Lauren Gifford, University of Arizona
Sept. 3 Deb L. Morrison,  University of Washington
Sept. 10 Tracy Perkins, Arizona State University
Sept. 17 Raj Aggarwal,  Provoc
Sept. 24 Michael Mendez, UC Irvine
Oct. 1 Scott Francisco, Pilot Projects Design Collective
Oct. 8 Dan Kammen, UC Berkeley
Oct. 15 Amanda Joy Ravenhill, Buckminster Fuller Institute
Oct. 22 Ingrid Behrsin, UC Davis
Oct. 29 Stephen Vasconcellos, Positive
Nov. 5 Kim Thomas, Temple University
Nov. 12 Sikina Jinnah, UC Santa Cruz
Nov. 19 Kevon Rhiney, Rutgers University
Dec. 3 Rachel Morello-Frosch, UC Berkeley

Spring 2021

Wednesdays, 12:30-1:20pm (Pacific)

The spring speaker series was co-organized with the Environmental Systems Graduate Group. The schedule is posted at Seminars | Environmental Systems Graduate Group (ucmerced.edu).

Fall 2020 

Organizer: Dr. Lisa Yeo

Talks are Fridays, 11am-12pm (Pacific)

Aug. 28 MCS Core Faculty
Sept. 4 Dr. Michele Samorani (Santa Clara U.)
Sept. 11 Dr. Lianne Lefsrud (U. Alberta)
Sept. 18 Vaarun Vijairaghavan (U. Calgary)
Sept. 25 Danielle Dai'Re (UC Merced)
Oct. 2 Dr. Ariana Torres (Purdue)
Oct. 9 No seminar
Oct. 16 Dr. Basak Kalkanci (Georgia Tech)
Oct. 23 Dr. Léon Valdés (U. Pitt)
Oct. 30 Dr. Bill Schulze (Utah)
Nov. 6 Dr. Deirdre Mulligan (UC Berkeley)
Nov. 13 Dr. Elizabeth Kennedy (Loyola University Maryland)
Nov. 20  
Nov. 27  THANKSGIVING BREAK - No speaker
Dec. 4 Dr. Kate Ringland (UC Santa Cruz)
Dec. 11 Susannah Howard (SUNY)

Fall 2020

California Fire Science Seminar Series, hosted weekly by UC Merced and UC Berkeley 

Every Thursday from 3:00 – 4:00 pm (PST) from September 10 – December 17, 2020.

Sept. 10      
How do we solve the “Wicked Problem”?: the State of Fire Science in California
Sept. 17
Radar and Lidar Observations of Wildfire Plume Dynamics
Sept. 24
Human dimensions of wildfire: Examining wildfire risk mitigation on private property and across landscapes
Oct. 1
Fuel Treatments and Megafires: lessons from the 2014 Carlton Complex, north-central WA
Oct. 8
Managing the Chemical Complexity of Wildland Fire Emissions in Highly Parameterized Air Quality Models
Oct. 15
Fundamental Wildfire Behavior Research at the Missoula Fire Sciences Lab: answers to your burning (rate) questions
Oct. 22
A Micro-Meteorological Perspective into Wildland Fire Dynamics
Oct. 29
Wildfires across California’s diverse landscape: from ignition, spread, to severity
Nov. 5
Post-fire Soil Carbon Dynamics: Implications on Movement of Particulate and Dissolved Pyrogenic Carbon
Nov. 12
Fires, Air Pollution, and Public Health: A Remote Sensing-Based Perspective
Nov. 19
Challenges and Opportunities for Increasing Prescribed Fire on Federal Lands in the West: Lessons from Case Studies and Broader Implications for Improving US Fire Management
Dec. 3
Damage inspection and research implications on the California structure ignition problem
Dec. 10
Household Decision Making and Evacuation Behavior during Wildfires
Dec. 17
TBA (Charles Ichoku, Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Howard University)

Spring 2020 

Weds 10:30-11:30AM, SSM 203 - contact russ.mcbride@ucmerced.edu

January 22           Tracey Osborne, UC Merced
January 29           Jeff Jenkins, UC Merced
February 5           Russ McBride, UC Merced. The lecture can be seen here.
February 12         Juan Meza, UC Merced/NSF
February 19         Hans Florine
February 26          Ajay Gopinathan, Physics, UC Merced
March 4                Russ McBride, UC Merced
March 11              Roger Aines, LLNL
March 18              Christine Wolf, IBM Research, Almaden
March 25              ** No Talk Scheduled - Spring Break **
April 1                   Lisa Yeo, UC Merced (pre-recorded)
April 8                   Dietrich Klinghardt, Klinghardt Academy (pre-recorded)
April 15                 Bruce Tow, SynOvation Solutions (LIVE on Zoom). The lecture can be seen here.
April 22                 Roger Bales, UC Merced (pre-recorded watershed video)
April 29                ** No talk **
May 6                   ** No talk **

Fall 2019 

Weds 10:30-11:30AM, SSM 203 - contact pmaglio@ucmerced.edu

August 28           Sarah Kurtz, Materials Science and Engineering, UC Merced
September 4      ** No Talk Scheduled **
September 11     LeRoy Westerling, Management of Complex Systems, UC Merced
September 18     Zulema Valdez, Sociology, UC Merced
September 25     James Ralph, Chief of Policy and Legal Affairs, California Public Utilities Commission
October 2            Gerardo Diaz, Mechanical Engineering, UC Merced
October 9            Steve Cousins, CEO, Savioke
October 16          ** No Talk Scheduled **
October 23          Tea Lempiälä, Management of Complex Systems, UC Merced
October 30          Spencer Castro, Dept of Psychology, University of Utah
November 6        Crystal Kolden, Department of Forest Rangeland and Fire Science, University of Idaho
November 13      Yang Quan Chen, Mechanical Engineering, UC Merced
November 20      Sergio Castellanos, Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley
December 4        John Abatzoglou, Department of Geography, University of Idaho
December 11      Anita Bhappu, Management of Complex Systems, UC Merced

2017-18

  • Professor Lee Fleming, UC Berkeley,  Coleman Fung Institute of Engineering Leadership and Haas School of Business — Mar. 13
  • Ryan Angus, University of Utah, David Eccles School of Business — Feb. 20
  • Professor  Melanie Mitchell, Department of Computer Science, Portland State University & Santa Fe Institute — Feb. 6
  • Professor  Paul Maglio, Management of Complex Systems Department, UC Merced — Jan. 30
  • Jeff Kaplan, UC Berkeley, Department of Philosophy — Jan. 22 2018
  • Professor Randy Westgren, U. Missouri, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources — Dec. 12 2017
  • Dr. Nathan Reigner, University of Vermont, Park Studies Lab — Nov. 28
  • Dr. Ashley Goldhor-Wilcock, USDA Forest Service, Human Dimensions National Program Lead — Nov. 14
  • Professor Zack Grossman, Florida State University, Department of Economics — Nov. 7
  • Steve Shackleton, UC Merced Academic Coordinator and SNRI — Oct. 31
  • Steven Key, Cofounder of inventRight — Oct. 19
  • Professor Lisa Yeo, UC Merced — Sept. 19
  • Jackie Milbrandt, Univ. St. Thomas, Minnesota — Sept. 5

2016-17

  • Professor Christian Turner, University of Georgia — May 2
  • Dr. Anton Howes, Brown University — April 18
  • Professor Christoph Breidbach, University of Melbourne School of Computing and Information Systems — April 18
  • Professor Todd Zenger, David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, Chair of the Department of Strategy and Entrepreneurship — April 11
  • Dr. Elisabeth Pacherie, Senior researcher, French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) — March 21
  • Director David Lamfrom, California Desert and Wildlife Programs — March 7
  • Professor Brian Epstein, Tufts University — Feb. 28
  • Chief of Resouce Management and Science Christy Brigham, Seqouia and Kings Canyon National Parks — Feb. 21
  • Professor Alberto Feduzi, University of Technology Sydney — Feb. 14
  • Professor Bernard Reginster, Brown Unviersity — Feb. 6 (special with MTS)
  • Joshua Welsh, Planning and Management, Yosemite National Park — Jan. 24