UCI Researchers Receive More Than $8 Million to Advance California's Climate Goals

Three University of California, Irvine researchers will receive more than $8 million in climate action grants to support projects that will help advance progress toward California's climate goals.

These projects are the result of a historic partnership between the state of California and the University of California, which today announced that it's awarding over $80 million in Climate Action grants. The grants will spur implementation of solutions that directly address state climate priorities.

The UCI recipients are:

• A multi-disciplinary team led by Steven Allison, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, will receive $5.5 million in matching funding to create a regional network that helps California communities adapt to climate change, conserve and steward land and mitigate climate risks. Three University of California campuses (Irvine, Riverside and San Diego) will partner and collaborate with community groups, tribes and management agencies to form the Wildland-Urban Interface Climate Action Network. WUICAN's goal is to create knowledge and climate solutions that protect and preserve California landscapes experiencing unprecedented climate events. WUICAN will create new opportunities for California residents to have a say in how federal, state and local agencies can best protect their communities from climate change.

• Alejandro Camacho, Chancellor's Professor of law, will receive $1.2 million in seed funding to develop innovative, local land-use plans aligned with state climate objectives and mandates. These include keeping California's municipal and county governments at the forefront of state climate policy; maximizing the economic, environmental and public health benefits of climate investments in disadvantaged communities; and ensuring compliance with civil rights laws. Integrated and Equitable Climate Action will be a collaboration among faculty and staff at UCI's School of Law, Department of Urban Planning and Public Policy, and Newkirk Center for Science and Society. It will include the UC Center Sacramento at UC Davis, community leaders, local city governments and organizations such as the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment; the Central Valley Air Quality Coalition; the Central California Environmental Justice Network; and Azul.

• Isabella Velicogna, professor of Earth system science, will receive $2 million in seed funding for a project that will combine model forecasts and satellite and Earth-surface observations to provide vastly improved seasonal and sub-seasonal projections of California's hydroclimate and its impact on agricultural output. Velicogna's team includes experts in climate science, remote sensing, artificial intelligence and agriculture who will work with specialists in UC Agriculture and Natural Resources and the California Department of Water Resources, farmers and private companies.

"I am very pleased that UCI faculty will be leading three exciting projects under the California Climate Action seed and matching grants program," said Pramod Khargonekar, UCI's vice chancellor for research. "These collaborative projects hold great potential to help California communities respond to, adapt to and minimize the negative impacts of climate change."