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Building the Next Generation of Scientists: EESA at STEM Career Awareness Day2 min read

by Kristine Wong on May 1, 2017

Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division Climate Sciences Department Energy Geosciences Division Events Hydrogeology Department
EESA exhibit at CSU East Bay STEM Career Awareness Day

Christina Patricola and Daniel Feldman at California State University East Bay’s STEM Career Awareness Day on April 27, 2017.

As a middle school student in eastern Massachusetts, Earth and Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) research scientist Christina Patricola became fascinated with the snowstorms that frequently blanketed her hometown—and quickly recognized her passion for atmospheric science.

But despite her early interest, Patricola says she doesn’t know if she would have continued on a scientific career path without having a mentor for inspiration.

That’s why she chose to spend time talking with East Bay students at California State University’s STEM Career Awareness Day (held on April 27 at the Aquatic Park Center in Berkeley) to let them know it’s possible to transform scientific curiosity into a career.

“It’s really important for students to see someone doing what they’re interested in and be able to talk to them about how you got there, what you needed to do, and about some of the challenges you experienced,” said Patricola, who has a doctorate in atmospheric science. She studies how hurricanes are affected by climate variability and global climate change using computational models for the CASCADE (a Berkeley Lab, University of California-Berkeley, and UC Davis) project.

Arctic surface and subsurface model created by EESA Research Associate Robin Lopez.

Arctic surface and subsurface model created by EESA Research Associate Robin Lopez.

EESA research scientist Daniel Feldman and Patricola set up an EESA informational table at STEM Career Awareness Day. They gave insight to many of the 300 participants (who came from Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, and Emeryville) into what it’s like to be a scientist, talked about the research conducted at EESA and Berkeley Lab, and encouraged them to apply for the Lab’s student internship opportunities. Students also got a chance to learn more about the Arctic surface and subsurface by exploring a model built by EESA Research Associate Robin Lopez.

“The most common questions we got were about where we went to college, what classes we took, and what we do at work,” Patricola said. “The students were also curious about what climate models are and what sort of observations scientists collect in their research.”

Berkeley Lab’s Biosciences Area also participated in the daylong event, with the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) in Emeryville welcoming students for a tour of its research facilities. Jennifer Tang, Berkeley Lab’s Federal and Community Relations Director, served as an on-site tour chaperone. And the Lab’s Workforce Development & Education department contributed educational materials.

“There are a lot of students who might not have people at home who they can talk to about what it’s like to go to graduate school and become a scientist,” Patricola said. “It’s important for EESA to encourage the next generation of students to be interested in tackling problems related to earth and the environment, as issues like water security will continue to be important in the future.”

News & Events

Chun Chang Places Second in Annual Berkeley Lab Pitch Competition3 min read

January 18, 2023

Commercializing Berkeley Lab inventions is an important part of the Lab’s mission, and one that requires strong communication skills. For example, Lab inventors need to be able to pitch their ideas to external partners and potential funders.  The annual Berkeley Lab Pitch Competition occurred on October 27, 2022 and is a part of an entrepreneurship…

EESA Scientists Collaborate With Universities to bring Environmental Science Research Opportunities and Training to Students Underrepresented in STEM3 min read

January 13, 2023

  EESA researchers are collaborators in three of the 41 projects awarded in December by DOE through its Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) initiative.  RENEW aims to build foundations for research at institutions that have been historically underrepresented in the Office of Science (SC) research portfolio. The initiative provides opportunities for undergraduate and…

New Report Explores Revolutionary Environmental Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure5 min read

January 10, 2023

In a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) and DOE’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program, as well as with community experts, the Artificial Intelligence for Earth System Predictability (AI4ESP) workshop was held from October through December 2021. BER developed the process as the Model-Experiment paradigm, or ModEx, and a report released this fall outlines the key takeaways of last year’s event.

A Q&A With Postdoc Kunxiaoja Yuan3 min read

January 4, 2023

  Kunxiaojia Yuan received her Bachelor’s of Engineering in remote sensing and Ph.D. in geographic information engineering from Wuhan University. She is a postdoctoral researcher in EESA, with a research focus on global carbon, energy, and water cycle analysis and model evaluation using machine learning and causal inference. What motivated you to pursue a postdoc…

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