About
The National Park Service Californian Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (NPS CA-CESU) Science Program at UC Berkeley is led by Ben Becker (NPS Science Advisor, UCB Visiting Scholar) and hosted by the UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science Policy and Management in the Rausser College of Natural Resources.
The NPS CA-CESU Science Program:
- Facilitates approximately 40 research projects each year (~$2-4m annual funding) between the National Park Service and our Californian CESU Research Partners.
- Conducts research on coastal species and ecosystems (usually using long-term data) to understand population dynamics and ecological processes for informed conservation planning.
- Engages UC Berkeley students with strong data science and statistical skills in most of our research with the aim of preparing them for careers at the intersection of ecology and data science.
Science Advisor
Ph.D.
Current CA-CESU Students
Past CA-CESU Students
Project: Water Quality of Yosemite & Sequoia Kings Canyon National Parks
Project: Water Quality of Yosemite and Sequoia Kings Canyon National Parks
Project: Analysis of River Flows at Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks
Data Science Assistant and Honors Thesis
Honors Thesis: Using Convolutional Neural Nets to Monitor Seals from Aerial Imagery
Data Science Intern
Projects: Prairie Falcon Occupancy Analysis, River Flow Analysis at Yosemite and Sequioa & Kings Canyon National Parks