Lu Liang, Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning

Lu Liang’s 3M Lab (3M = Monitoring, Mapping, and Modeling) focuses on novel methods of acquiring frequent and accurate spatial data. By combining data from different instruments (ground-based, airborne, and satellite measurement) with complementary attributes, the lab generates comprehensive and informative analyses to inform environmental planning.  Ongoing projects include research into air pollution, urban heat islands and urban pollution islands, and agricultural irrigation.

Marta Gonzalez, City & Regional Planning

The HumNet Lab develops numerical models and computational tools to better characterize and understand human interactions in the built and natural environments. Research areas include urban mobility, energy use and impacts, urban science, computational social science, and climate and AI.

Liz Gálvez, Architecture

The (Im)material Matters Lab investigates the intersections of architecture, theory, and environmentalism. Its work bridges material science, environmental performance, and design culture, exploring how architecture can respond to shifting ecological, climatic, and social conditions. Gálvez leads and mentors research in the lab, collaborating with students and interdisciplinary teams to develop experimental material assemblies, alternative construction techniques, and performance-driven design strategies. The lab emphasizes Latina perspectives in architecture, integrating themes of craft, labor, and environmental justice into investigations of material and spatial practices.

Danielle Rivera, Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning

The Just Environments Lab researches policy and design for the creation of just environments before and after disasters. It focuses on hazard mitigation, seeking to provide the best evidence-based protections for low-resource communities facing high risks of natural hazards. In moments of crisis, the lab also works with low-resource communities in disaster response, recovery, and reconstruction. Recent projects and publications focus flood adaptation and recovery from floods in unincorporated communities, 

G. Mathias Kondolf, Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning

The River Lab works on river processes, infrastructure sustainability, water-energy tradeoffs, flood risk management, and river restoration. It hosts the annual Berkeley River Restoration Symposium in December, the short course Geomorphic and Ecological Fundamentals for River and Stream Restoration each August at Sagehen Creek Field Station near Lake Tahoe, and other events.

Paul Mayencourt, Architecture

The Berkeley Wood Lab is a research cooperative at the University of California focused on advancing the future of engineered wood products and timber architecture in California. Housed at Richmond Field Station, It is run jointly by the Department of Architecture at College of Environmental Design and the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the College of Natural Resources. Recent activities include hosting the first mass timber conference in California and organizing DIY nail-laminated timber workshops.