BERC White Papers
Overview
The purpose of the BERC White Papers program is to bring together UC Berkeley students with similar interests but unique knowledge sets to work together on research concerning energy and natural resource matters. Participating teams of 2-3 students will:
- Explore a research topic requiring cross-disciplinary analysis
- produce a quality research document for publication in a peer-reviewed journal
Interested students may:
- Propose research questions, or
- Fill out an application to be matched with a project proposed by another student
BERC White Papers teams will be composed of graduate students with different but complimentary skills, and will receive guidance and support from affiliated faculty mentors.
Teams will get started this month and will complete a draft by late September 2011 to be reviewed by a faculty mentor for initial journal submission during the fall 2011 semester.
Examples of topics for the Program
Examples of potential BERC White Papers topics are:
1. A student developing cheaper transparent conductive oxides (TCO’s) could assess the dependency of a solar panel’s final cost on the TCO.
2. A student involved with a new photovoltaic material could investigate the available geological resources of that material.
3. A student studying hydrogen storage could explore the scaling issues such as the dependency of filling station network size and arrangement on the profitability of hydrogen fuel cell cars.
4. A student studying wind power could calculate the total cost of wind installations, taking into account reductions in nearby property values, wildlife deaths, etc.
Students who have ideas not related to research they're currently conducting, but are interested in exploring, are also highly encouraged to submit proposals!
Application
If you're interested, please fill out a research topic proposal OR a research application and submit it by midnight, September 12.
Please feel free to email BERCWhitePapers@gmail.com with any questions about the BERC White Papers program or application process!
