Earth System Science contributes to our scientific understanding of the Earth as a coupled system, through both research and education. Undergraduate training in ESS includes total enrollment of more than 600 in departmental courses, and more than 125 undergraduate students working toward a Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Arts degree from ESS. Just imagine the impact ESS can make on future generations!

Beginning this issue, we will be highlighting something about our undergraduate programs in each newsletter. This might be a specific aspect of the program (did you know we partner with CalTeach to prepare future educators?), a specific course (our field methods course includes some very interesting final projects), or highlighting one of our outstanding students! We hope you enjoy this picture of the ESS undergraduate experience at UC Irvine.

KUCI. Student Government. Research in ESS. Leading the Earth System Science Club. Building Ecojars. Is there anything Jack Pan hasn’t done?  Currently a senior in the Earth and Environmental Science (B.S.) program, Jack has loved all his Earth System Science courses. His favorite class would have to be EarthSS 134: GIS for Environmental Science. In this course, Jack is learning how to represent numerical data in a figure. “A picture is worth a thousand words.”  

For the last two years, Jack worked on a project investigating the nitrogen cycle of Orange Pitcher Plants. These plants are carnivorous and they capture insects through the pitcher at the tip of each leaf. This causes their nutrient uptake pathway to be very different from normal plants. His lab work includes growing and feeding the plants in a greenhouse, and also processing and analyzing stable isotope samples.

If he could share one tip with his fellow UC Irvine undergrads, it would be to keep exploring Orange County!  There are a lot of exciting places in OC. It’s very close to the beach, and yet OC is like having the metropolitan lifestyle without the busyness, distraction, and stress.  Three of Jack’s favorite casual “foodie” places are Itriya Café (a very artistic spaghetti restaurant located in Diamond Jamboree Center), Native Foods Café located in The District of Tustin (very good vegan dishes), and Z-Pizza (with all their organic ingredients makes very special toppings).