About the Program

The Energy and Resources Group (ERG) is an interdisciplinary academic unit of UC Berkeley, conducting programs of graduate teaching and research that treat issues of energy, resources, development, human and biological diversity, environmental justice, governance, global climate change, and new approaches to thinking about economics and consumption. Established in 1973, ERG offers two-year MA and MS degrees in Energy and Resources, as well as a PhD.

The graduate courses in ERG provide advanced training in interdisciplinary analysis and research. Individual courses review current developments in the field or emphasize particular disciplinary perspectives: economics, resources, politics, public policy, or environmental sciences.

The purpose of the ERG Master’s program is to educate the next generation of interdisciplinary leaders. Specifically, students are taught the range of methods and subjects they should be able to understand, advance, and critique to address critical issues stemming from the interaction of humans and the environment. To that end, the requirements for the ERG Master’s degree are both broad and deep, stressing analytic, methodological, theoretical, and practical approaches to problems in energy, resources, and the environment.

There are approximately 60 graduate students enrolled in ERG degree programs, about half of them doctoral candidates. The students come from a wide variety of backgrounds—engineering, natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The characteristics they have in common are an interest in interdisciplinary approaches to energy and resource issues and the intellectual credentials to succeed in a rigorous academic program. All receive training at ERG in the technological, environmental, economic, and sociopolitical dimensions of energy and resource issues while pursuing additional coursework and individual research tailored to their interest and backgrounds.

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Admissions

Admission to the University

Uniform minimum requirements for admission

The following minimum requirements apply to all programs and will be verified by the Graduate Division:

1. A bachelor’s degree or recognized equivalent from an accredited institution;
2. A minimum grade-point average of B or better (3.0);
3. If the applicant comes from a country or political entity (e.g. Quebec) where English is not the official language, adequate proficiency in English to do graduate work, as evidenced by a TOEFL score of at least 570 on the paper-and-pencil test, 230 on the computer-based test, 90 on the iBT test, or an IELTS Band score of at least 7 (note that individual programs may set higher levels for any of these); and
4. Enough undergraduate training to do graduate work in the given field.

Applicants who already hold a graduate degree

The Graduate Council views academic degrees as evidence of broad research training, not as vocational training certificates; therefore, applicants who already have academic graduate degrees should be able to take up new subject matter on a serious level without undertaking a graduate program, unless the fields are completely dissimilar.

Programs may consider students for an additional academic master’s or professional master’s degree if the additional degree is in a distinctly different field.

Applicants admitted to a doctoral program that requires a master’s degree to be earned at Berkeley as a prerequisite (even though the applicant already has a master’s degree from another institution in the same or a closely allied field of study) will be permitted to undertake the second master’s degree, despite the overlap in field.

The Graduate Division will admit students for a second doctoral degree only if they meet the following guidelines:

1. Applicants with doctoral degrees may be admitted for an additional doctoral degree only if that degree program is in a general area of knowledge distinctly different from the field in which they earned their original degree. For example, a physics PhD could be admitted to a doctoral degree program in music or history; however, a student with a doctoral degree in mathematics would not be permitted to add a PhD in statistics.
2. Applicants who hold the PhD degree may be admitted to a professional doctorate or professional master’s degree program if there is no duplication of training involved.

Applicants may only apply to one single degree program or one concurrent degree program per admission cycle.

Any applicant who was previously registered at Berkeley as a graduate student, no matter how briefly, must apply for readmission, not admission, even if the new application is to a different program.

Required documents for admissions applications

1. Transcripts:  Upload unofficial transcripts with the application for the departmental initial review. Official transcripts of all college-level work will be required if admitted. Official transcripts must be in sealed envelopes as issued by the school(s) you have attended. Request a current transcript from every post-secondary school that you have attended, including community colleges, summer sessions, and extension programs.
   If you have attended Berkeley, upload unofficial transcript with the application for the departmental initial review. Official transcript with evidence of degree conferral will not be required if admitted.
2. Letters of recommendation: Applicants can request online letters of recommendation through the online application system. Hard copies of recommendation letters must be sent directly to the program, not the Graduate Division.
3. Evidence of English language proficiency: All applicants from countries in which the official language is not English are required to submit official evidence of English language proficiency. This requirement applies to applicants from Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Latin America, the Middle East, the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and most European countries. However, applicants who, at the time of application, have already completed at least one year of full-time academic course work with grades of B or better at a U.S. university may submit an official transcript from the U.S. university to fulfill this requirement. The following courses will not fulfill this requirement: 1) courses in English as a Second Language, 2) courses conducted in a language other than English, 3) courses that will be completed after the application is submitted, and 4) courses of a non-academic nature. If applicants have previously been denied admission to Berkeley on the basis of their English language proficiency, they must submit new test scores that meet the current minimum from one of the standardized tests.

Admission to the Program

The Energy and Resources Group seeks stu­dents who have excelled aca­d­e­m­i­cally, what­ever their dis­ci­pline; who show promise of abil­ity to cross dis­ci­pli­nary bound­aries; and who want not only to under­stand prob­lems of energy, resources, and envi­ron­ment but to help solve them.

ERG delib­er­ately admits stu­dents with a wide vari­ety of inter­ests, per­spec­tives, dis­ci­plines, research meth­ods, and expe­ri­ence so that each can help the oth­ers see the whole picture.

Admis­sion to ERG is highly com­pet­i­tive, with a class of 20 stu­dents (Master’s and Ph.D. com­bined) selected annu­ally from approx­i­mately 250 applicants.

Those admit­ted to the pro­gram have strong aca­d­e­mic records and let­ters of rec­om­men­da­tion, bal­anced and strong GRE scores, and, where applic­a­ble, related work expe­ri­ence and pub­li­ca­tions. The state­ment of pur­pose, sup­ple­mented by the per­sonal his­tory state­ment, is vital in demon­strat­ing an applicant’s com­mit­ment to the program.

You may apply to the two-year Master’s Degree (MS or MA), ERG/Public Pol­icy Con­cur­rent Master’s Degree or the PhD pro­gram. Within the Master’s appli­ca­tions there is check­box to indi­cate your inter­est in the Master’s/Ph.D. Track.

Admission to the Master's Program, MA or MS

The min­i­mum require­ment for admis­sion to the Master’s Degree pro­gram is com­ple­tion of a Bachelor’s degree or its equiv­a­lent at a fully accred­ited U.S. insti­tu­tion of higher learn­ing or for­eign equiv­a­lent. Because the pro­gram is fun­da­men­tally inter­dis­ci­pli­nary, there are no other for­mal require­ments for con­sid­er­a­tion, although, as dis­cussed above, suc­cess­ful can­di­dates will demon­strate aca­d­e­mic and intel­lec­tual excel­lence.

Admission to the Master's/PhD Track

A small num­ber of highly qual­i­fied appli­cants will be selected for the Master’s/PhD Track. The Track is both an indi­ca­tion of your intent to con­tinue to the PhD pro­gram at ERG, and ERG’s expec­ta­tion that you will to be qual­i­fied to con­tinue to doc­toral work after sat­is­fy­ing the Master’s Degree require­ments. It does not oblig­ate you, or ERG, to your even­tual matric­u­la­tion to the PhD. Can­di­dates admit­ted into the joint Master’s/PhD track will be expected to com­plete all the require­ments of the ERG Master’s Degree before con­tin­u­ing. Can­di­dates for admis­sion to the Master’s pro­gram whose ulti­mate goal is to con­tinue on for a PhD at ERG should select either the MA or MS degree appli­ca­tion and select the Master/s PhD. Track checkbox. Other Master’s stu­dents may apply to the PhD pro­gram upon suc­cess­ful com­ple­tion of the two-year Master’s program.

Admission to the PhD Program

Stu­dents admit­ted directly to the PhD pro­gram must have a two-year Master’s Degree from a fully accred­ited U.S. insti­tu­tion of higher learn­ing or for­eign equiv­a­lent.  They also must be able to demon­strate a highly inter­dis­ci­pli­nary aca­d­e­mic back­ground, either through a com­bi­na­tion of Bachelor’s and Master’s degree course­work, or an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Master’s pro­gram equiv­a­lent in breadth and depth to the ERG Master’s pro­gram.  Doc­toral stu­dents must also demon­strate their readi­ness for inde­pen­dent research with no addi­tional foun­da­tional work required. Appli­ca­tions from stu­dents with one-year Master’s degrees, or with single-discipline pro­fes­sional degrees (e.g., law, pub­lic health) will usu­ally be redi­rected to the ERG Master’s pro­gram for consideration.

Recommended Preparation

We highly rec­om­mend at least one term of college-level cal­cu­lus and courses in fun­da­men­tal sci­ence (physics, chem­istry, biol­ogy, etc.), as well as four or more upper-division social sci­ence (polit­i­cal sci­ence, soci­ol­ogy, anthro­pol­ogy, etc.) and human­i­ties courses.

Application Process

1. State­ment of Pur­pose and Per­sonal His­tory State­ment: ERG requires two essays and places con­sid­er­able weight on them: the State­ment of Pur­pose and the Per­sonal His­tory State­ment. Each state­ment should be no longer than three pages (dou­ble spaced, 10–12 pt. font).
   • The State­ment of Pur­pose should dis­cuss your moti­va­tions for want­ing to enter a grad­u­ate degree pro­gram, and specif­i­cally why you would like to study at ERG.  This is an open-ended oppor­tu­nity for you to tell us how you envi­sion this degree fur­ther­ing your plans and dreams for the future. We are not look­ing for a sum­mary of your dis­ser­ta­tion topic or Master’s focus, but a gen­eral state­ment of how this pro­gram fits into your goals.
   • The Per­sonal His­tory State­ment should not be a nar­ra­tive sum­mary of your CV, but a more intro­spec­tive look what has brought you to this point of want­ing to pur­sue a degree at ERG. It can be a place to share for­ma­tive expe­ri­ences, inspir­ing influ­ences, or per­sonal challenges.
2. Tran­scripts: Unof­fi­cial copies of your tran­scripts will be accepted for the appli­ca­tion. If you are admit­ted, you will be required to sub­mit offi­cial tran­scripts for all college-level work. For course­work com­pleted in the fall term of your admis­sions cycle, ERG will accept amended tran­scripts and late grade reports until the first Fri­day in Jan­u­ary.  There is a sec­tion of the appli­ca­tion that will allow you to doc­u­ment course­work in progress.
3. Let­ters of Rec­om­men­da­tion: ERG requires three let­ters of rec­om­men­da­tion, and will accept up to five.  You are wel­come to use rec­om­menders from your pro­fes­sional as well as your aca­d­e­mic career. At least one let­ter must be from a pro­fes­sor who is in a posi­tion to assess your poten­tial for advanced aca­d­e­mic work. It is strongly pre­ferred that your rec­om­menders use the UC Berke­ley online por­tal to upload let­ters to your appli­ca­tion. On your appli­ca­tion, you will find a sec­tion that asks you for name and email address for your rec­om­menders. When you sub­mit that infor­ma­tion, the sys­tem will auto­mat­i­cally send an email request to your rec­om­menders with a link where they can upload their rec­om­men­da­tion let­ter as a PDF. You should review your appli­ca­tion peri­od­i­cally to see if the let­ters from your rec­om­menders have been uploaded. You will have the option to elec­tron­i­cally send a reminder request. If a rec­om­mender is unable or unwill­ing to upload a let­ter elec­tron­i­cally, we will accept hard copies mailed in a sealed enve­lope (with sig­na­ture over the seal) to: CONFIDENTIAL Admis­sions, Energy & Resources Group, 310 Bar­rows Hall #3050, Berke­ley, CA 94720–3050. We will then upload the let­ter to your file for them.
4. GRE scores: All appli­cants are required to sub­mit GRE scores. Inter­na­tional appli­cant GRE scores will be viewed with an under­stand­ing of the chal­lenges of tak­ing this test in a sec­ond lan­guage.  ETS trans­mits scores to UC Berke­ley directly, but you may self-report scores until we are able to ver­ify your offi­cial score. To sub­mit your offi­cial score, on your test reg­is­tra­tion list the Berke­ley Grad­u­ate Divi­sion insti­tu­tional code 4833. You do not need a depart­ment code. We rec­om­mend tak­ing the GRE no later than Octo­ber. To be valid, the GRE must have been taken within the past 5 years.
5. Lan­guage Pro­fi­ciency Scores: Inter­na­tional appli­cants from coun­tries in which the offi­cial lan­guage is not Eng­lish must pro­vide offi­cial evi­dence of Eng­lish pro­fi­ciency. There are two stan­dard­ized tests you may take: the Test of Eng­lish as a For­eign Lan­guage (TOEFL), and the Inter­na­tional Eng­lish Lan­guage Test­ing Sys­tem (IELTS). To sub­mit your TOEFL score, on your test reg­is­tra­tion please list the insti­tu­tion code for Berke­ley, 4833. You do not need a depart­ment code. Scores more than two years old will not be accepted. For more infor­ma­tion about lan­guage test­ing and scores, as well as appli­cants from which coun­tries will be required to sub­mit scores, please refer to the Grad­u­ate Divi­sion website.

Doctoral Degree Requirements

Curriculum

Master's Degree Requirements (MA & MS)

Curriculum

Differentiation of degree is based on the substantive content of coursework and Master’s project

Courses

Energy and Resources

Faculty

Professors

John Harte, Professor. Climate change, mathematical modeling, global change, theoretical ecology, environmental policy, biodiversity, environmental science, biogeochemistry, energy, field manipulation experiments, study of patterns in nature.
Research Profile

Daniel M. Kammen, Professor. Public policy, nuclear engineering, energy, resources, risk analysis as applied to global warming, methodological studies of forecasting, hazard assessment, renewable energy technologies, environmental resource management.
Research Profile

Associate Professors

Isha Ray, Associate Professor. Energy, resources, politics and economics of water, on-farm water use, common property resource management, transnational river conflicts, access to water for the rural and urban poor developing countries, non-profit sector, sustainable rural development.
Research Profile

Assistant Professors

David Anthoff, Assistant Professor.

Duncan Callaway, Assistant Professor. Modeling and control of aggregated storage devices, power management, and system analysis of energy technologies and their impact.
Research Profile

Adjunct Faculty

Margaret S Torn, Adjunct Faculty.