RCI Affiliates Bill Hallman, Bob Kopp, Malin Pinsky, and Rachael Winfree, elected to the new class of AAAS fellows are taking part in research aimed to ready the world to address climate change and understand the universe.
The American Association of Geographers has named Robin Leichenko, RCI founding Co- Director, a 2023 AAG Fellow. The AAG is a program dedicated to recognizing geographers that have made a significant contribution to the field of geography. The AAG acknowledged that Leichenko “is an extremely creative, inquisitive, and giving academic and public scholar whose career has spanned economic and environmental geography, focusing over the past 20 years primarily on economic impacts and responses to climate change.”
RCI affiliate Malin Pinsky has been awarded funding for his project, “Climate Change, Resource Reallocation and Great Power Competition,” by the US Department of Defense. Pinsky described the project as “analyzing the extent to which natural resources within countries are changing as a result of climate change, both historically and in the future. We are particularly interested in the extent to which countries are exposed to multiple resource shocks, or whether declines in one resource might be offset by increases in another.” The newly-funded project will be conducted over the span of three years.
Rutgers Magazine recently highlighted the Rutgers SEBS undergraduate program in meteorology, which works to thoroughly prepare students for real world meteorological work. When describing the learning experience of students in the program, RCI affiliate Steven Decker stated “they know about the Weather Channel, the National Weather Service, AccuWeather. But what they don’t know are all the things that you can do with a meteorology degree. During their time at Rutgers, they learn all about these other career paths.” The program graduates have gone on to pursue careers in many areas of meteorology. One summer elective course offered by the program, and led by Decker, takes undergraduate meteorology students to experience extreme weather forecasting in the Great Plains. Decker reminisced on the course trip, stating “Seeing the smiles and excitement, but also their understanding of why things were happening, was the highlight of the trip.”
The New York Times covered research on this winter’s snowfall around different regions of the east coast. The article includes precipitation charts, showing that some areas are experiencing the lowest amount of snowfall in the last 50 years. However, state climatologist and RCI affiliate, David Robinson, says “The tides could turn,” and a big snowstorm is “never out of the question, even in mild winters.”
state climatologist and RCI affiliate, David Robinson
National Public Radio recently invited state climatologist and RCI affiliate, David Robinson onto a broadcast discussing the unusual weather conditions this past month has brought. With warm winter temperatures, heavy rain, and very little snow, Robinson compared January’s weather to resemble what would usually be seen in March. When asked if this sensation was related to climate change, Robinson explained “This is weather. Every weather event is situated on a higher foundation, if you will, of warmer conditions. So the warm is a little warmer. The cold is a little warmer. But on a day to day, even a month by month basis, it's general weather patterns. You can't just look at one season, one month, let alone one week and attribute it to climate change.”
Amy Rowe, and Doug Zemeckis
The 2023 Rutgers Cooperative Extension Annual Conference brought together hundreds of faculty and staff to exchange information, ideas and research, and engage in various professional development opportunities. Conference award recipients included RCI affiliates Dave
Robinson, Doug Zemeckis and Amy Rowe.
RCI Co-director Tony Broccoli
As a recent viral Facebook post claimed Earth’s inner core is responsible for the changing climate, USA Today called upon experts, including RCI Co-director Tony Broccoli, to evaluate the accuracy of the statement. "There is no plausible physical mechanism relating this phenomenon to climate," Broccoli said. "In contrast, there is a long-established physical mechanism that connects the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to the warming of our planet."
