Andy Juhl and Craig Aumack, microbiologists from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, are spending a month in Barrow, Alaska studying algae in and below sea ice, and how our warming climate may impact these important organisms.
Tag: education
Human Geography, Volcanoes, Microgrids and More…
Interested in Human geography, undersea volcanoes, microgrids, climate change and melting ice sheets, technology and sustainability? The coming week’s lineup of Earth Institute events has you covered.
Investigating Careers in Earth Science
Last year, President Obama launched Educate to Innovate, a campaign designed to improve the participation and performance of the nation’s students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Summer Opportunities for Columbia Students at UN Environment Programme
Since the Fall of 2007, the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch (PCDMB) and the Earth Institute, Columbia University, have partnered to offer Research Assistantships each year to Columbia University graduate students. These positions take place at the PCDMB offices in Geneva, Switzerland, each summer. Travel costs will be covered for the selected students by the program.
Aquanauts Take on New York Water Issues
Working with engineering PhD candidate Rob Elliott, we imagined a green roof and blue roof system that would serve as a space for environmental education and student wellness, the culmination of a semester spent examining and taking action on stormwater management issues in New York City.
Tree Rings and Teachable Moments
Nicole Davi, a postdoctoral scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society and the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, thinks tree rings are an ideal way to motivate students to collect and analyze data as well as to learn about climate change.
Glenn Denning’s Road to Bali, and the Earth Institute
Glenn Denning grew up in Brisbane, Australia, loved the outdoors and hated the idea of working in an office. And, he really didn’t have any urge to go to other countries. Then he happened to overhear a conversation in a hallway between two students. That bit of serendipity sent him on a road to a life overseas; to key roles in “green revolutions” in Asia and Africa; and eventually to an office at Columbia University, and the Earth Institute.
Next, Imbabura
Today was a much longer climb up Imbabura, passing through more páramo until reaching our first Polylepis trees. Conveniently, they were marked by a little wooden sign. These are the trees that I hope to sample next week on Chimborazo.
Preparing for Chimborazo
I am staying with a friend’s family in Quito, Ecuador’s capital city, and tomorrow will meet up with my climbing partner, Pablo Puruncajas, to prepare for our expedition. I am here to collect tree ring samples and put up a weather station on Chimborazo, Ecuador’s tallest peak, to provide climate data about this region, which relies heavily on Chimborazo’s glaciers for water.
The Missing Piece in Sustainable Peace
We know very little about what “peace” is (and what it isn’t), the conditions that promote it, the motives that drive people to work for it, how to measure it, and how to build a climate and infrastructure that sustains it. Why? Because we don’t study peace. We study war, violence, aggression and conflict—and peace in the context of those states and processes—but few study peace directly.
