News & Blog

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Blog Post, GCeCS Capstone, Outreach

Communicating the climate benefits through economics: A case study of presenting biochar to the farming community

by Hemalatha (Hema) Velappan Historically, climate communications mostly relied on strategies postulated by the knowledge-deficit model, which assumes that sharing the scientific and technical aspects of the problem will prompt people to be concerned about the issue and modify their behavior. While this approach enhanced knowledge about the issue, it proved ineffective in motivating people to take action. Whereas messages that were focused on audiences’ immediate concerns and socio-political contexts had a much greater impact on nudging their behavior towards more climate-friendly solutions [1]. 

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Blog Post, Events

What a Warm (Winter) Welcome – A Recap of the 2026 Winter Welcome

By Elena Rheingans (New PCC Undergraduate Assistant) I reach the fisheries building after a gloomy walk through puddles that splash against my boots.  Once I enter though, I am in event mode and ready to welcome the PCC community to our event.   The 12th annual winter welcome was held on March 11th from 5-7 pm in the Fisheries Sciences building.  It was my first event with the PCC as the incoming undergraduate assistant.  

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Announcements, postdoc

Applications are open for the Program on Climate Change (PCC) Postdoctoral Scholar Program

The PCC seeks applications for a Postdoctoral Scholar to develop and conduct novel climate science research that would benefit from the expertise, cross-disciplinary interactions, and collaborative environment of the PCC community. We anticipate offering one Postdoctoral Scholar appointment in 2026. Applicant research proposals should demonstrate relevance to the areas of climate system science and/or climate solutions, broadly defined. Application Due Date: April 15, 2026 

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Blog Post, Education, Gifts, People, Research

An Undergraduate Computer Science Major Engages in Interdisciplinary Research on Southern Ocean Phytoplankton Modeling

The Southern Ocean is a large part of the global carbon cycle and phytoplankton play a key role by converting CO2 to organic carbon, which can be transported to the deep ocean. Previous works examined phytoplankton presence and CO2 flux but didn’t take community species composition into account. The purpose of this research, funded by a PCC Research Acceleration award to P.I.’s Alison Gray and Hannah Joy-Warren, was to determine the relationship between phytoplankton community composition and carbon fluxes. 

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Blog Post, Fellowships, Gifts, Summer Institute

Paleoclimate Constraints on Future Climate: A Graduate Student Reflection on the 2025 PCC Summer Institute

Has paleoclimate genuinely changed our understanding of modern day climate? With an animated pre-Summer Institute paper discussion this past August, my PhD journey at UW began. Starting graduate school with an immersion in current thinking on paleoclimate via three days spent at Friday Harbor Laboratories attending the Summer Institute felt fitting. After all, I came to UW motivated to understand the future trajectory of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) – the largest source of uncertainty in future sea level rise projections. 

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Climate Minor, People, Research

My Research Journey: Building a Bridge Between Science and People through Interdisciplinary Solutions

Beginning college was a chaotic time for me. It was my first time being independent, I had moved far from home and was spending time trying to make new friends. The whole time, I had one question lingering at the back of my mind: What do I want to do with my career? I was completely lost at answering this question when I started at UW, with only a vague idea of wanting to do science but no clear direction of what for. 

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Blog Post, Undergraduate Cohort

Exploring the Mission: Impact in the Undergraduate Cohort

The PCC Undergraduate Cohort (UCo) is guided by the mission to connect students to climate science, careers, and community. The current mission statement stands as: “This year we strive to further build an interpersonal community of students and direct our events around the interest of our members. We will continue to uphold our tradition of student networking and professional development, this year with events focused on internships and campus resources. 

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PGraSC

Building Interdisciplinary Climate Community through the PCC Graduate Steering Committee

A core goal of PCC and its Graduate Steering Committee (P-GraSC) is to bring together the many people at UW who do work related to climate change. P-GraSC includes graduate students from Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, Oceanography, Earth and Space Science, the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs (SMEA), the Information School, Evans School of Public Policy, Political Science, and the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS). 

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Announcements, Gifts

$1.5M donation transforms interdisciplinary research at the Program on Climate Change

The Program on Climate Change is expanding interdisciplinary climate science research efforts across the University thanks to the recent generous donation from Professors William Calvin and Katherine Graubard. This strengthened commitment to the Graubard Fellowship enhances the College of the Environment’s ability to recruit top PhD students by giving fellows the flexibility to pursue interdisciplinary collaborations and define their own research projects. 

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Blog Post, Education, Outreach

A Graduate Student’s Experience as a PNW Climate Ambassador

My name is Amirah Casey, and I am a third-year graduate student in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Science. I am divided between two areas of research that are related: climate impacts and climate solutions. Along with these research interests, I am deeply committed to enhancing science communication. I do this through the usual forms of outreach, like presenting at conferences and working on publications, but I am also interested in broader public outreach. 

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