Hi! For those of you I haven’t met, I’m Elise, the departing Program for Climate Change (PCC) undergraduate assistant and a graduating senior in oceanography. I’ve been working in the PCC for the last three years, and during that time I’ve learned and grown a lot. 

Western Washington has experienced several climate-related events over the last few years, such as the 2021 heatwave and flooding this past December. However, experiences of these events are not evenly distributed across the population. Frontline communities, including people of color and low-income communities, experience climate change and environmental hazards first and worst. 

Graduate fellowship awards  to students working on climate are a part of the PCC’s identity.  The first fellowships were awarded in 2002 to incoming graduate students in the natural sciences.  Twenty years later, in 2022, a gift from William Calvin and Katherine Graubard brought new energy to the program with the establishment of the Graubard Fellowship.