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). The diversity of voices on P-GraSC reflects PCC’s aim of sustaining an inclusive climate community at UW.

Our monthly Third Thursday gathering is one of the most visible (and fun) ways P-GraSC works toward this goal. On the third Thursday of each month, we meet up in the UW Biology Greenhouse for this PCC community event. With the help of pizza and plants, Third Thursday brings together graduate students, postdocs, and faculty who otherwise might never cross paths. For us, the value has been immediate. We likely never would have interacted with many of the people in the greenhouse and instead remained in entirely separate academic networks, despite our shared research interests. We’ve talked about using downscaled climate models in health impacts studies and the process of downscaling itself, learned about just how informative the paleoclimate is, and shared about the ways we act on climate issues through legislative action. These informal conversations have created new connections and offered a clearer sense of what climate work looks like across campus.

Coming from political science and public health, we are also aware that interdisciplinary participation would not happen without a concerted effort on our parts. Each department has its own networks and calendars, which means interdisciplinary spaces require intentional outreach. We made a point to invite peers from our home departments because we know that climate change research demands engagement across field boundaries.

Broad, interdisciplinary participation in Third Thursday strengthens our longer-term efforts to expand from social connection into academic collaboration. By creating a welcoming space first, P-GraSC is laying the groundwork for future research partnerships and shared events that reflect the complexity of climate change itself. Personal connections across fields will strengthen our research and professional work long after we leave UW. Stay tuned for future P-GraSC announcements – we will have some exciting news very soon!

As graduate students, we see P-GraSC as a key part of our academic and personal communities. Sustaining and diversifying spaces in PCC ensures that UW’s climate community remains connected. Thank you to PCC and the UW Biology Greenhouse for supporting and facilitating this treasured event.

Written by Kayla Morton and Cecilia Martindale. Kayla is a PhD Candidate in Political Science, and Cecilia is a first-year PhD student in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS). Kayla’s research explores the interplay between domestic and international politics, particularly in the context of marine policy, emerging technology, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Cecilia studies climate-sensitive health hazards of wildfire smoke and extreme heat in settings like homes, schools, and prisons. Kayla and Cecilia are both members of the PCC Graduate Steering Committee (P-GraSC).