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. My first lecture at university was the beginning of the most influential course in my academic career: Global Warming: Understanding the Issues. This introductory course covering the basics of climate change showed me how I could apply my love of science to help people, and became my motivation to join the climate science minor in the Program on Climate Change!

We have all experienced the effects of climate change in one form or another. As a child growing up in Southern California, we were constantly plagued by drought, and wildfires became an almost yearly experience by the time I was in high school. Ash falling like snow shut down school, and my classmates during the pandemic, an already exceptional period, would zoom in from parking lots when they evacuated their homes. Now as a grad student in Colorado, record low snow has all the skiers up in arms, raising concerns about the water supply. Now more than ever, informing ourselves and the public on climate change and solutions is critical to ensure a stable future.

The cross-departmental approach of the climate science minor allowed me to learn about the complex systems of Earth’s climate with greater depth. Understanding the roles of the oceans, atmosphere, and land in how our climate operates and has changed over time has broadened my knowledge and guided my research interests. It also connected me to several research opportunities including UW’s Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies Research Experience for Undergraduates (CICOES REU). During my summer with CICOES, I learned from several researchers at UW and NOAA from a wide range of disciplines, while also working on my own project related to Antarctic ice cores! From here, I was connected to the Opportunities in Glacier Investigation (OGIVE) program and the Center for Oldest Ice Exploration (COLDEX) where I continued my research through the rest of my undergraduate experience.

Even though my personal research revolved around computer modeling, these connections still gave me the opportunity to explore some field sites! In 2023, I had to chance to visit the terminus of Emmons glacier at Mt. Rainier with a research team from California State University, San Bernadino and observe as they took their measurements for the day. Later that summer, I hiked to Easton glacier at Mt. Baker where we could explore the glacier up close! I was also given the opportunity to present my research at several conferences where I gained feedback and exposure, hearing from other students and researchers in the field and beyond.

While I learned a lot of science, I was exposed to the human dimensions of climate change through the PCC and the climate science minor. These interdisciplinary learning experiences outside of traditional STEM classes broadened my perspective on climate change and the necessary tools and knowledge we will need to combat it. Science alone cannot guide us out of this; we will require community knowledge from Indigenous and local leaders who know more about the problems and capabilities of their communities than any academic. Together with other stakeholders and policymakers, we can hold conversations and implement resolutions that ensure climate justice and equity for all. These lessons have stuck with me, and I hope to incorporate them into my research as graduate student to provide scientific results which directly support local adaptation solutions.

Climate change is a complicated topic, and solutions cannot be approached from a singular disciplinary silo. Collaboration between academic fields and beyond academia, including local communities and policymakers, is essential. Reshaping climate science to a field which puts people first will require intense efforts: refocusing scientific results that support bottom-up approaches, democratizing the production of climate change information, and asking difficult ethical questions such as the role of AI in our future research.

Completing the climate science minor in the PCC provided me with the tools and lessons to build my path with an interdisciplinary approach in mind. I am glad to have had this exposure and hope more people interested in combatting climate change learn these lessons from the PCC!

Written by Marc Sailer. Marc is a UW alum and first-year PhD student at CU Boulder in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. They studied atmospheric gas diffusion in Antarctic ice over 1 million years old as an undergrad and hope to bridge the gap between natural and social sciences to study climate change as a graduate student.