News & Blog

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People, Undergraduate Cohort

A Reflection on Climate, Education, and Community

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. I started at UW as a transfer student during my sophomore year. I moved to Seattle not knowing a single person. 

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Blog Post, Gifts

Exploring Climate Data and Technology with Frontline Communities

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. Community organizations like Front and Centered, a coalition of community of color-led groups across Washington state that work towards a just transition, environmental justice, and climate justice, work to make sure frontline communities are equipped to advocate for their needs and build power. 

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Announcements, Blog Post, Fellowships, Gifts

2025/2026 Graubard Fellowship Awards

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.  We can now also support students working on climate-related problems in departments across campus who are in need of support to complete their PhDs. 

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Blog Post, GCeCS Capstone

Hope in Practice: My Climate Story

My climate story started when I was seven or eight. We had a huge snowfall—feet of snow. Our neighbor’s white dog got lost in it, and playing outside with my family was the best thing I knew (never fear, we found the dog hiding under our other neighbor’s basement fridge). Over the next decade, snow became less frequent. Sometimes just a dusting. 

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Blog Post, Events, Outreach, PGraSC

Building Climate Community One Coffee Chat at a Time

This past spring, P-GraSC launched a Coffee Chat matching program for graduate students and postdocs to help foster one-on-one conversations, build a stronger sense of PCC community, and encourage climate-focused collaboration across the natural and social sciences.  Despite shared interests in broader climate-related questions, many grad students and postdocs rarely have opportunities for informal conversations outside the academic and social circles of their department. 

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Blog Post, Undergraduate Cohort

UCo: Heading Outside!

This quarter the PCC Undergraduate Cohort, UCo, spent time building community, connections with nature, and professional portfolios. As spring sprung, we headed outside on Earth Day with Beautify UDub for a campus clean-up. Joining this event helped build our greater campus presence and connection with undergraduate students and environmental student organizations. We worked together to reduce litter and joined in conversation about the Earth and climate.  

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Blog Post, Gifts, Outreach, Research

What’s Wet Doesn’t Burn: Reflections on Wildfire Planning in River and Forest Management

When asked to picture a wildfire, most people imagine a forest—trees burning, smoke billowing, and flames casting shadows. Images of wildfire are becoming more familiar as large fires make headlines across the US. But the effects of fire extend beyond forests. Streams and rivers flowing through burned areas are also impacted by wildfire and can carry those impacts to downstream communities and ecosystems. 

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Outreach, PGraSC

A new PCC initiative: The Peer Interdisciplinary Climate Lab (PICL) for the 2026-27 academic year

Beginning in autumn quarter 2026, the PCC Graduate Steering Committee (P-GraSC) is organizing a new initiative: the Peer Interdisciplinary Climate Lab (aka PICL). By recruiting a cohort of 20 graduate students and postdoctoral students who will meet regularly each quarter, P-GraSC intends to foster a low-stakes collaborative space where participants can comfortably share their research with their peers, while critically thinking about how interdisciplinary connections can be expanded throughout the PCC. 

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Blog Post, Gifts, Outreach

Salinity, Diesel, and Bears, Oh My! -- Fostering Collaborations in a Remote Subarctic Community

Through the Climate Solutions Fund, I was able fly to Churchill, Manitoba for outreach with the local school and field sampling. It was during the sea-ice algae spring bloom, a time of high productivity crucial to local ecosystems. Churchill is a small subarctic community on Hudson Bay with polar bears, belugas, and the northern lights that can only be accessed by airplane or train. 

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Announcements

Apply to be a PCC Graduate Student Representative (GSR)

It’s time to select a new Graduate Student Representative (GSR) to the PCC Board! This is an annual process. The GSRs serve as liaisons between PCC’s graduate students and faculty, postdocs, research scientists, undergraduate cohort, and staff. The role, and duty of the GSRs is to solicit graduate student input on numerous topics over the course of the academic year and to convey this to the PCC Director(s) and Board during various meetings and conversations. 

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