News & Blog
An Undergraduate Computer Science Major Engages in Interdisciplinary Research on Southern Ocean Phytoplankton Modeling
Written by Ayush Nag. Ayush is now a software engineer at SpaceX Starlink. 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.
Read moreComSciCon-PNW: A local science communication workshop for graduate students
ComSciCon-PNW is one of multiple chapter conferences around the country that stem from the ComSciCon national conference, a science communication workshop for graduate students which has been held annually in Cambridge, MA since 2013. This conference is a unique professional development program that is organized by and for STEM graduate students. ComSciCon workshops provide attendees with opportunities to develop critical science communication pieces, learn from professionals local to their region, and network with like-minded students.
Read morePaleoclimate Constraints on Future Climate: A Graduate Student Reflection on the 2025 PCC Summer Institute
by Sophia Ludtke, Graduate Student, University of Washington Earth and Space Sciences 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.
Read moreExploring 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.
Read moreA 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.
Read moreFinding My Research Focus: From Broad Curiosity to Methane Science
I started at the University of Washington in Fall 2024 with a broad interest in atmospheric sciences and a desire to understand how human and natural systems interacted to shape the Earth’s climate. As an undergraduate, I was drawn to questions that connected physical processes in the atmosphere to the real-world climate impacts, but I also recognized that my interests were still evolving.
Read moreGraubard Fellowship Supports Reconstructing Past Arctic Sea-Ice Coverage
The Arctic region is warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet. Consequently, sea-ice coverage has reduced rapidly, with the summer minimum September sea-ice declining by about 40% since 1979. Sea-ice loss threatens the food security and infrastructure of coastal communities, drives unresolved changes in biological productivity, and promotes further global warming through ice-albedo feedback. However, model projections of the timescale of Arctic sea-ice decline and the resulting changes to the Arctic ecosystem vary widely.
Read morePainting with Data: Communicating Arctic Climate Change through Art and Science
Under anthropogenic climate change, the Arctic is warming up to 4 times more rapidly than the global average. This rapid warming impacts all facets of the Arctic system: altering seasonal weather patterns, intensifying the hydrologic cycle and storm events, reshaping ecosystem dynamics, and melting the land and sea ice that blankets much of the polar landscape. These changes do not remain confined to the Arctic.
Read moreGraduate Climate Conference 2025: Building Community and Belonging
The 19th annual Graduate Climate Conference (GCC) was held November 7–9, 2025, at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and was hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Founded by graduate students in the University of Washington’s Program on Climate Change (PCC), the GCC is an annual, student-run conference designed to foster connection, collaboration, and professional development among graduate students across climate-related fields.
Read morePCC Graduate Students Present at the COE Symposium
The UW College of the Environment Symposium gave the opportunity to showcase current research from students and faculty. The Program on Climate Change featured six presenters funded by PCC philanthropic initiatives, including Climate Science Research Acceleration Fund projects awarded to T.J. Fudge, Alison Gray, and Mira Berdahl, and Graubard Fellowships awarded to John Morgan Manous, Christina Bjarvin, and Tongxin (Joyce) Cai.
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