News & Blog

21 posts in Gifts
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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, 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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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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Blog Post, Education, Gifts, People, Research

An Undergraduate Computer Science Major Engages in Interdisciplinary Research on Southern Ocean Phytoplankton Modeling

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. The purpose of this research, funded by a PCC Research Acceleration award to P.I.’s Alison Gray and Hannah Joy-Warren, was to determine the relationship between phytoplankton community composition and carbon fluxes. 

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Blog Post, Fellowships, Gifts, Summer Institute

Paleoclimate Constraints on Future Climate: A Graduate Student Reflection on the 2025 PCC Summer Institute

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. After all, I came to UW motivated to understand the future trajectory of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) – the largest source of uncertainty in future sea level rise projections. 

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Announcements, Gifts

$1.5M donation transforms interdisciplinary research at the Program on Climate Change

The Program on Climate Change is expanding interdisciplinary climate science research efforts across the University thanks to the recent generous donation from Professors William Calvin and Katherine Graubard. This strengthened commitment to the Graubard Fellowship enhances the College of the Environment’s ability to recruit top PhD students by giving fellows the flexibility to pursue interdisciplinary collaborations and define their own research projects. 

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Blog Post, Fellowships, Gifts, Research

Finding 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. 

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Blog Post, Fellowships, Gifts, People

Graubard 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. 

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Blog Post, Events, Gifts

Painting 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. 

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