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 moreMy Research Journey: Building a Bridge Between Science and People through Interdisciplinary Solutions
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.
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 moreBuilding Interdisciplinary Climate Community through the PCC Graduate Steering Committee
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).
Read more$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.
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 more