Month: November 2014

Colloquium, November 21, Dept. of Physics “Seeking New Technologies for Future Energy Systems”

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Colloquium, November 21, Dept. of Physics

Speaker: Dr. Richard Sassoon, Managing Director of the Global Climate and Energy Project at Stanford University

Seeking New Technologies for Future Energy Systems

Abstract: Finding solutions for supplying the world with energy that is abundant, affordable, reliable, and environmentally clean is one of the grand challenges we face this century. This talk will describe the range of technologies needed to enable a sustainable energy future and provide an assessment of the obstacles that need to be overcome and the progress that needs to be made. It will center around the diverse portfolio of innovative energy research activities taking place under the Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP) at Stanford University. The overall goal of the Project is to conduct breakthrough, fundamental research to generate technical options that could permit the development of global energy systems with significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions. The talk will provide an overview of its research strategy, accomplishments, and anticipated impact on the energy field.

Speaker: Richard Sassoon

Dr. Richard Sassoon is the Managing Director of the Global Climate and Energy Project where he coordinates and oversees all day-to-day operations of the Project. Prior to joining GCEP, Dr. Sassoon was Senior Scientist and Assistant Vice President at Science Applications International Corporation, where he worked with the U.S. Department of Energy in strategic planning and management of its environmental research programs. His research interests are in the area of photochemical solar energy conversion and storage systems. Dr. Sassoon received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from Leeds University, and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.

November 20, 2014 “Climate Change in the American Mind”

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UConn’s Edwin Way Teale Lecture Series on Nature & the Environment

presents

Climate Change in the American Mind


Dr. Anthony Leiserowitz,
 Director, Yale Project on Climate Change Communication,
Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
Thursday, November 20, 4 pm
Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, Konover Auditorium
University of Connecticut, Storrs

Dr. Anthony Leiserowitz is Director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and a Research Scientist at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. He will report on recent trends in Americans’ climate change knowledge, attitudes, policy support, and behavior and discuss strategies for more effective public engagement.

Dr. Leiserowitz is a widely recognized expert on American and international public opinion on global warming, including public perception of climate change risks, support and opposition for climate policies, and willingness to make individual behavioral change. His research investigates the psychological, cultural, political, and geographic factors that drive public environmental perception and behavior. He has conducted survey, experimental, and field research at scales ranging from the global to the local, including international studies, the United States, individual states (Alaska and Florida), municipalities (New York City), and with the Inupiaq Eskimo of Northwest Alaska. He also conducted the first empirical assessment of worldwide public values, attitudes, and behaviors regarding global sustainability, including environmental protection, economic growth, and human development. He has served as a consultant to the John F. Kennedy School of Government (Harvard University), the United Nations Development Program, the Gallup World Poll, the Global Roundtable on Climate Change at the Earth Institute (Columbia University), and the World Economic Forum.

http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/events/teale/teale.htm – 860.486.4460

The Edwin Way Teale Lecture Series brings leading scholars and scientists to the University of Connecticut to present public lectures on nature and the environment.

Nov. 19 Seminar: Snow Cover in the Climate System by Professor David A. Robinson

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The Atmospheric Sciences Group (ASG) is pleased to co-sponsor with the Department of Geography a seminar by Professor David A. Robinson (Rutgers University and New Jersey State Climatologist) to be followed by a panel discussion.

 

DATE:  Wed 19 November

TIME:   11:00 am-12:30pm  – including a panel discussion (Guiling Wang, Scott Stephenson, Anji Seth)

LOCATION:  Konover Auditorium @ Dodd Center

 

TITLE:  Snow Cover in the Climate System

ABSTRACT:  Annual snow cover extent (SCE) over Northern Hemisphere (NH) lands has averaged lower since the late 1980s than during the first half of the satellite era that began in the late 1960s.  This is most evident from late winter through spring, and in the past decade has been exceedingly pronounced at high latitudes in May and June.  Monthly SCE is calculated at the Rutgers Global Snow Lab from daily SCE maps produced by meteorologists at the National Ice Center.  The most recent five years have been amongst the lowest seven May NH SCEs on record, with Eurasian (Eur) SCE at a record low in 2013. North American (NA) SCE achieved a record minimum in May 2010, but of late has not been as consistently low as over Eurasia. The past seven Junes have seen record minimum SCEs over NH and Eur, with six of these the lowest over NA.  The recent early timing of arctic snowmelt appears to be occurring at an equivalent if not greater pace than the loss of summer Arctic sea ice extent.  In addition to examining SCE, this lecture will discuss associations between snow cover, atmospheric circulation patterns and other components of the climate system.
SPEAKER BIO:  Dr. David A. Robinson is a professor in the Department of Geography at Rutgers University and since 1991 has served as New Jersey’s State Climatologist.  A NJ native, he earned a bachelor’s degree in geology at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA and a doctorate in earth sciences at Columbia University prior to arriving at Rutgers.  Dave’s research interests are in applied climate, especially related to New Jersey, and in climate dynamics and change, particularly focused on global snow cover.  He is a contributor to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to the National Climate Assessment, and sits on the National Academy of Sciences’ Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate.  Dr. Robinson is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, has been named a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Environmental Hero, and is past president of the American Association of State Climatologists.  He recently received the Rutgers Presidential Public Service award and last month received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the New Jersey Association for Floodplain Management.