UW Program on Climate Change provides an interdisciplinary nexus for climate research and education

Jennifer Hsiao/University of Washington — Poster sessions and informal discussions are part of the Program on Climate Change’s annual graduate climate conference, shown here, and its summer institute.

The UW’s Program on Climate Change was created in 2002 as a way for researchers in oceanography, atmospheric sciences and Earth and space sciences, then often located in separate colleges, to meet and collaborate on issues related to climate change. Back then, climate science was not as politically charged as it is today.

Over 17 years, and since the 2008 launch of the UW’s College of the Environment, the program has evolved into a campuswide, interdisciplinary, student-driven program on climate change research, communication and action. A recent article in Eos, published by the American Geophysical Union, looks back at the program’s unique history.