Community science in the classroom – Climate research to action
Dr. Cobb will share her experience in fostering community science-based approaches to climate education and research, using examples from K-12 as well as undergraduate learning environments embedded in climate research projects based in Georgia. She will review lessons learned and their implications for the design and execution of community science projects led by institutions of higher education.
Kim Cobb is the Director of the Institute for Environment and Society at Brown University, and Professor in Environment and Society as well as Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences. As a climate scientist, she uses observations of past and present climate to advance our understanding of future climate change impacts, with a focus on climate extremes and coastal flooding. She received her B.A. from Yale University in 1996, and her Ph.D. in Oceanography from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in 2002. Prior to joining Brown in 2022, she served as Director of the Global Change Program at Georgia Tech, Professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and ADVANCE Professor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. In her research, Kim has sailed on oceanographic cruises to the remote central Pacific and led caving expeditions in the Borneo rainforests. She received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, and the Hans Oeschger Medal from the European Geosciences Union in 2019. She was elected as an AAAS Fellow in 2021, and was a Lead Author for the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, released in 2021. In 2023, she was appointed to the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board by President Biden. As a mother to four, Kim is a strong advocate for women in science, and champions diversity and inclusion in all that she does. She is also devoted to the communication of climate change to the public through media appearances, public speaking, and social media channels, and enjoys frequent exchanges with policy makers about climate impacts and solutions.
