THE NEXT GENERATION OF CLIMATE SCIENTISTS

The Jackson School's new undergraduate major in climate system science is a Texas first

By Julia Sames

A couple of years ago, when news first got around that the Jackson School of Geosciences would be creating a new climate system science major, some of the undergraduate students were pretty upset. Not because they disagreed with its creation, but because by the time it was finalized, they would be too far into their studies to be able to make it their major. The envy was rampant, said senior hydrology and water resources major Ben Kern. 

“A lot of my classmates and a lot of people in my cohort are into geology and Earth science because they want to understand climate change,” he said. “They want to be fighting that battle and better understanding the systems that are going to govern our future.” 

Perhaps no one can appreciate the far-reaching effects of climate change better than those who will be tasked to live through it longest: young people. As temperatures continue to creep up, the coming generations of university graduates will be entering adult life facing the unknowns that come with the ongoing changes in Earth’s climate. This is the challenge of their generation, and the Jackson School intends to equip them with the knowledge and experience they’ll need to make an impact. 

For the first time this fall, Jackson School students were able to declare a major in climate system science, the first degree of its kind in the state of Texas. Not environmental science. Not sustainability. Not meteorology. True climate science. The quantitative study of all the complex ways that the atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere and hydrosphere interact to control the Earth’s climate. 

Taylor Roberts, a junior at the Jackson School, has always been interested in extreme weather and the ways that climate change can affect major weather events. She transferred to a climate system science major this fall semester, as soon as she was able to. Based on her experience, she foresees that this will be a popular track. 

“Especially at the Jackson School, it feels like everyone has their own need to make a positive impact, especially when it comes to climate,” Roberts said. 

It’s been years since the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences last added a major. Professor Emeritus Mark Cloos, who served as department chair from 1996–2000, remembers that the environmental science, teaching and geosystems engineering degrees were all established in the late ‘90s. Since then, the Jackson School has had the same list of majors, and essentially the same overall curriculum. 

The decision to create an undergraduate major dedicated to the study of the climate system resulted from a combination of internal and external forces, including student involvement and employment opportunities. During the pandemic, department chair Danny Stockli, began the process of a sweeping department-wide curriculum revision. The idea of a climate system science major came up organically in the process, bolstered by the sheer number of climate experts already in house. The department has 15 faculty members who specialize in either water, climate or the environment. And along with researchers at the Bureau of Economic Geology and the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, the Jackson School has expertise in every sphere of the climate system. 

“We were talking about what skills and opportunities we want our students to have, and how do we best deploy faculty,” Stockli said. A new major that focused on climate science was the clear path.   

As soon as this news broke, Professor Kerry Cook and Assistant Professor Geeta Persad volunteered to spearhead the development of the major. Cook had the very experience this task required; years ago, she helped establish the climate science major at Cornell University. And Persad, who at the time was new to the department, had already recognized a need for more climate-centric educational opportunities. 

“It seemed very obvious to me that our geoscience school should be where the scientific basis for all the climate work on campus was happening,” Persad said. 

The curriculum they designed is comprehensive, emphasizing the basic science and mathematical tools needed for the rigorous scientific study of the climate system. The major is underpinned by foundational courses in physics, math, data science and computer science, along with an abundance of geoscience courses that cover the breadth of climate science. Students are well prepared for graduate work in climate science, or for entering the workforce as climate scientists after graduation. 

One emphasis of the curriculum involves developing computational skills. 

“The climate data being collected now is pushing the envelope for what we even call a big data set,” Cook said. “Huge amounts of data are being collected. The challenge is in extracting knowledge from it. Our students will have the computer skills to do that.” 

Cook knows students are up for the challenge. Course enrollment data from previous semesters shows that students are already interested in climate-focused courses. Plus, climate system science is an inherently interdisciplinary area of study, which appeals to the sensibilities of incoming freshmen, Cook said.  

“Climate science is a very natural way to become interdisciplinary because the atmosphere and the ocean are strongly interactive with each other. You can’t understand one without understanding the other, let alone interactions with the biosphere, the cryosphere, and the land surface. So it’s very attractive to students for that reason,” Cook said. 

In addition to employment opportunities in the public and private sectors upon graduation, climate system science graduates will be qualified for admission to graduate programs in climate science, atmospheric science, oceanography and other related disciplines. 

Every facet of human life, ecosystems and the physical Earth itself have already been affected by climate change. As climate change progresses, so will humanity’s need for better data, broader understanding and creative problem-solving. Climate system science is a relatively young field, and climate change is a problem that has been emerging more quickly than society can train itself to deal with. 

Persad said that in order to adequately address these needs, there will need to be a sea change in the way organizations set goals and operate: climate science will need to be baked into the foundation of their policies and infrastructure. For this to happen, more people need to be entering the workforce with a technical understanding of the climate system. 

“You need people who understand the dynamics of what is happening to work with everyone else to design the policies, solutions and infrastructure. Right now, neither the workforce nor the protocols exist,” she said.  

That’s changing bit by bit. The insurance, finance, agriculture, manufacturing, supply chain and logistics industries are just a few examples where climate science is being considered in decision-making and policies. And in Austin, as in other cities globally, the city government is taking a proactive approach in tackling infrastructure planning. 

Last year The University of Texas at Austin and City of Austin created the UT-City Climate CoLab, a unique project in which Jackson School and other researchers with UT’s Planet Texas 2050 initiative provide hyper-localized climate data to city leaders, staff and the Austin community. As climate change continues to put its imprint on communities, the city understood that local climate projections must be built into their infrastructure planning. 

This kind of localized data isn’t something city planners can find on their own; researchers have to generate the data based on larger climate models, and combine the information with localized concerns. This spring, the CoLab released its first technical report, which includes temperature, precipitation and wind projections up to the year 2100. This ushers in a new era for city planning documents, which are often designed to be used for decades, and that usually rely on historical data. 

But Zach Baumer, chief sustainability officer for the City of Austin, noted that historical data isn’t going to cut it for future planning anymore. 

The City of Austin is currently working on updating its 100-year water plan to include this new climate data. This is another project where UT researchers, particularly Jackson School climate scientists, are playing a leading role. Projections of higher temperatures, volatile rain levels, and a growing population are all being incorporated into this revision, Baumer said. 

“When you’re looking at how the climate’s changing, you need to understand scientifically what’s going to happen,” he said. “UT has people who can get that knowledge, but it’s only useful if you can convert it into language that water and utilities people can understand, and make it useful for them to incorporate that science into the planning, the engineering and the money that they’re going to spend.” 

In the private sector, climate science has become integral to the business model of insurance and risk analysis companies. In 2017, Josh Hacker co-founded the climate risk analysis firm Jupiter Intelligence., sensing a nascent demand for improved, specific climate data that companies can actually plan around. Jupiter’s current clients include three of the top five U.S. banks, energy and utilities companies, private equity firms, and a wide range of corporations including, for example, the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. 

AstraZeneca has production facilities all over the world and relies on the security of its supply chain. So the company wants to be well aware of its risk exposure to physical hazards as they change over time, Hacker said.  

Another emerging need is in government-mandated climate risk assessments. Many larger companies are already compelled to share financial risks with their shareholders, but in Europe regulators are now requiring that they disclose climate risk as well. This will impact an additional 50,000 companies over the next two to three years, Hacker noted. 

However Jupiter and other risk analysis firms can only be part of the equation. Organizations are going to need climate translators in house. 

“I’ve had companies ask me, where do we find these people?” Hacker said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that there will be growth in this field.” 

That growth could include people like Taylor Roberts. She doesn’t know yet where her climate science degree will lead her, but hopes to continue studying the relationship between climate and weather in a master’s or doctoral program. She feels a sense of duty and urgency to continue to help mitigate the effects of climate change, even if it’s on a small scale. 

“I couldn’t imagine studying anything else. This gives me a sense of purpose,” Roberts said.