Dean’s Message, 2024 Newsletter
December 8, 2024
The full majesty of geological settings — their wonder, scope and relevance — can sometimes be hard to capture on the cover of the 9-by-12-inch Newsletter. This year’s cover is up to the challenge. It captures the natural majesty of Greenland’s glaciers, the force of their movement across the landscape, and the dynamic interface of glacier, land and sea. Yet, the details of that interface are still poorly understood, hidden in an ungovernable and dynamic environment that makes scientific investigation challenging — even dangerous!
The cover story follows a mission to Greenland led by Professor Ginny Catania to dive to the underwater face of a glacier to take measurements and images never before collected. The science team is trying to fill in one of the major blind spots in ice sheet modeling, a key component in understanding how much seas will rise in the future, both in Greenland and as far away as Texas. Indeed, when she’s not on a research vessel in icy seas, Catania is part of a research group that works with local communities along the Texas Coast, helping them understand how the melting of glaciers half a world away can affect their lives.
At the Jackson School of Geosciences, we are looking beyond the science we do and seeking to connect our work to real people and communities, and to use our science to help resolve the challenges that they face. Tackling the real-world, relevant problems facing society and our planet is what our students aspire to do, and they demand the education to do it. The modern geoscience student is passionate and wants to make the world a better place. Throughout this magazine, you can read stories of how our work is meeting those aspirations. There’s a fascinating story on how our climate modelers are helping the insurance and risk-assessment firm Verisk better understand the risk of a changing world to their business and that of their clients. Another perfect example is the work we are doing with the City of Austin in the UT-City Climate CoLab to help communities right here in Austin become more resilient.
Of course, one of our greatest challenges is to provide all of the energy needed for a modern, healthy and economically sound society. President of The University of Texas at Austin Jay Hartzell has declared 2025 to be the “Year of Energy” on campus, giving us an opportunity to highlight UT’s comprehensive energy research portfolio. In addition to evolving ever more sophisticated science and technology for fossil energy exploration and production, there are new energy sources and systems to develop. There’s an opportunity to move carbon capture and storage to widespread application, a mounting pressure for new mineral and water resources, and new legal, energy economics, and policy scenarios to evolve. Enjoy our story on “The Energy University,” highlighting the ways that the Jackson School is helping spearhead the effort.
I think it’s a testament to the job we are doing as a school of geosciences that our enrollment and credit hours are up, bucking national trends. You can read about the changes we are making to curriculum that are opening the geosciences to more students in our Academic Update section. And, there is a great feature on our new Climate System Science major — the first in the state of Texas. The new program will provide students with a technical and scientific understanding of climate systems that can help them succeed in the careers of the future as businesses, industries and communities work to become more resilient.
I hope you sit down, dive in and enjoy your Newsletter! None of this incredible science or education would be possible without your continued and amazing support! And don’t forget to save the date for the Jackson School’s 20th Anniversary Celebration on April 3-5. It’s going to be an incredible time to reconnect with the school and old friends, dig into a full plate of Texas barbecue, and enjoy some boot scootin’ with Dale Watson & His Lone Stars! I hope to see all y’all there!
Claudia Mora, Dean
