Understanding the systems that underpin our planet and our future.
Earth Systems consist of the Geosphere together with the Atmosphere, Biosphere, Cryosphere, and Hydrosphere. Together these five systems interact to produce the environments that surround us. Knowledge of the interactions and dynamics within Earth Systems is fundamental to the understanding and characterization of the environment. As a result, Earth Systems and Climate Change serves as an underlying foundation and cross-cutting theme for research fostered by the Center for the Environment. Climate change exacerbates threats to biodiversity, planetary health, and environmental justice that will require new research and solutions. The Center also promotes collaborative research into the operation of environmental systems today, reconstructions of their past function, and predictions of their anticipated behavior in light of a changing climate.
Rajan Chakrabarti, PhD
Professor of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering
Chakrabarty addresses grand challenges in aerosol-climate-health nexus using interdisciplinary science. New findings from Chakrabarty lab will help make climate models more accurate as massive wildfires become more common.
Derek Hoeferlin, AIA
Professor and Chair, Landscape Architecture
Hoeferlin is principal investigator of “Way Beyond Bigness: The Need for a Watershed Architecture,” where he collaboratively researches integrated water-based design strategies across the Mississippi, Mekong, and Rhine river basins.
Earth systems & climate change scholars
Joseph Guinness
Spatial Statistics, Gaussian Process Models, Computational Methods
Associate Professor of Statistics and Data Science
Sophia Hayes
Professor of Chemistry
Carbon Capture (Direct Air Capture and High Concentration Source Capture), CO2 Mineralization, Materials Design
Meredith Malone
Curator, Kemper Art Museum
Contemporary Art and Its Role in Addressing the Climate Crisis and Its Impact on Global Health, Plant-human-land Relations, Seed Keeping and Preservation of Biodiversity, Environmental Communication
Earth systems & climate change stories
