The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has selected the University to be the location of a new Climate Science Center, one of eight to be established regionally throughout the country. The center will facilitate climate change research for the southeastern region of the United States.
The facilities are responsible for conducting research on the impact of climate change on each region of the United States, according to a DOI press release. The Climate Science Centers “will assess the impacts of climate change… and identify strategies to ensure that resources across landscapes are resilient,” the press release states.
The DOI gave several reasons for their choice of N.C. State, citing the diversity and expertise of the University’s departments and faculty.
“North Carolina State University brings major expertise in biology, climate change, and applied conservation and management to deal with the threat of rising sea levels and increased stress on freshwater resources in the Southeast,” the press release states.
“The university has connections to farmers, resource managers, business people and citizens across the Southeast. It also brings an array of science and research partnerships, creating a region-wide expertise network,” it states.
Along with the center, the University received a $1.5 million grant for initial costs, and about a dozen federal employees. An additional $4 million per year will be granted to the University, according to Damian Shea, who applied for the grant and will be the centers’ head administrator.
“We’ve already begun to receive money, and an additional $4 million will go directly to fund graduate student research,” Shea, department head of biology, said. At least 12 graduate students will be involved in research funded and facilitated by the Climate Science Center, but that number could grow to as much as 25 or 30, Shea said.
According to Shea, operations should begin very soon and research could begin as soon as January.
The grant will also support some undergraduate research, Shea added. One of the goals of the project is to create a minor in climate science.
Eight research centers will be established in all, each one responsible for a different region of the country. The purpose of these Climate Science Centers is to provide scientific research on the effects of climate change on regional wild life, plant life, and resources, according to the DOI website.
“The Climate Science Center will primarily look at the ecological response to climate change,” Shea confirmed. “They will focus specifically on the effects on ecosystems.”
Being chosen by the DOI as the host for the Climate Science Center is an honor for the University.
“Being awarded the center has really put us on the map,” Shea said. It will be highly interdisciplinary, and has already begun to “unify the different branches of the university.” Six of the 10 colleges of the University will be involved with the center, She said.
According to DOI Order No. 3289, the document announcing the creation of the climate centers, these research centers are “regional hubs of the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center.” The National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center is a subsidiary of the U.S. Geological Survey.
DOI Order No. 3289 states the regional science centers will “provide climate change impact data and analysis geared to the needs of fish and wildlife managers as they develop adaptation strategies in response to climate change.”
Though there may be controversy over the reason for global warming, Shea said, there is little doubt that it is happening. The creation of the Climate Science Centers is to provide scientific, quantitive data on the effects of rising temperatures on ecosystem, so that resource managers, such the Department of Natural Resources, and Fish and Wildlife Management Service, can make informed decisions on how to handle these changes.
