U.Va.’s Environmental Institute expands its mission

The Institute’s expanded mission will be commemorated with an event hosting Washington Post journalist Chris Mooney

Haylee Ressa | Senior Associate

From decarbonizing healthcare to creating earthquake-resilient architecture, research projects led by the University’s Environmental Resilience Institute focus on understanding humans’ role in the natural world. Moving forward, the center has been renamed the Environmental Institute to better encompass its expanded mission — helping combat climate change through student and community engagement.

The formerly-named Environmental Resilience Institute was founded in 2017 to support work across Grounds on climate change and environmental solutions. Allison Carter, communications manager of the Environmental Institute, said the goal of the new name is to reflect the Institute’s expanded mission to include broader environmental services for the University and Charlottesville community and specifically increased funding for climate focused community research.

“We’re trying to think of ways to take all the amazing research being done and explore its impacts in whatever avenues and tools we have available to us,” Carter said. “Thinking through impact means trying to get the story out there about climate change and environmental resilience work.”

In the coming years, the Institute will expand climate change and environment-related research and engagement on-Grounds through the new $10 million Climate Collaborative, a program to fund four to six interdisciplinary research teams to lead climate-related projects at the University.

Leon Szeptycki, associate director of the Environmental Institute and law professor, said the projects will center on place-based research around climate change solutions in specific communities in and outside of Virginia.

“How could the community be made more resilient to the impacts of climate change?” Szeptycki said.

“How could the transition happen in a way that doesn’t disproportionately impact economically disadvantaged communities? All of those things are on the table for the climate collaborative.”

The Institute also plans to expand research and engagement opportunities for undergraduate students. Karen McGlathery, director of the Environmental Institute and professor of environmental sciences, said one of these opportunities will be the Decarbonization Corps, an initiative where an undergraduate student, a faculty member and a practitioner in the field will work together on a project to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere.

“This is a new program that we’re piloting this summer,” McGlathery said. “We’re pretty excited about it and hoping that it will grow.”

The Environmental Institute conducts their research with an emphasis on interdisciplinary climate change research, bringing collaborators together across schools and departments to work on research projects. The Institute also partners with the University Career Services to provide environment-related summer internships and J-term externships to students. It also partners with community organizations like the Community Climate Collaborate and Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action.

The center will host Chris Mooney, Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist at The Washington Post, for a Rotunda Dome room event May 1 at 4 p.m. to mark the official changing of the name. Pre-registration is not required, but seating is limited to the first 100 attendees.

Explaining the story of climate change research and data in a way the general public can understand is important to the impact of climate change research, Carter said. Mooney will speak on this topic at the renaming event during his talk “How Data & Narrative Work Together to Inform the Public” in the Dome Room of the Rotunda.

Mooney reports on climate change, energy and the environment for the Washington Post and is a lecturer at the Yale School of the Environment. As part of a Washington Post team, Mooney received the Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles investigating areas in the United States that exceeded the two degrees Celsius increase in temperature described by scientists as a marker of climate change. Mooney works at the interface between scientific data and communication.

“I believe that all kinds of powerful and important stories are sitting there in datasets that journalists often are not even looking at,” Mooney said. “Scientists look at them but they often don’t look at them the way we look at them.”

Mooney said he plans to discuss two specific articles that successfully told the story of research to readers. In one article on the rising water temperatures around the Denman glacier in Antarctica, Mooney focused on how a seal and a robot provided researchers with data that indicates signs of potential climate disaster. Mooney said that communicating this research can have a big impact by engaging readers on serious concerns in the world.

“[These stories] can really work powerfully and as we do more, especially of data journalism that is becoming very important to journalism, we need the help of experts more than ever,” Mooney said. “We depend on the research community and we need… to work together to get these stories out.”

The new Environmental Institute will have offices on the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville and hold student events on-Grounds. In August the Institute plans to host the Environmental Futures Forum to highlight the environment and climate-related research being conducted at the University.

Top 10 things to plan for now that graduation is coming up

These may not be the most exciting things, but here is what I’ve been thinking about between now and graduation as a fourth year.

Anna Mason | Top 10 Writer

4. Move out

1. Diploma frames

Our diplomas will be delivered to our mailing addresses a few weeks or months after graduation. Framing your diploma is completely optional, but deciding how you’ll store it and keep it in good condition is something that we have to think about. The bookstore sells diploma frames that are specific to the University, but frames are also available at Michael’s or other retail stores — I am personally very excited to hang my diploma.

Degree ceremony planning

Speaking of degree ceremonies, the schedule for major-specific ceremonies is currently on the final exercise website for all of the schools within the University. Each department breaks apart across Grounds to hold their own ceremonies after everyone participates in the procession down the Lawn either Saturday or Sunday. I personally have a ceremony at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. and getting my family to both ceremonies without losing anyone along the way might pose a challenge. I think I will have to review a map of Grounds with everyone to make sure we’re all on the same page.

3.

This is one of my more stressful points of the next month. I only have four days of overlap with my two apartment leases and have to move for the summer the day after I graduate. I have to be packed before I walk down the Lawn, so I will be starting as soon as I finish my final exams. Hopefully you all have time to figure out your moving out plans. I know it’s an extremely sad and stressful thing to plan, but it’s better to start early.

5.

Graduation announcments

I have heard from a lot of my friends that graduation announcements are more common in this area than out of state. The bookstore sells graduation announcements that are specific to the University and are what I decided to use. For me, I have a decent amount of cousins that live in other areas of the country, so sending these announcements is important because they won’t be able to travel for graduation.

8. Graduation outfits

What you wear underneath your gown on graduation day doesn’t necessarily matter, you but it is a good idea to think about it ahead of time. The main thing to remember is that it will most likely be very hot on graduation day. I personally am going to wear a white sundress — as are my roommates. Having comfortable shoes are important too, especially for anyone who may consider wearing heels on the Lawn.

6.

Reservations for meals

The weekend of graduation is going to be a very hectic few days, so planning meals is very important. Reservations are strongly recommended for dinner at restaurants throughout Charlottesville and many restaurants also have fixed menus for graduation weekend, such as Fig, Orzo or Mockingbird. You should even plan when you and your guests will eat lunch the day you walk the Lawn. Currently, I am struggling to figure out if my family and I will be able to wait in the long Bodos line between my ceremonies.

Graduation photos

Graduation photos can be as serious or as silly as you want. I had my graduation photos done last week and am so excited to see them. There are many students and groups around Grounds that are advertising professional graduation photos, but you can also take them with a phone camera. This can be a fun activity for you and some friends to dress up in your graduation garb and go to the Lawn.

7.

Extra-curricular graduation cords

A lot of student organizations and school departments have graduation cords or stoles for their graduating members. It is a great idea to start checking your emails or checking in with people who run your organizations to see when you should collect your graduation cords. It is great to be able to celebrate all that you have been involved in and accomplished throughout your years here. So far, I have a cord for my major, my sorority and The Cavalier Daily.

9.

Final Exercises tickets

Just because Grounds isn’t back to normal doesn’t mean you can’t visit it. The Rotunda, the Lawn and even the set of picnic tables outside Nau Hall that are never open are still there. Find a spot outside and take some time to relax. Even if it’s just studying or attending class via Zoom, there’s something better about doing it from a new location.

10.

Nostalgia

This is by far the biggest and most important thing you need to prepare yourself for. It may not have hit you yet, but it will soon. The University has been such a large part of our lives for the past few years. I am having so much difficulty coming to terms with the fact that I will not be able to walk to see my roommates from my bedroom to the kitchen, or be able to see my classmates in lab every week. I am planning a nostalgic walk with some of my friends to visit our old dorms and make sure we can see all of Grounds one more time before we walk. I am going to be a mess for the next three weeks, and no amount of time can prepare me for it. Soon, we will wear the honors of Honor and will walk the Lawn with all of our colleagues, friends and future alumni of the University.