Climate Change

Solving Earth’s Greatest Challenge

For decades, Clark University scholars have confronted the climate crisis through research and engagement across the world. We explore questions spanning climate science, vulnerability, mitigation, and adaptation at the intersection of social equity and justice. Our holistic approach to climate and global change inspires all of us to take action — now.

Experts in Climate and Global Change

Meet some of the Clark University faculty, students, and alumni committed to confronting the climate crisis.

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF Geography

Karen Frey

To understand large-scale linkages between land, atmosphere, ocean, and ice in polar environments, Karen Frey combines the use of field measurements, satellite remote sensing, and GIScience. She focuses her efforts on the impacts of terrestrial permafrost degradation across Siberia as well as the cascading consequences of sea ice decline in polar shelf environments. Frey serves as a lead author of NOAA’s Arctic Report Card and as a vice-chair in the International Arctic Science Committee.

Meet Karen Frey

international Development, community, and environment

Edward Carr

An internationally recognized expert on human adaptation to climate change, Ed Carr is a lead author of a chapter in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Working Group II Sixth Assessment Report. At Clark, he is the director of the International Development, Community, and Environment Department.

Meet Ed Carr

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF Geography

Rinku Roy Chowdhury

A member of the Global Land Program’s scientific steering committee, Rinku Roy Chowdhury collaborates on climate and land system science projects through the National Science Foundation’s Long-Term Ecological Research (NSF LTER) programs. She recently contributed to an NSF LTER project examining how coastal ecosystems connected to the Florida Everglades are changing due to sea level rise and human activities.

Meet Rinku Roy Chowdhury

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF Geography & environmental science program

Christopher A. Williams

Christopher A. Williams engages in outreach and decision support for carbon and climate mitigation in natural and working lands, principally forests. By leading science on the climate impacts of forest change, his Biogeosciences Research Group guides state agencies on their greenhouse gas reporting and climate action planning and supports conservation and land trust organizations with their assessments of climate mitigation opportunities. Williams also is director of the Environmental Science Program.

Meet Christopher Williams

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF Geography

Lyndon Estes

Lyndon Estes and the Agricultural Impacts Research Group develop and apply next generation Earth Observation methods to study rapidly changing agricultural lands in Africa, and how they impact and are impacted by drought and climate change.

Meet Lyndon Estes

George Perkins Marsh institute & ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT

Robert Johnston

In placing a value on our environmental assets and how they might be affected by climate change, Robert Johnston, director of the George Perkins Marsh Institute and editor of the journal Resource and Energy Economics, works on research initiatives focused on the health of waterways and coastal areas throughout New England. He has served on the U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board and a working group of the NOAA Scientific Advisory Board.

Meet Robert Johnston

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF Geography

Abby Frazier

Abby Frazier leads the Hawaii and U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands chapter of the Fifth National Climate Assessment, a congressionally mandated report. Her research includes a National Science Foundation-funded grant to install a new network of climate stations across the islands to better understand complex weather patterns.

Meet Abby Frazier

Connect with an Expert

Our Impact

Our researchers work with policymakers, panels, advisory boards, and stakeholders on high-profile projects that affect climate-related decisions and action from the local to international levels.

Explore Impacts

Centers and Departments

At Clark University, research in climate and global change is generated through the George Perkins Marsh Institute, Clark Labs, Graduate School of Geography, and International Development, Community, and Environment Department.

Young person looking across horizon with binoculars

George Perkins Marsh Institute

Experts in the George Perkins Marsh Institute research the socio-ecological, technical, and institutional systems through which humans interact with the environment, as well as how to respond to change.

Learn About Marsh

Students discussing environment with GIS software in background

Clark Labs

Clark Labs is dedicated to the research and development of geospatial technologies used for environmental management, sustainable resource development, and equitable resource allocation.

Research Technologies

Graduate School of Geography

The Graduate School of Geography’s doctoral program is top-ranked in the country by the National Research Council and is internationally renowned, attracting and training students from all over the world. Many work directly on climate-related issues.

Discover Geography

Students reviewing GIS software on computer

IDCE

The International Development, Community, and Environment Department’s transdisciplinary curriculum explores and identifies possible solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges, including climate change impacts on environments and communities.

Visit IDCE

George Perkins Marsh Institute

Learn About Marsh

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Student collecting water sample from pond

Academics

Join others who are passionate about identifying solutions and taking action to solve the climate crisis. Discover Clark’s courses and degree programs in climate science, GIS, adaptation, and more.

Explore Courses and Programs

Climate Change News

Through their research and engagement, Clark University scholars and alumni are developing solutions in a world impacted by climate change.

Water Quality

How much do we value healthy rivers and streams?

An article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes how a Clark-led study is exploring New Englanders’ attitudes toward water quality.

Renewable energy

Seeking a brighter future for global energy

Over the past decade, Graduate School of Geography faculty and students have intensified their research into renewable energy solutions.

Technology and Community

Mexico project to study water impacts

Researchers to use GIS mapping and XR technology to explore our future under climate change.

Undergraduate Research

Class learns to navigate the climate crisis

In their first semester here, students conduct research and meet with esteemed climate scholars.

Energy: Past and Future

A deep dig into the extractives industry

Geography Professor Tony Bebbington explores mining’s impact on people and the environment.

More Climate Change News

Clark’s Focus on Climate and Global Change

By the Numbers

The numbers paint a picture of Clark faculty and student engagement in climate research across the world.

100+

Graduate and undergraduate courses through which to study climate and global change.

Explore Courses

1,000,000

Acres of forest converted to non-forest areas across 48 states annually, according to research by Geography Professor Christopher Williams.

Discover Findings

135+

Students researching human-environment relationships in Massachusetts over two decades as part of the HERO Program.

Apply for a Fellowship

Annual NOAA Arctic Report Card entries led by polar scientist Karen Frey, a Clark geography professor.

Latest Arctic Report Card

Graduate students in geography receiving Sussman Fellowships for environment-related research, totaling nearly $320,000, since 2014.

Apply for a Fellowship

Number of new climate stations being added across Hawaii as part of Clark Professor Abby Frazier’s NSF grant.

Learn about Research in Hawaii

100+

Graduate and undergraduate courses through which to study climate and global change.

Explore Courses

1,000,000

Acres of forest converted to non-forest areas across 48 states annually, according to research by Geography Professor Christopher Williams.

Discover Findings

135+

Students researching human-environment relationships in Massachusetts over two decades as part of the HERO Program.

Apply for a Fellowship

Annual NOAA Arctic Report Card entries led by polar scientist Karen Frey, a Clark geography professor.

Latest Arctic Report Card

Graduate students in geography receiving Sussman Fellowships for environment-related research, totaling nearly $320,000, since 2014.

Apply for a Fellowship

Number of new climate stations being added across Hawaii as part of Clark Professor Abby Frazier’s NSF grant.

Learn about Research in Hawaii