{"id":29105,"date":"2026-08-13T15:01:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?post_type=story&p=29105"},"modified":"2026-08-13T17:56:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T21:56:53","slug":"clark-university-convenes-leaders-to-discuss-extreme-heat","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2026\/08\/13\/clark-university-convenes-leaders-to-discuss-extreme-heat\/","title":{"rendered":"Clark University\u00a0hosts\u00a0leaders to discuss extreme heat\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Massachusetts\u2019 inaugural Heat Resilience Officer appointed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Under the midday sun on the plaza outside Clark University\u2019s Shaich Center, Massachusetts Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer announced the appointment of the state\u2019s first-ever Heat Resilience Officer, Katie Schlick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new post kickstarts Governor Maura Healey\u2019s community-centered partnership to tackle extreme heat throughout Massachusetts \u2014 from schools and neighborhoods to workplaces and our electric grid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark President David Fithian greeted the attendees, who included representatives from state agencies that wrestle with the impacts of overheated conditions within urban neighborhoods, where asphalt, brick, and concrete trap heat and make life more difficult for residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to thank Governor Healy and Climate Chief Hoffer for their foresight in establishing this position and for choosing to make the announcement in Worcester, where some neighborhoods have become quiet battlegrounds against the kind of extreme heat that impacts families and businesses and endangers our most vulnerable citizens,\u201d Fithian said. \u201cThe work ahead of us \u2014 all of us \u2014 is as complex as the challenges that inspire it \u2014 encompassing economics and politics, ecology and law, the sciences, and social justice and climate equity. We support your ambitious and urgent mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Massachusetts is taking bold, coordinated action to protect and uplift our communities.<\/p>Massachusetts Heat Resilence Officer Katie Schlick<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExtreme heat is becoming more common, more intense and more dangerous in Massachusetts,\u201d Governor Maura Healey said in a press release. \u201cWe need to be ready for what that means for our families and communities.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extreme heat is the deadliest weather hazard in the U.S., said Massachusetts Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExtreme heat and droughts have caused global crop losses this year and threaten water supplies, as well as infrastructure, like railways and runways, that was not built to withstand these temperatures,\u201d Hoffer said. \u201cEcosystems like forests, which can help us mitigate the effects of extreme heat, are stressed. This is what climate change looks like.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAmid another record-breaking year of heat and smoke, Massachusetts is taking bold, coordinated action to protect and uplift our communities,\u201d Schlick said. In her new role, she will work alongside state and local leaders \u201cto broaden understanding of the heat challenge and equip ourselves with diverse solutions that will leave the Commonwealth more prepared and more resilient.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Student
Clark University HERO fellows conduct applied research focused on urban environmental conditions, climate resilience, tree canopy, and community sustainability.  <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The announcement was preceded by a roundtable discussion involving Schlick, representatives from various state agencies and community groups, and\u00a0faculty and students\u00a0involved with\u00a0Clark\u2019s\u00a0Human-Environment Regional Observatory (HERO)\u00a0program,<\/a>\u00a0which engages\u00a0students in applied research focused on urban environmental conditions, climate resilience, tree canopy, and community sustainability.\u00a0HERO students Daisy Merkowitz and Hadassah Ofosu-Amoani, both seniors, attended the roundtable.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark University provides research, data, and community engagement that helps inform decision-making around environmental justice, urban greening, public health, and climate resilience. Since 2017, fellows in Clark\u2019s HERO program have collaborated\u202fwith the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation\u2019s (DCR)” Greening the Gateway Cities Program (GGCP),<\/a> which aims to cool off urban centers full of older housing stock and lacking extensive tree canopies. To date, teams of student researchers have surveyed survivorship, community perceptions, and temperature patterns in a total of 10 Gateway Cities to better understand the role of urban greening in addressing extreme heat.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working with geography Ph.D. students Aidan Caron and Robert Moore over eight weeks this summer, six undergraduates collected and analyzed data in Chicopee, Holyoke, and Lawrence. They presented their research to a roomful of DCR staff and community members on July 16,<\/a> and provided feedback and guidance for continuing and improving the program\u2019s future success.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Mat Cahill, urban forester with the DCR, <\/em>the solutions and ideas the HERO Fellows propose make a difference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery year through this collaboration, we\u2019ve brought all these solutions and ideas that you\u2019ve presented back to the program, and it really helps,\u201d Cahill told this year\u2019s six HERO students after their presentation. \u201cThese trees are surviving and thriving.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millions of Americans have suffered under heatwaves this summer, but in \u201curban heat islands\u201d \u2014 which lack trees and green spaces \u2014 the temperatures are even worse. In Massachusetts\u2019 historic industrial cities, for example, central neighborhoods can be up to 20 degrees hotter than in leafier suburban areas just a few miles away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt just absolutely cooks\u201d in inner-city, working-class neighborhoods, Geography Professor John Rogan, who co-directs the HERO Program with Geography Professor Deborah Martin, recently told\u202fThe Boston Globe,\u202f<\/em>which reported on the stark realities of life in urban heat islands.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The work of our HERO Fellows demonstrates how student research can help communities respond to real-world climate challenges,” said Martin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Martin, in the next few weeks, class schedules and locker combinations aren\u2019t the only things students will be grappling with this fall when they return to their classrooms.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo many urban schools in Massachusetts don’t have air conditioning; our HERO fellows have found that excessive heat will linger in classrooms an average of 10 days longer,\u201d said Martin. \u201cIt is increasingly important to understand how heat affects educational spaces and to identify practical solutions that improve health, comfort, and learning outcomes for everyone.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, Professor Rogan has been involved with another way to keep Massachusetts cities cool \u2013 he’s helping to create Miyawaki forests, dense pocket forests designed to absorb stormwater, cool surrounding neighborhoods and restore biodiversity. He and students in Clark\u2019s AmeriCorps VISTA program partnered with high school students, teachers, city officials, Mass Audubon, the Attleboro Department of Parks and Recreation and the Ocean River Institute in Cambridge to create a Miyawaki forest on an unused baseball diamond in Attleboro. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs proven by HERO\u2019s long-standing, student-powered research, protecting communities\u202ffrom impacts like extreme heat require whole-of-society partnerships among government, communities, and universities.\u202fThe School of Climate, Environment and Society was founded to catalyze this kind of collaboration,\u201d said D.J.A. Spencer Dean Lou Leonard. \u201cWe’re excited to build on today’s conversations and partner with Kate Schlick\u202fto\u202fadvance\u202fMassachusetts’\u202fvision for\u202fconfronting extreme heat head-on,\u202fbringing purpose-built\u202fresearch and student\u202fenergy\u202fto deliver actionable strategies\u202ffor\u202flasting, equitable heat resilience.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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