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Climate Change Initiative

Climate Change

  1. This initiative focuses on synthesizing and making visible, our collective expertise related to all aspects and impacts of climate change. Topics in this initiative include but are not limited to impacts on health, food production and access, natural resources, energy, climate politics, human dimensions, transportation, and glacial retreat.
    • Work begins on this tiered initiative in year one (1) of the 2021-2026 Strategic Plan

 

Goal 1

Establish Climate Change as a fundamental departmental priority: to expand our reach, to connect to new and existing faculty, to departmental collaborators across the university, and to raise Climate Change as a broad issue of study and education at OSU while elevating the central intellectual role of our department.

Strategy

Department chair to establish task force with a diverse make up to synthesize and articulate our collective efforts 

Metric

-Charge of task force created between department chair and task force chair 

-Maintain equal number of representatives primarily identifying as either Human, Physical, ASP (separate from phys), Spatial 

Outcome

-Create focused group of individuals tasked with mapping and steering development of the initiative’s strategies identified in goals 1-5. 

Establish a Plan of action for identified goals and strategies, including metrics and any additional outcomes 

-Action items identified with priority established 

-Timelines for goals/strategies created 

-Deadline and point person assigned to each goal 

-Sets clear goal and priorities for task force 

- Beginning with climate certificate in progress, identify how Geography’s climate change research and education relate to other units on campus (i.e. SELC) 

-Creates lines of accountability for action items to ensure progress forward and substantially increase the likelihood of success 

Link to new national level priorities with new administration and federal granting agencies 

-Regular/renewed correspondence with OSU government liaison

-Established plan for department to move forward in new environment and increase success of successful grant proposals within the department

Work with Advancement on specific campaign to target giving to aid student scholarship and research

Increase funded student internships/scholarships/fellowships from donors

Develop regular symposium related to climate science topics

Coordinate with BPCRC on their offerings, expand the influence of OSU's climate research.

Goal 2

Enhance capacity of State Climate Office of Ohio - To build on existing strengths and relationships cross-college and cross-campus to make critical investments in faculty, staff and data infrastructure to maximize OSU’s ability to support climate-related research and outreach in the state of Ohio and beyond.

Strategy

Broaden outreach component within SCOO’s mission

Metric 

-Identify 3 areas in first year to increase outreach activities beyond agriculture

-Create action plan for each area that includes timeline and point person for accountability

Outcome

Build relationships with community partners including but not limited to City/local governments, regional agriculture, and other Ohio Universities

 

Leverage operational partnerships across the University and to private industry.

Elevate OSU and climate sciences by serving as a hub connecting ASC, CFAES, BPCRC, SI and TDAI, to synthesize and disseminate climate information for the needs of various stakeholders in Ohio, and coordinate other services for research, teaching and outreach.

Goal 3

Curriculum advancement to integrate synergies across climate, geospatial, environment-society, data analytics, and connections to the arts and humanities

Strategy 

Establish climate change certificates (range of additional certificates to emerge over time)

Metric

Certificate approved and active for student enrollment

Outcome

Students engage across departments and majors to further climate science research

Develop synergistic courses, e.g., Python coding for meteorological data

-Broaden geography’s role in climate sciences and student understanding of reach and impact of climate change

-Add climate justice as spoke in climate hub to connect all subfields in department

Identify interdisciplinary major curriculum for climate change to Integrate climate change courses with other topics, i.e. public health, urban infrastructure, measuring and monitoring urban climate change

-Curriculum sheets created

-Majors approved through ASC and OAA

-New courses to include by not limited to:

  1. Python for water
  2. Weather and climate systems
  3. GIS for hazard assessment and management
  4. Weathering and mass movement
  5. Remote sensing of mountain systems

-Create more robust climate change course curriculum to increase student involvement and major counts

-Identify opportunities to integrate climate change and course work using campus as a living lab

Identify and eliminate gaps in teaching/critical needs for climate change advancement on campus

-Provide critical educational needs to students seeking NOAA and AWS certification

-Mainstream knowledge about climate change across our curriculum

Develop research projects involving data analytics for interdisciplinary students across campus

Provide students with the ability to investigate and solve climate problems quantitatively.

Reinvigorate the physical geography track for both undergrads and grads.

Expand the physical geography curriculum for both undergrads and grads. The latter aspect should include grad-only courses, not 5000-level mixed courses dominated by undergrad enrollment.

Create internship opportunities for students within SCOO in exchange for credits

Give students practical experience and training in their field

Develop practical courses or labs that involves climate data analysis, statistical methods in climate science and climate modeling.

Identify and consult with agency/industry stakeholders (i.e. potential employers) for developing curriculum/expected learning outcomes.

Clarify and streamline curriculum for student coming out of the geography program

Create capstone/service-learning course and professionalization course in ASP

A repository of project ideas for capstone options.

Goal 4

Hiring Plan to further climate change agenda and advance climate change research, teaching, and outreach within the Department of Geography and more broadly at The Ohio State University.

This goal is not to supplant efforts of other units on campus but to define Geography’s role in the climate science sector and set priorities and targets in the department.

Strategy 

State Climatologist/SCOO Director – Tenure Track Faculty 100% FTE

Metric

-Secure funding from possibly ASC (75%) / CFAES (25%) for permanent hire

-Establish TIU home in Geography

-Post search and hire

Outcome

-Fulfills research, teaching and service mission for Geography and Extension

-Teaching synoptic course sequence, dynamics, technical seminars

-Coordinate efforts across campus regarding climate synergies and educational opportunities

-Set up state of the art web portal for metadata / data dissemination

-Coordinate complementary efforts with Sustainable Urban Laboratory project of CURA/SI

-Collaborate with KY and IN in a Tri-State effort to standardize instrumentation, methods, protocol

TTF – Synoptic Meteorology (100% FTE)

-Gain ASC faculty hire approval

-Post search and hire

- Provides education in critical teaching needs for NOAA certification that are currently not adequately being met in Geog/SES

-Provides timely data needs for Ohio farmers

TTF – Environmental Data Analytics and Justice (100% FTE) Alternatives to position classification suggested: Climate Justice and Data Analytics

-Gain ASC faculty hire approval

-Post search and hire

-Digital geographies, ethical data, critical GIS

-Establish link to Environmental Humanities initiatives change and course work using campus as a living lab

TTF – Climate Demography (100% FTE)

Alternatives to position classification suggested: Climate change and agricultural transformation

-Gain ASC faculty hire approval

-Secure funding from ASC (50%) / INFACT DT (50%) for permanent hire

-Post search and hire

Specialize in social-ecological data integration with climate systems modeling; e.g., climate refugees, disasters, unequal resource use and sustainability, post-carbon economies

SCOO Technical Expert – Staff 100% FTE

-Secure funding for Regular Position

-Post Position

-Fill Position

-Provides critical database manager aid to faculty and research needs across campus

-Mesonet technician to bring OSU and the state climate office up to standards already set by surrounding states (i.e. Kentucky and Pennsylvania)

-Scale up from existing FARM app developed by SCOO, support creation of Climate Atlas for the state to broaden outreach activities and data availability

-Upgrade to 13 existing agriculture weather stations in OH to have state of the art equipment to engage in first rate research

SCOO Outreach Coordinator – Staff 100% FTE

-Secure funding for Regular position

-Post position

-Fill position

-Advances research and community engagement agenda by facilitating communication and all outward-facing programing

-Coordinate partnerships / provide guidance to improve in situ data collection

SCOO Office Associate or Program Manager– Staff 75% FTE

-Secure funding for Regular position

-Post position

-Fill Position

-Create and maintain website for easy engagement with community partners and researchers

-Organize efforts already in progress with future agenda objectives to aid director in outcome success

-Provide organization support to other positions

Possible additions:

  1. -manage CC certificate program
  2. -capstone coordinator
  3. -grant writing
  4. -coordination of student research project

TTF – Atmospheric chemistry and radiation (100% FTE)

TTF - Paleoclimate