• Crews worked after a torrent of water washed out the intersection of Pleasant and Colburn streets in Leominster, leaving a house there an island on its own foundation, Sept. 12. Photo Credit: LANE TURNER/GLOBE STAFF

    Today’s ‘Unprecedented’ Flooding Extremes Will Be Tomorrow’s Good Old Days

    The devastating floods in Leominster and other regions serve as a sobering reminder of the link between climate change and extreme weather events. This Boston Globe article, written by Climate Change Initiative professors Mathew Barlow and Juliette Rooney-Varga, emphasizes that these events are not an anomaly but a consequence of human-induced climate change, fueled by the emission of greenhouse gases.
    The Boston Globe Department News
  • Winbourne tree research

    Hot in the City

    Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Asst. Prof. Joy Winbourne is researching how trees respond to urban environments and climate change by deploying sap flow sensors throughout Lowell.
    Featured Story
  • People protesting with big sign that says Stop the Destruction

    U.S. Forest Service Should Let Forests Grow

    Letting forests grow would support the full range of native biodiversity while removing carbon from the atmosphere.
    Boston Globe Department News
  • COP27 JRV, Tyler and Arie

    COP27 Empowers Students to Address Climate Change

    Three students and three faculty members traveled to Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, for COP27, the United Nations climate summit, where they were the only delegation from a public university in Massachusetts.
    Featured Story
  • World Bank Group president David Malpass spoke during a panel on getting to net-zero IFIs (international financial institutions) and multilateral partnerships, during the IMF annual Fall meeting at the IMF headquarters in Washington, DC, on October 12.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

    Do net-zero pledges add up?

    Do net-zero pledges mean the world is on track to protect the climate? So far, the answer is no, because if, when, and how net zero is reached matters.
    The Boston Globe Department News
  • Hmes were surrounded by water in Fort Myers, Fla.

    Hurricane Ian Capped 2 Weeks of Extreme Storms Around the Globe

    When Hurricane Ian hit Florida, it was one of the United States’ most powerful hurricanes on record, and it followed a two-week string of massive, devastating storms around the world. Prof. Mathew Barlow wrote a piece for The Conversation about what’s known about how climate change fuels tropical cyclones.
    The Conversation Department News
  • Cool Science Alice Lobel

    Local K-12 Students Use Art to Teach Public About Extreme Weather

    The National Science Foundation-funded project Cool Science hosted its 10th annual Extreme Weather Art Competition for students in grades kindergarten through 12th. The winning posters are now displayed on transit buses in the Merrimack Valley and Worcester areas.
    Featured Story
  • Matt Barlow research

    Scientist Lends Expertise to Greater Boston Climate Assessment

    Environmental, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences Prof. Mathew Barlow led the Storms, Precipitation, Flooding and Groundwater section of a new report that assesses likely climate changes for the Greater Boston area. 
    Department News
  • Orange flames

    Does Wood Bioenergy Help or Harm the Climate?

    Governments and organizations around the world claim that wood bioenergy is carbon neutral. New research by UMass Lowell's Climate Change Initiative, the MIT Sustainability Initiative, Climate Interactive, and Tufts University uses a dynamic model to determine the carbon - and climate - impact of wood bioenergy.
    Department News
  • How participatory simulation motivates climate action

    How Participatory Simulation Motivates Climate Action

    New research from the UMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative, which spearheads impact research for the MIT Climate Pathways Project, shows that group deliberation guided by interaction with the C-ROADS model can positively influence high school and college students’ climate change knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.
    Department News
  • Introducing the new Climate Impacts and Solutions with En-ROADS curriculum module!

    New Curriculum: Climate Impacts & Solutions with En-Roads

    The Climate Impacts & Solutions with En-ROADS module is a new, free, multidisciplinary collaboration between The Climate Initiative (TCI) and the UMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative (CCI).
    Department News
  • Climate Change Leads to Simultaneous Droughts Across the World

    Climate Change Leads to Simultaneous Droughts Across the World

    Asst. Prof. Christopher Skinner recent work published in Nature Climate Change shows that continued use of fossil fuels will increase the risk that multiple regions across the globe experience drought simultaneously.
    Department News
  • EEAS Asst. Prof. James Heiss

    Environmental Science Professor Awarded NSF CAREER Grant

    The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded Asst. Prof. James Heiss a $680,000 faculty early-career development award to understand water and chemical exchanges between groundwater and surface water along the land-sea transition zone.
    Featured Story
  • A man in a bowtie gestures in his hand while speaking

    Good COP, Bad COP: UML Delegates Reflect on U.N. Climate Summit

    An interdisciplinary group of faculty members from UMass Lowell’s Climate Change Initiative attended the recent United Nations global climate summit, aka COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland, where they observed progress being made — but also missed opportunities.
    Featured Story
  • A Cool Science bus poster

    Professor: Science Education Can Help Slow Climate Change

    Science education can help slow the pace of global warming, because people who understand climate science can make informed decisions, says Education Assoc. Prof. Jill Hendrickson Lohmeier. Lohmeier does research on using artwork in informal settings to educate the public about climate science.
    Featured Story
  • Student Javon Bryan takes part in the World Climate simulation with other students

    EEAS Faculty, Students Present at AGU Conference

    Four Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences faculty members and graduate students from the Kennedy College of Sciences presented research at the virtual AGU Fall Meeting, the largest gathering of Earth and space scientists from around the world.
    Department News
  • Predicting The Onset Of Drought In The Northeast Us

    Predicting The Onset Of Drought In The Northeast U.S.

    Drought and heat waves both have a range of severe societal and ecosystem impacts. Our research seeks to understand the causes of droughts and heat waves and how they interact with one another to better predict their occurrence and help manage their impacts in the Northeast U.S.
    Department News
  • Extreme Multi-Hazard Coastal Storm Impacts

    Extreme Multi-Hazard Coastal Storm Impacts

    Supported by a three-year, $784,000 National Science Foundation grant, a team of researchers led by James Heiss in the Department of Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EEAS) are studying the impact of extreme multi-hazard coastal storms on groundwater flow and saltwater-freshwater mixing in beach aquifers.
    Department News
  • Asst. Prof. of Economics Kelly Hellman, plastics engineering major Kerry Candlen and chemical engineering major Maria Fonseca-Guzman

    Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy Awards First Fellowships

    The Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy has awarded its inaugural fellowships to Asst. Prof. of Economics Kelly Hellman, plastics engineering major Kerry Candlen and chemical engineering major Maria Fonseca-Guzman.
    Featured Story
  • Hurricane Irma

    Researchers to Study the Impact of Coastal Storms on Beach Aquifers

    Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Asst. Prof. James Heiss and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution were awarded a three-year, $784,000 National Science Foundation grant to study how powerful coastal storms affect the fresh water flowing below the ground along the seashore.
    Featured Story
  • Drought photo

    Climate Scientists to Study Droughts, Heat Waves in the Northeast

    Profs. Mathew Barlow and Christopher Skinner of the Department of Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences will study the cause of heat waves and droughts in the Northeast and how they interact with each other under a three-year, $478,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
    Featured Story
  • Student Lily Green talks about her Carbon Consumers project

    How to Lose 10,000 Pounds (of CO2) in Just 10 Weeks

    Three student projects proposing ways to reduce the university community’s carbon dioxide emissions by 10,000 pounds in 10 weeks received the first-ever Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy (RISE) Student Innovation Awards and a share of $1,000 in prize money.
    Featured Story
  • Juliette Rooney-Varga talks with two conference attendees about the En-ROADS climate solutions simulator

    UML Researchers Shed Light on Climate Change Science

    Climate change was the central issue at the 100th annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society in Boston, where students, faculty and alumni from the Kennedy College of Sciences shared their environmental and atmospheric science research and networked with meteorologists, climate scientists and academics from around the country.
    Featured Story
  • Asst. Prof. Hsi-Wu Wong working in the lab

    Chemical Engineering Professor Recognized with NSF CAREER Award

    The National Science Foundation recently recognized Asst. Prof. Hsi-Wu Wong of the Department of Chemical Engineering with a prestigious faculty early career development grant, called the “CAREER” award. This highly competitive annual program selects the nation’s best young university faculty-scholars “who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization.”
    Featured Story
  • Animation of weather phenomena known as “atmospheric rivers”. The animation comes from a climate model simulation ran with the Community Earth System Model (CESM).

    Tracking Atmospheric Rivers in a Changing Climate

    Climate models are used to study how and why atmospheric rivers change as the climate changes. This is the research topic of Chris Skinner’s recent NSF grant: “Elucidating the drivers and consequences of changes in atmospheric rivers from the last glacial maximum to the present day.”
    Department News
  • Satellite flying above Earth

    Innovating Meteorology Through Remote Sensing Technology

    Professor Robert Gamache’s current work aids satellite programs of NASA’s Earth Observing System, missions to Mars and Venus, several satellite programs of ESA, EUMETSAT and CNES, and the study of the atmospheres of exoplanets.
    Department News
  • CCI members pose with state legislators

    Faculty Experts Brief Legislators on Climate Change

    The university’s Climate Change Initiative hosted members of the state’s House Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change for a roundtable discussion on climate science and policy at which faculty members shared scientific research and expertise to help inform policy decisions.
    Featured Story
  • Administrators and guests look at the new Green Roof garden

    UML Celebrates Energy Savings, Sustainability on Earth Day

    The university marked two major milestones at its Earth Day celebration: the completion of its $23.1 million Accelerated Energy Program and its latest STARS Gold rating, which moves UML into the top 10 nationally.
    Featured Story