RCEI Affiliate Focus on Dunbar Birnie, Professor & Corning/Saint Gobain/Malcom G. McLaren Chair, Department of Materials Science and Engineering By Aleen Mirza Curiosity may have killed the cat, but for RCEI Affiliate Dunbar Birnie, it sparked a decades-long passion for solar energy and innovation. From collecting geodes and shiny rocks as a child to creating one of Rutgers’ first courses …
A record turnout of high school students attended the 9th annual New Jersey Youth Institute on March 7 at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS). This event, a partnership with the World Food Prize Foundation engages students in considering critical issues of global food security. A 37 percent increase in attendance from last year, 183 students from across the …
Students in grades 9–11 from across NJ attended Climate and Weather Day 2025 with the Meteorology program at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences on March 1. The day included a schedule of talks, activities, and demonstrations designed to introduce students to the world of meteorology and atmospheric science. Speakers included Mike Lee, the lead meteorologist at the …
Rutgers alumnus Peter Seligmann (AG’72), who earned a bachelor’s degree in wildlife ecology from the College of Agriculture (now School of Environmental and Biological Sciences), credits Rutgers with setting him on the path to almost 40 years of global environmental conservation. He went on to earn a master’s degree in forestry and environmental science from Yale University in 1974. Seligmann founded Conservation …
RCEI Affiliate Focus on Danielle Falzon, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology By Aleen Mirza Who decides the future of a warming planet? More importantly, who is excluded from those critical discussions? As climate change is an increasingly undeniable reality, these questions expose an uncomfortable truth, as explained by RCEI affiliate Danielle Falzon, Assistant Professor of Sociology. The truth is that …
Congratulations to RCEI affiliate Onur Bilgen, an associate professor in mechanical and aerospace engineering, for being awarded The Provost Award for Excellence in Cross-Disciplinary Research. Onur Bilgen is also a co-leader in the Wind Energy Test (W.E.T.) Center Project, an RCEI Signature Initiative.
Rutgers Cooperative Extension (RCE) convened its annual conference on January 14 at the Busch Student Center. Focused on the theme, “Cultivating Connection: Building a Culture of Communication,” the 2025 conference attracted more than 230 attendees from all NJAES units. RCE Director Brian Schilling welcomed conference participants and outlined the day’s goals for professional development, information sharing, networking, and collegiality. “Being …
Representatives from Elon Musk’s task force accessed NOAA’s headquarters in Maryland this week, as part of the Trump administration’s removal of climate and weather data from the internet. The shutdown of NOAA, which plays a crucial role in climate science and weather forecasting, could have dire consequences, including increased risks to public safety. The agency operates satellites, ocean buoys and …
Using machine learning, Rutgers researchers develop a “probability map” from databases that combines whale monitoring and environmental data Researchers at Rutgers University-New Brunswick have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that will help predict endangered whale habitat, guiding ships along the Atlantic coast to avoid them. The tool is designed to prevent deadly accidents and inform conservation strategies and responsible …
A big congratulations to RCEI affiliates Steve Brechin (co-editor and author), Melissa Aronczyk (author), Robin Leichenko (author), and Tom Rudel (author) for their contributions to this exciting new volume of the Routledge Handbook of Climate Change and Society. Several current and former Rutgers graduate students have contributed their expertise to this remarkable work! Affiliates Steve Brechin and Robin Leichenko were …
