RCEI Advisory Board
Clinton Andrews
Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
Dr. Clint Andrews performs research on climate change mitigation and adaptation. His mitigation work focuses on buildings and energy, including occupant behavior, adoption of innovations, design tradeoffs, and policy analysis. His adaptation work focuses on how real estate markets and local governments respond to changing coastal hazards, and how urban residents cope with increasing heat stress.
Debashish Bhattacharya
Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources
Biochemistry and Microbiology
The Bhattacharya lab works with algal primary producers and seaweeds to advance green energy and bioproduct generation. The group also studies coral biology and evolution using genomics and other high-throughput methods to design engineering solutions to monitoring coral health and stress to aid reef conservation and resilience, on a worldwide scale.
Dunbar Birnie
Materials Science and Engineering
Dr. Birnie's group concentrates on solar power technology and battery storage for enhancing renewable energy adoption. Recent work has emphasized the combination of photovoltaic arrays with large-scale agricultural production and land-use issues. This area of "Agrivoltaics" is of increasing importance as NJ aims to meet it's Energy Master Plan goals.
Anthony Broccoli
Environmental Sciences
Dr. Broccoli studies changes in climate, both past and future, with a goal of better understanding the mechanisms responsible for such changes. He uses numerical models of the climate system in his research, carefully comparing their results with evidence from the climate record.
Robin Leichenko
Geography
Dr. Robin Leichenko is Professor of Geography and Dean of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Rutgers University. Robin is former and founding Co-Director of the Rutgers Climate Institute. Her current research explores the economic and equity impacts of climate change with a focus on the northeastern United States. Her latest book, Climate and Society: Transforming the Future (with Karen O’Brien) was published by Polity Press in 2019. A second edition of the book will be coming out in 2024.
Oscar Schofield
Marine & Coastal Sciences
Dr. Schofield is an oceanographer interested how the physics and chemistry regulates ocean ecosystems, with a primary research focus on the physiology and ecology of phytoplankton. His research is conducted in a range of oceans from the rapidly warming/melting along the West Antarctic Peninsula to sustained studies along the northeast United States. Additionally he is part of the Center of Ocean Observing Leadership (COOL), which is focused on developing new technologies and ocean sensor networks to better document and model the marine system.
Rachael Shwom
Human Ecology
Dr. Rachael Shwom is full professor in the School of Environmental and Biological Science’s Department of Human Ecology and Chair of the Department of Human Ecology. She conducts research that links sociology, psychology, engineering, economics, and public policy to investigate how social and political factors influence society’s responses to energy and climate problems. Rachael is currently PI on a collaborative National Science Foundation Grant “Responses to complex disruptive events: Cognition in a socio-political context.“ She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee to Advise the U.S. Global Change Research Program and a co-author to the National Climate Assessment’s Chapter 5 (Human and Social Systems).
Jacqueline Thaw
Mason Gross School of the Arts
Jacqueline Thaw is a graphic designer with a focus on visual identity and publication design. She was a staff designer at I.D. Magazine, Parham Santana, and Pentagram. Her work has been recognized by the AIGA, Art Directors Club, Type Directors Club, and the Society for Environmental Graphic Design. She is a member of the design collective Class Action.
James Wright
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Dr. Wright's research interests lie in understanding how past ocean circulation changes influenced climates over a variety of time scales, for decades to millions of years. His primary research tool is the analysis of stable oxygen and carbon isotopes in marine organisms, which record the history of sea surface temperature variations, ice volume changes, and reorganization of surface and deep-water circulation patterns.