Sue Carter named UCSC's Faculty Climate Action Champion for 2015-16

We are pleased to announce that Professor Sue Carter, Physics, has been selected by the Sustainability Office and Academic Senate’s Committee on Research as UC Santa Cruz’s faculty Climate Action Champion for the 2015-16 Academic Year.

As the Climate Action Champion, Professor Carter will implement a sustainability living-laboratory on campus to support student-led research and training in areas that promote carbon emissions reductions and sustainable use of natural resources. Her proposal demonstrated a strong plan for student and community engagement as well as the potential for long-term, cross-disciplinary climate action research and teaching to endure well past the Champion award year.

The Sustainability Lab (or “S-lab”) will encompass indoor and outdoor laboratory space, educational tools and resources for students. As Champion, Professor Carter will also develop curriculum and a mentorship network for entrepreneurship focused on sustainability and climate action in the broader community. The curriculum will include a sustainability module for a summer entrepreneurship academy to train students about entrepreneurial skills and resources that are specific to sustainable innovations, and provide a mentoring network of entrepreneurs from Santa Cruz and Silicon Valley who have been successful in launching “green” enterprises who will serve as mentors for the student teams. Finally, Professor Carter will also offer a K-12 Climate Action Summer Camp at the S-lab in summer 2016.

The Faculty Climate Action Champion Award incentivizes and supports faculty engagement in climate change research, teaching, and engagement. The award was developed through the Office of the President’s Global Climate Leadership Council to support UC’s Carbon Neutrality initiative, which commits UC to emitting net zero greenhouse gases from its buildings and vehicle fleet by 2025, something no other major university system has done.

The award provides $25,000 and institutional support for one selected faculty member to deepen climate change teaching and research on campus. Selected champions and their projects are intended to help meet and focus student demand for climate action and education. The purpose of the award is to enable faculty engagement in climate change research, teaching and both campus and community engagement.

Congratulations, Professor Carter!

To learn more about Professor Carter’s work, please visit her website here.