The Columbia Climate School is excited to announce the return of our Professional Learning and Pre-College Programs for fall 2022. These programs, taught leading experts and scientists in their fields, will continue to allow learners to understand the science behind the headlines and accelerate individual educational and career goals. Fall 2022 sessions will continue to be remote via Zoom.
Both our professional learning and pre-college sessions are delivered in small group sessions to enable targeted instruction, personalized interactions, and networking opportunities with research faculty and peers. All sessions are recorded, allowing participants the flexibility of tuning in on their own schedule or reviewing past material with ease. These opportunities offer the same level of rigor and quality as Columbia University degree programs, so participants will experience a high-caliber program no matter where you are in the world. At the completion of each workshop, learners earn a Certificate of Participation.
We hope to see you at an incoming info session to hear more about each workshop directly from the instructors. Participants that attend an info session will receive a 10% discount to use during registration.
In the meantime, please sign up for our Professional Learning mailing list here and our Pre-College mailing list here to receive future updates about our offerings. Alternatively, please contact the program team with any questions.
Professional Learning
The Professional Learning program allows working professionals and adult learners to further their knowledge and skills on new topics, without the long-term commitment of a degree program. This program is perfect for individuals who work in a climate- or sustainability-oriented career and want to gain new skills to enhance their current role, want to explore a career shift into this area, or are simply a lifelong learner seeking new knowledge and experiences. For fall 2022, we are offering the following workshops:
Climate Risk and Law
Join Romany Webb of the Columbia Climate School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law for a workshop that will provide participants with an introduction to the science of climate change detection and attribution—the body of research that explores the link between human activities and climate change—as well as how models are used to develop climate change projections. Come and discuss how climate science is currently, and could in the future, be used by administrative agencies to inform policy-making and regulatory action on climate change. This workshop will take place October 18 – November 29, 5:30 – 7:40pm ET, with some exceptions.
Those interested are encouraged to RSVP to our info session on September 20 at 5:30pm ET. Read the full workshop description here. Register for the workshop here.
Predictions, Projections, or Portents — Weather and Climate Modeling
Join Simon Mason of the Columbia Climate School’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society to examine how weather and climate forecasts and projections are made from a few minutes in advance to centuries in advance. Come and explore how to measure how good (or bad) the forecasts are, highlighting ways in which forecasts can sometimes be made to look deceptively good, and addressing the question of how much confidence can be placed in any of the forecasts. This workshop will take place October 27 – December 15, 5:30 – 8:00pm ET.
Those interested are encouraged to RSVP to our info session on September 27 at 5:30pm ET. Read the full workshop description here. Register for the workshop here.
Pre-College
Our pre-college programs are for high school students in grades 9-12 (and rising 9th grade students) who are interested in extending their learning beyond the classroom and sharpening their knowledge and skills in the areas of climate change and sustainability. Our workshops are structured around real-time conversations, hands-on activities, and project-based learning to allow students to gain an introduction to real-world research, ideas, and solutions alongside like-minded peers. Our programs will take science learning beyond the textbook and allow students to see and experience science in the real world. For fall 2022, we are offering the following session:
Climate Impacts: Uncovering (In)Justice in Disaster Preparedness and Recovery
Join Joshua DeVincenzo of the Columbia Climate School’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness for a workshop taken through the lens of climate justice. This solutions-driven workshop will investigate gaps and opportunities in disaster recovery worldwide to critically examine exacerbating inequalities. By focusing on translating research into practice, learners will explore disaster risk reduction strategies, mitigation and adaptation, social vulnerability, structural barriers to equitable recovery, policy analysis, global frameworks of disaster preparedness, and climate impacts on local communities. This workshop will take place from October 29 to December 17, 10:00 – 12:00pm ET, with some exceptions.
Those interested are encouraged to RSVP for our info session on September 29 at 5:30pm ET. Read the full workshop description here. Register for the workshop here.
