Alex de Sherbinin has been named director of the Earth Institute Hub, a new initiative within the Columbia Climate School designed to strengthen university-wide collaboration on issues spanning climate, Earth, society and sustainability. He assumes the role on September 1.
Administered through the Climate School’s Office of Engagement and Impact, the Hub builds on the foundation of the Earth Institute, whose programs and initiatives the Climate School has incorporated since its founding in 2020. It will serve as a connector for faculty and researchers across Columbia whose work addresses planetary challenges and their human dimensions. The Hub will complement the work of existing schools, centers and institutes, serving as a convening platform.
A central goal of the Climate School is to make interdisciplinary engagement easier, more visible and more rewarding for faculty and researchers across the university. The Earth Institute Hub will provide a home for activities that continue to catalyze systems thinking, holistic inquiry and cross-disciplinary partnership.
The Hub will administer programs including Earth Networks, a seed funding initiative that supports the incubation of new ideas across a wide range of climate, Earth, society and sustainability topics, as well as an affiliates program for faculty and researchers from across the university. It will also host university-wide convenings on high-priority, cross-cutting issues.
As director, de Sherbinin will shape the Hub’s direction and broaden its reach, drawing on the full breadth of expertise at Columbia to strengthen the university’s ability to address planetary challenges. “As a geographer, I’m delighted to be able to carry forward the interdisciplinary legacy of the Earth Institute,” said de Sherbinin. “For 25 years, the Earth Institute built an unparalleled reputation for solid research, education and outreach emulated by many other universities. In its new incarnation, the Earth Institute Hub will strengthen collaboration with other schools and expand the Climate School’s convening role.”
A longtime member of the Earth Institute community, de Sherbinin directs the Center for Integrated Earth System Information, or CIESIN. He has more than two decades of research and leadership within the Earth Institute, advancing work at the intersection of environmental change, data and society. He also brings firsthand experience with the networks the Hub will support, having contributed to the Foundations for the Social Climate, the Decarbonization and Climate Mobility Earth Networks.
“Alex de Sherbinin brings the interdisciplinary vision and collaborative spirit that the Earth Institute Hub is designed to advance,” said Alexis Abramson, dean of the Columbia Climate School. “His work has long connected environmental science, data and society, and his leadership will help carry forward the Earth Institute’s legacy while creating new opportunities for partnership and impact across Columbia.”
As an Innovation Fellow at Columbia University since 2016, working across schools on inter-disciplinary ideas, such as RSMetrics.com, I can personally atttest to the need for this.. Breakthroughs are increasingly coming from the intersectionality of disciplines such as climate science, capital markets, remote sensing, and of course Columbians !