For the third year in a row, public-health professionals and climate scientists from around the world are visiting Columbia University’s Lamont campus, where the International Research Institute for Climate and Society is based, to learn how to use climate information to make better decisions for health-care planning and disease prevention. They’re taking part in the…
Ancient Trees Give Context to Recent Droughts
Last week Ousmane Ndiaye, a graduate student at DEES and a graduate research assistant at the IRI, gave his thesis defense to a packed house in Monell. The presentation, entitled “Predictability of the Sahel Climate: Seasonal Sahel Rainfall and Onset over Senegal,” considered issues of rainy-season predictability in Ndiaye’s home country. It also earned him…
It is a brutal flight from New York City to Roma. I am a sucker for in-flight movies: things I would never watch in the real world, I am completely enthralled with during an overseas flight. The problem on this flight is that we arrive at 7:30am. We have a whole day ahead of us…
There are more than 30 million people in Bangladesh at risk from arsenic contaminated water, which can cause health problems including thickening and hardening of the hands and feet, skin cancer, bladder cancer, lung cancer, vascular disease leading to gangrene, and diabetes. Columbia University scientists from the Mailman School of Public Health and Lamont-Doherty Earth…
I recently came across an article in the Tehelka blog, which made me want to learn more. It was about a traditional water management system in the Uttarakhand region in northern India that has worked for years, but is being destroyed by funding meant to ‘modernize’ it.
For more than half a century, Wally Broecker’s pioneering climate research and his legendary reputation as a revered mentor to generations of young scientists have been a magnet attracting exceptional students and post-docs to Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. On April 16th, the Columbia community celebrated the 50 years Broecker has spent teaching in the University’s…
Students from the undergraduate special concentration in sustainable development celebrated their graduation from Columbia College and the School of General Studies on May 18 at a special breakfast held for them in Columbia’s Faculty House. Family, friends and faculty gathered with students who reflected on the achievements of the last four years and recalled sustainable…
Can students living continents apart learn from one another, using basic technology? The Millennium Cities School2School partnership program (S2S) is quickly proving that distance learning is not only possible, it is a wonderful way to enhance students’ academic skills and increase their knowledge of important global issues – while allowing them to learn about new…