Jennifer Burney grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is now professor and the Marshall Saunders Chancellor's Endowed Chair in Global Climate Policy and Research at the University of California, San Diego, as part of the School of Global Policy and Strategy. [1] [2] She studied history and science at Harvard University and earned a PhD in physics from Stanford, developing a superconducting camera to capture images of cosmic bodies, like pulsars or exoplanets. [1] [3] [4] After graduating, she worked for Solar Electric Light Fund on rural electrification, particularly in West Africa.
She worked as a postdoc, starting in 2008, at Stanford on food security and the environment. [3] She was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2011. [1] As a current research affiliate at the University of California, San Diego's Policy Design and Evaluation Laboratory, her research focuses mainly on global food security, adaptation, and climate change mitigation. [1] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Some projects she has worked on include rural electrification, aerosol emissions, and high-yield farming. [2] [5] [9]
Her partner is Claire Adida, professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego. [9] They have two children. [9]
The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) is the center for oceanography and Earth science at the University of California, San Diego. Its main campus is located in La Jolla, with additional facilities in Point Loma.
Steven Chu is an American physicist and former government official. He is a Nobel laureate and was the 12th U.S. secretary of energy. He is currently the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University. He is known for his research at the University of California, Berkeley, and his research at Bell Laboratories and Stanford University regarding the cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light, for which he shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics with Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and William Daniel Phillips.
Veerabhadran "Ram" Ramanathan is Edward A. Frieman Endowed Presidential Chair in Climate Sustainability Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. He has contributed to many areas of the atmospheric and climate sciences including developments to general circulation models, atmospheric chemistry, and radiative transfer. He has been a part of major projects such as the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) and the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE), and is known for his contributions to the areas of climate physics, Climate Change and atmospheric aerosols research. He is now the Chair of Bending the Curve: Climate Change Solutions education project of University of California. He has received numerous awards, and is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences. He has spoken about the topic of global warming, and written that "the effect of greenhouse gases on global warming is, in my opinion, the most important environmental issue facing the world today."
Stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) is a proposed method of solar geoengineering to reduce global warming. This would introduce aerosols into the stratosphere to create a cooling effect via global dimming and increased albedo, which occurs naturally from volcanic winter. It appears that stratospheric aerosol injection, at a moderate intensity, could counter most changes to temperature and precipitation, take effect rapidly, have low direct implementation costs, and be reversible in its direct climatic effects. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concludes that it "is the most-researched [solar geoengineering] method that it could limit warming to below 1.5 °C (2.7 °F)." However, like other solar geoengineering approaches, stratospheric aerosol injection would do so imperfectly and other effects are possible, particularly if used in a suboptimal manner.
David G. Victor is a professor of innovation and public policy at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UC San Diego, where he holds the Center for Global Transformation Endowed Chair in Innovation and Public Policy.
Steven J. Davis is an earth system scientist in the Department of Earth System Science of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability at Stanford University. He is a highly cited researcher and leads the Stanford Sustainable Solutions Lab.
The contributions of women in climate change have received increasing attention in the early 21st century. Feedback from women and the issues faced by women have been described as "imperative" by the United Nations and "critical" by the Population Reference Bureau. A report by the World Health Organization concluded that incorporating gender-based analysis would "provide more effective climate change mitigation and adaptation."
Rosamond (Roz) Lee Naylor is an American economist focused on global food security and sustainable agriculture. She is the William Wrigley Professor of the Stanford University School of Earth System Science, and the founding Director of the Center on Food Security and the Environment at Stanford University. Her academic career has centered on environmental science and policy related to global food systems and food security. She is the President of the Board of Directors of the Aspen Global Change Institute, a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America, and a member of the Forest Protection Advisory Panel for Cargill.
Vicki H. Grassian is a distinguished professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego. She also holds the distinguished chair in physical chemistry.
Kimberly A. Prather is an American atmospheric chemist. She is a distinguished chair in atmospheric chemistry and a distinguished professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and department of chemistry and biochemistry at UC San Diego. Her work focuses on how humans are influencing the atmosphere and climate. In 2019, she was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for technologies that transformed understanding of aerosols and their impacts on air quality, climate, and human health. In 2020, she was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences. She is also an elected Fellow of the American Philosophical Society, American Geophysical Union, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Julia Nesheiwat is an American national security adviser who served as the 10th homeland security advisor in the Trump administration from 2020 to 2021. She also served in the Bush and Obama administrations.
Rattan Lal is a soil scientist. His work focuses on regenerative agriculture through which soil can help resolve global issues such as climate change, food security and water quality. He is considered a pioneer in soil-centric agricultural management to improve global food security and develop climate-resilient agriculture.
Durwood Zaelke is an American environmental litigator, professor, author, and advocate. As President and founder of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD) in Washington, D.C., and Paris, he currently focuses on fast mitigation strategies to protect the climate, including strategies to reduce short-lived climate pollutants, in the context of the need for speed to limit anthropogenic warming to 1.5 °C.
Lynn Russell is a professor of atmospheric chemistry at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography a division of the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, California.
Claire Adida is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. She is on the editorial board of the American Political Science Review. She is known for research on immigration and integration, as well as use of survey experiments. She has a PhD in political science from Stanford University.
Solomon M. Hsiang is an American scientist and economist who directs the Global Policy Laboratory and is the Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He co-founded the Climate Impact Lab and is a National Geographic Explorer. Hsiang’s work has been featured in media articles and impacted policy across international and US federal institutions.
Ulrike Lohmann is a climate researcher and professor for atmospheric physics at the ETH Zurich. She is known for her research on aerosol particles in clouds.
The Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science (HWSPH) is the University of California, San Diego's school of public and community health. The school currently offers programs leading to bachelors (B.Sc.), masters (MPH), doctoral (Ph.D.), and professional degrees. The school also offers a joint doctoral program in public health with San Diego State University.
Vivian Faye McNeill is an American atmospheric chemist who is professor of chemical engineering at Columbia University. She leads the University's initiative Clean Air Toolbox for Cities. McNeill provided expert guidance on aerosols and ventilation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability is a school at Stanford University focusing on climate change and sustainability. The school also researches many domains of fossil fuel extraction and development. It opened on September 1, 2022, as Stanford's first new school since the School of Humanities and Sciences in 1948. It is considered one of the largest climate change–related schools in the United States.