Three students attended COP29 in Azerbaijan, thanks to funding from the Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy.

The contributions of Mary Miss and other women artists, like Mierle Laderman Ukeles and Nancy Holt, who redefined Land art in urban environments, are beginning to get recognized, despite facing significant challenges in funding and public art execution.

Assoc. Teaching Prof. of Art & Design Regina Milan was commissioned by the nonprofit Pollinator Partnership to create its 2024 poster, leveraging her extensive background in botanical and natural science illustration and her passion for nature and sustainability.

The food forest on South Campus is being used for research, in academic courses and as a place for the community to gather.

Kaylin Oakes, a sophomore from Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, whose art is teaching people about the climate crisis, is the top winner in the state’s division of UMass Lowell’s Cool Science Contest, in which K-12 students create illustrations that depict the science behind extreme weather, then shares the artwork on transit buses to educate the public. 

Students represented UMass Lowell in Dubai at COP28, the annual United Nations climate summit.

The Student Society for Sustainability hosted a Thrift Day event with clothes collected from the UMass Lowell community.

A trio of professors from the Climate Change Initiative will research how communities of various socioeconomic statuses are able to respond to severe weather events.

The Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy granted fellowships to mechanical engineering major Caralyn Conrad, industrial engineering Ph.D. student Mahsa Ghandi and Art and Design Assoc. Prof. Kirsten Swenson.

Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Asst. Prof. Joy Winbourne is researching how trees respond to urban environments and climate change by deploying sap flow sensors throughout Lowell.

Three students and three faculty members traveled to Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, for COP27, the United Nations climate summit, where they were the only delegation from a public university in Massachusetts.

UMass Lowell researchers have teamed up with local organizations in search of effective strategies that will encourage underserved communities to participate in energy efficiency programs.

The Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy awarded fellowships to plastics engineering major Abby Mastromonaco, entrepreneurship Ph.D. student William Zhou and Chemistry Asst. Prof. Juan Artes Vivancos.

The National Science Foundation-funded project Cool Science hosted its 10th annual Extreme Weather Art Competition for students in grades kindergarten through 12th. The winning posters are now displayed on transit buses in the Merrimack Valley and Worcester areas.

Art & Design Associate Teaching Professor Yuko Oda has a thought-provoking art exhibit that explores themes surrounding climate change, environmentalism and social justice.

Prof. Juliette Rooney-Varga and a team of researchers are looking at ways to empower students to address climate change by advancing their climate literacy and STEM efficacy.

A new study published in Simulation and Gaming describes the Climate Action Simulation: a game to give people the know-how and a sense of empowerment needed for effective climate action.

New research from the UMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative, which spearheads impact research for the MIT Climate Pathways Project, shows that group deliberation guided by interaction with the C-ROADS model can positively influence high school and college students’ climate change knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.

An interdisciplinary group of faculty members from UMass Lowell’s Climate Change Initiative attended the recent United Nations global climate summit, aka COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland, where they observed progress being made — but also missed opportunities.

An interdisciplinary team of UML faculty, led by Assoc. Profs. Meg Sobkowicz-Kline and Chris Hansen, have received a nearly $3 million National Science Foundation Research Traineeship award for a new graduate student program focused on developing sustainable materials and chemicals that won’t harm water resources.

Science education can help slow the pace of global warming, because people who understand climate science can make informed decisions, says Education Assoc. Prof. Jill Hendrickson Lohmeier. Lohmeier does research on using artwork in informal settings to educate the public about climate science.

UMass Lowell’s Climate Change Initiative, in partnership with the Environmental, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences Department and the Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy, is hosting a virtual spring seminar series featuring experts from across the country.

Cool Science brings an inter-disciplinary approach to the challenge of improving public understanding of climate change science by focusing on issues related to heat transfer, energy and extreme weather. This project aims to engage students, teachers, parents, and the general public with the science of extreme weather.

Causing numerous deaths and billions of dollars in damages, recent wildfires in California have raised concerns about growing wildfire risk. As people become more vulnerable to wildfire risk, it is imperative that information regarding such risk is effectively communicated.

How do individuals with a variety of interests and wills form common cause to change society? Working at the interface of media and movements, Charlotte Ryan studies how individuals build learning communities that, in turn, form coalitions and movements for systems change.

The UMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative, in conjunction with the National Association of Geoscience Teachers and the College of Education, hosted a professional development workshop for two dozen area K-12 teachers on incorporating climate change education into the classroom.

A major goal of this grant is to contribute to research on the potential of systems thinking, place-based curriculum in out-of-school TRIO college access programs, such as Upward Bound, to increase underrepresented students’ STEM interest, self-efficacy, and motivation to pursue STEM degrees/careers.

The Climate Education in an Age of Media (CAM) Project brought together a team of scientists, science educators, media artists, and media instructors, to create curriculum materials and resources that give geoscience educators the tools they need to bring student media production into their own climate change education work.