The second chapter of my dissertation has been published in Earth's Future! The paper is open access so please read and share. You can find the press release from UMass Amherst here.
About
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I am currently the Hitz Fellow for Litigation-Relevant Climate Science at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). I am working with research advisors Delta Merner and Rachel Licker on the UCS Climate Resilience and Corporate Accountability campaigns and I work within the Science Hub for Climate Litigation. My work seeks to use attribution science to assess how corporate high emitters in the fossil fuel and animal agriculture industries have altered the climate leading to the impacts we see today such as rising temperatures and sea levels.
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Teaching on Climate Change and Queer Resilience at the Boston Museum of Science Pride Celebration, 2024. Photo © Ashley McCabe
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In summer 2022 I completed my PhD in Earth, Geographic and Climate Sciences at UMass Amherst under the direction of advisors Robert DeConto, Regine Spector, Eve Vogel, Alan Condron, Dave Pollard, and Ambarish Karmalkar. My PhD research looked at the global climate impacts of Antarctic Ice Sheet instability and the climate injustices of sea level rise. My dissertation, entitled "The Global Impact of the Antarctic Ice Sheet in a Warming World: Using Numerical Modeling and Critical Physical Geography to Assess Climate Change, Sea Level Rise, and Climate Justice" available through UMass Amherst. For more information on my research please visit my research page.
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Prior to my PhD I obtained an M.S in Applied Mathematics during which time I worked on projects modeling solitons and vorticies in Bose Einstein condensates under the direction of Panos Kevrekidis and modeling the spread of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever in Thailand under the direction of Markos Katsoulakis. My undergraduate degrees are a B.S in Astronomy/Astrophysics and a B.S in Physics. During undergrad I developed a love of scientific research while researching photometric redshift values for distant galaxies with Min Yun, processing data for the LIGO gravitational wave observatory with Laura Cadonati, and doing my thesis work on spectroscopic evidence for OVI emission from nearby star forming galaxies with Todd Tripp.
Interview: Meet the Scientist at Time Scavengers |
Teaching on Climate Change and Queer Resilience at the Boston Museum of Science Pride Celebration, 2024. Photo © Ashley McCabe
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Updates
Update 2022: now published!
November 2021 new preprint on Sea Level Rise and Climate Justice
Update: this has now been published in Earth's Future!
Another chapter of my dissertation is now available as a preprint here. It was written with the guidance, support, and collaboration of Drs. Regine Spector, Robert DeConto, and Natalya Gomez. This paper reviews and synthesizes the climate justice implications of temperature targets in light of our increasing understanding of the spatially variable impact and long temporal commitment to rising seas. In particular we highlight the impact that SLR will have on island states and the role of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in UN climate negotiations. As a case study we review dual impacts from the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) under a changing climate: 1) recent climate and ice sheet modeling shows that Antarctic melt has the potential to cause rapid SLR with a distinct spatial pattern leading to AOSIS nations experiencing SLR at least 11% higher than the global average and up to 33% higher; and 2) future ice sheet melt will result in a negative feedback on GMST, thus delaying temperature rise. When considering these impacts in conjunction, justice concerns associated with the Paris Agreement are exacerbated. This case study demonstrates that mitigation policies should consider climate impacts in addition to GMST, particularly sea level rise.
Another chapter of my dissertation is now available as a preprint here. It was written with the guidance, support, and collaboration of Drs. Regine Spector, Robert DeConto, and Natalya Gomez. This paper reviews and synthesizes the climate justice implications of temperature targets in light of our increasing understanding of the spatially variable impact and long temporal commitment to rising seas. In particular we highlight the impact that SLR will have on island states and the role of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in UN climate negotiations. As a case study we review dual impacts from the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) under a changing climate: 1) recent climate and ice sheet modeling shows that Antarctic melt has the potential to cause rapid SLR with a distinct spatial pattern leading to AOSIS nations experiencing SLR at least 11% higher than the global average and up to 33% higher; and 2) future ice sheet melt will result in a negative feedback on GMST, thus delaying temperature rise. When considering these impacts in conjunction, justice concerns associated with the Paris Agreement are exacerbated. This case study demonstrates that mitigation policies should consider climate impacts in addition to GMST, particularly sea level rise.
May 2021 paper out on the Paris Agreement and Sea Level Rise
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I am thrilled to be among the authors of this new paper on future sea level rise commitments under the Paris Agreement. It was published in Nature by an incredible team of researchers led by Dr. Rob DeConto. I have written explanations of the results for the general public which can be found on Instagram and Twitter. The press release can be found here and an explainer can be found on Carbon Brief. There has also be some great news coverage in Gizmodo, National Geographic, Inside Climate News, New York Times, Axios, the Guardian, and more.
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Distinguished Teaching Award
I am very excited to have won the Distinguished Teaching Award from UMass Amherst! This award was for my work developing and teaching a course for freshman about the climate crisis, as well as co-facilitating a graduate seminar on DEI work in geosciences, geography, and environmental science. See the press release here and my announcement here.
September 2020 paper out on Antarctica's impact on global climate
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The first chapter of my PhD, entitled "Future climate response to Antarctic Ice Sheet melt caused by anthropogenic warming" was just published in Science Advances. This paper was co-authored with my advisors Drs Condron, DeConto, and Pollard. The paper is open access and can be read here. Related content can be found at the following links:
Here is the press release from UMass Amherst. Coverage of our paper and another recent Antarctic paper by Garbe et al can be read in Science News here. A series of posts breaking down the paper geared toward a general audience can be found on Instagram. The first part breaks down the importance of Antarctica, the second discusses how climate and ice sheet modeling work, and the third goes through the main results of the paper. A Twitter thread discussing the main results for a climate specialist audience is here. |
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This image is of our team during the first year of the Applied Mathematics masters program at UMass Amherst . In this picture I had just finished giving our presentation on how we modeled Solitons and Vorticies in Bose Einstein Condensates. You can see some images from the talk showcasing out modeling work in the background. Pictured here are (left to right) Wenlong Wang, Orhan Akal, Chris Rocheleau, Cortney Tilley, Matt Brown, Shaina Sadai, Cassie DePietro, Dom Mei, and our amazing advisor Panos Kevrekidis.