New climate expert comes to Rhode Island
Brown
University
Kim Cobb, an award-winning
climate scientist whose research focuses on building capacity for climate
solutions, has been appointed director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society,
effective Friday, July 1.
(AP Photo/John Amis)
As
director, Cobb — currently a professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences at
Georgia Tech — will work closely with IBES faculty to advance the institute’s
commitment to studying the interactions between natural, human and social
systems, and preparing future leaders to envision and build a just and
sustainable world.
Brown
Provost Richard M. Locke shared news of Cobb’s appointment in a letter to the
University community.
“IBES faculty and students are leaders in the global conversation about environmental issues — on campus, at the State House, in boardrooms and at the United Nations,” Locke wrote. “Kim Cobb’s devotion to the clear and frequent communication of climate change to the public through media appearances, public speaking engagements and social media will continue the institute’s commitment to translating research into policy.”
"Brown
has so much capacity to be part of the solution — from public health expertise
to Earth sciences to policy and economics and social sciences. It’s becoming
clear that the wholesale changes we really need to see are going to be grounded
in collaborative work."
In her research, Cobb seeks to advance understanding of future climate change impacts, with a focus on climate extremes and coastal flood hazards. For nearly two decades, her research has focused on unraveling the mystery of El Niño and La Niña events and how they have changed over time. By applying oxygen isotopes and radiometric dating techniques to the skeletons of living and ancient corals, Cobb and her colleagues have created a record of El Niño and La Niña events going back 7,000 years.
Cobb
also serves as the faculty director of the Global Change Program at
Georgia Tech, and the ADVANCE professor for diversity, equity, and inclusion
for the College of Sciences. Before joining the faculty at Georgia Tech in
2004, she spent two years at California Institute of Technology in the
Department of Geological and Planetary Sciences.
“In
joining the Brown community, I’m excited at the opportunity to advance climate
and sustainability solutions in higher ed, making sure that it’s an accelerant
for solutions in this critical moment,” Cobb said.
“Brown
has so much capacity to be part of the solution — from public health expertise
to Earth sciences to policy and economics and social sciences. It’s becoming
clear that the wholesale changes we really need to see are going to be grounded
in collaborative work, across disciplines, across sectors, and across
generations. This is a ‘systems’ challenge that’s going to take systems
solutions.”
Cobb
has received numerous awards for her research, most notably a National Science
Foundation CAREER Award in 2007 and a Presidential Early Career Award for
Scientists and Engineers in 2008. In 2019, she was named the Hans Oeschger
Medalist by the European Geoscience Union. She is a fellow of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, and was a lead author for the
United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment
Report published in 2021.
Cobb
earned her Ph.D. in oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
in 2002 and a bachelor of arts degree from Yale University in 1996. She
succeeds Dov Sax,
a Brown professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology, and of
environment and society, who has served as interim director of IBES for two
years.