December 5, 2024: IRES Student Seminar with Ted Scott (Last Seminar of Term 1)
What is happening to summer? A global and multi-scale analysis of the changing summer season length under global warming
Time: 12:30pm to 1:20pm
Location: Beaty Museum Allan Yap Theatre (Basement, 2212 Main Mall). Please check in at front desk on main floor before going downstairs.
No food or drinks allowed in the Beaty Museum.
Zoom Recording.
Talk summary:
Summer is changing dramatically in our lifetimes. The increasing frequency and severity of extreme events under global warming has been connected to changes in the timing of summer onset, duration, and withdrawal, which impact phenology, economic cycles, and energy demand. My work updates and expands prior studies of summer timing and duration by separately considering midlatitude land, ocean, and coastal margins, where many of the global population resides. I find that each of those areas has seen a substantial increase in summer length since 1990, and compared with previous work, the average rate of growth has doubled to nine days per decade when including more recent data. While changes to summer are not uniformly distributed, in most areas the onset of summer is rapidly moving earlier. If the length of summer continues increasing even under an apparent linear warming rate, associated impacts can increase non-linearly, exceeding thresholds for human health, ecosystems, and infrastructure.
Bio:
Ted Scott is a 2nd year PhD student in Geography in the Climate and Coastal Ecosystems Lab and the Climate Dynamics Group, co-advised by Simon Donner and Rachel White (EOAS). His current research investigates multi-scale patterns in surface temperature and heat accumulation since the late 20th century. Prior to his study at UBC, he earned a PhD in Geophysics at the University of Minnesota, has worked as a data scientist at Microsoft, and more recently taught high school math and science.
November 14, 2024: IRES Faculty Seminar with Dr. Jonathan Proctor
Estimating local socioeconomic vulnerability to climate shocks using satellite imagery
Location: Beaty Museum Allan Yap Theatre (Basement, 2212 Main Mall). Please check in at front desk on main floor before going downstairs.
No food or drinks allowed in venue.
Time: 12:30pm to 1:20pm
No recording available.
Talk summary:
Understanding how climate hazards like extreme heat and flooding influence human wellbeing is critical for preparing societies for climate change. Yet empirical estimates of how vulnerability to climate hazards differs across space is limited by both a lack of knowledge about and data on determinants of climate adaptation. Here, we leverage the rich and diverse information within satellite imagery to predict local climate vulnerability in the U.S. and globally. Including imagery information into empirical models of how temperature and moisture influence agricultural productivity, how temperature influences human mortality and how flood depth damages buildings, improves model predictions of historic damages from climate hazards and reveals substantial local differences in climate vulnerability and resilience.
Bio:
Jonathan Proctor is an environmental economist with a background in agronomy, climate science, remote sensing, and machine learning. He is currently an assistant professor in Food and Resource Economics at the University of British Columbia. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow jointly at the Harvard Data Science Initiative and the Center for the Environment. He earned his PhD in Agriculture and Resource Economics from UC Berkeley in 2019.
IBioS Seminar Invitation
This year, the Interdisciplinary Biodiversity Solutions Collaboratory (IBioS) launched a Graduate Student Seminar series for students interested in social, ethical, and ecological issues and dilemmas surrounding biodiversity conservation, restoration, management, and governance.
The series aims to provide a community across faculties, disciplines, and labs. Students can present their research, meet faculty, and hear from partners in conservation about their career paths.
Please join and enjoy the planned series while meeting like-minded people (and enjoying some free food).
Himanshu Pathak
Himanshu Pathak
PhD Student
Contact Details
Linkedin:
linkedin.com/in/him12pat/
Website: ramankuttylab.com/people.html/
Bio
Himanshu is a PhD student in the Land Use and Global Environment (LUGE) Lab and is supervised by Prof. Navin Ramankutty. His research is aimed at developing a deeper understanding of the mechanisms and processes through which climatic parameters affect crop yields. This is critical for accurately estimating the impacts of climate change on agriculture and in identifying suitable adaptation strategy specific to different crops and regions. He is also interested in examining how successful strategies can be transferred and implemented in other regions facing similar climate challenges.
Prior to joining IRES, Himanshu completed his MSc in climate change and sustainability studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). He has more than seven years of research experience. He worked as a program manager in the south Asia office of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), based in New Delhi. His work at IFPRI focused on analysing the shifting trends of agricultural public expenditure in India and its impact on a range of outcome indicators—diversification, wages, farm incomes, and poverty. He also managed a project on upscaling climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) group of countries.
In his previous avatar, Himanshu was a mining engineer, working in a coal mine in Chhattisgarh in central India. When not working, he is found running on the trails, hooked up to a podcast, or reading a book.
Featured Publications
Pathak, H., Kumar, A., and Tripathi, G. (2024); Public expenditure in agriculture: Unmasking the real trends? Economic & Political Weekly. 59(1): 15-21.https://www.epw.in/journal/2024/1/commentary/public-expenditure-agriculture.html
Tripathi, G., Pathak, H., Kumar, A. (2021). Impacts of COVID-19-Induced National Lockdown on Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods in India: A Macro Perspective. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics. 76(3): 333-351. https://isaeindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/01-0101-Gaurav-Tripathi-with-DOI_compressed.pdf
Sustainability Scholars Conference | Advancing Urban Sustainability 2024 | Oct 2 1pm-5pm
What happens when you give students real-world sustainability problems to solve?
UBC Sustainability Scholars are helping to generate real change in the world. Join us on Wednesday, October 2 to learn more about the ways in which these students are supporting our local governments and institutions to future-proof our people, our cities, and our urban spaces.
This afternoon of engaged discussion will cover a diverse range of applied sustainability projects produced by UBC graduate students under the mentorship of community partners including the City of Vancouver, Metro Vancouver, TransLink, local health authorities, local governments, various NGOs and more.
Scholars will present their projects in concurrent themed panel sessions throughout the afternoon. Panels will be moderated by experts from UBC and Sustainability Scholars Program partners.
Molly Zhang
Molly Zhang
PhD Student
Contact Details
molly[dot]zhang[at]ubc.ca
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mollyzhangprofile/
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LRJpc6gAAAAJ&hl=en
Research Interests
Social-ecological Analysis; Food Sovereignty; Social Network Analysis; Resilience; Traditional Ecological Knowledge; Small-scale Agriculture; Climate Change; Sustainability; Biodiversity Conservation
Bio
Molly Zhang is a PhD student at the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability (IRES) at the University of British Columbia (UBC), under the supervision of Professor Terry Sunderland in UBC Forestry. Her research focuses on the potential of native edible plants, aiming to understand the socio-ecological outcomes of integrating Indigenous food plants and identifying the factors that facilitate or limit their incorporation into food systems.
Molly holds a B.Sc. in Forestry from UBC and an M.Sc. in Environmental Science from the University of Cologne, Germany. Her previous research explored the challenges and opportunities of Indigenous edible plants in the townships of Cape Town, South Africa, from the perspective of smallholder farmers.
She is a recipient of UBC Four Year Fellowship (4YF), President’s Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award, BiPOC Graduate Excellence Award, and the Faculty of Science Graduate Award. In addition to her research, Molly is an active Environmental Scientist working with different levels of government in BC.
Outside of work, Molly enjoys writing, dancing, and outdoor activities. When she’s not working, you can often find her writing blog posts, dancing salsa rueda, or camping by a river.
Featured Publications
Zhang M, Dannenberg P. Opportunities and Challenges of Indigenous Food Plant Farmers in Integrating into Agri-Food Value Chains in Cape Town. Land. 2022; 11(12):2267. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11122267