By Dr. Maestre, October 25th 2024
As climate change continues to pose significant challenges worldwide, experts and researchers from the Urban Integrated Field Laboratory (UIFL) funding program (DOE) are convening for the 2024 Principal Investigators Meeting that will take place in Rockville, MD on October 27-28th. This U.S. Department of Energy hosted event aims to create a platform to cultivate and maintain vital cooperation among researchers from various fields and across research centers. Participants will engage in discussions that not only emphasize scientific research but also highlight the importance of community involvement and workforce development in tackling climate challenges. By focusing on areas such as climate scale modeling, hydrology, air quality and equitable decision-making processes, among others, the event seeks to advance our understanding of climate dynamics and develop effective strategies for resilience, ensuring that all communities can benefit from the knowledge obtained.
The event will feature a series of plenary talks and breakout sessions designed to share insights, foster dialog, and allow BER program managers the chance to engage with the teams, assess their progress and discuss future research needs.
After the initial welcome and introductions from BER Management, the event will kick off with a Plenary Session with talks from the UIFLs involved in the program and the Urban Interagency Working Group:
- Community Research on Climate and Urban Science (CROCUS) IFL presented by Cristina Negri from Argonne National Laboratory.
- Southwest Urban Corridor IFL (SW-IFL) presented by David Sailor from Arizona State University.
- Southeast Texas (SETx) Urban IFL presented by Paola Passalacqua from the University of Texas at Austin.
- Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative (BSEC) Urban IFL presented by Benjamin Zaitchik from Johns Hopkins University.
- US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) Urban Interagency Working Group presented by Reid Sherman from USGCRP.
In the afternoon, there will be a session dedicated to Community and Stakeholder Engagement. This session will include a presentation on community engagement from a DOE perspective by Emily Brooks from DOE Fossil Energy and Carbon Management followed by panelist introductions and discussions, including the community organization Texas Target Communities & Katherine Liberknecht (UT-Austin).
After that, and over the next day and a half, the breakout sessions will cover these topics:
- Climate scale modeling and scenarios with contributions from UT-Austin researcher Ifeanyi Nduka and Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher Phong Le representing SETx-UIFL. They will explore the intricacies of climate modeling and how various scenarios can help predict future climate conditions.
- Observational approaches with the SETx-UIFL researchers such as Qin Qian (Lamar University) and Pawel Misztal (UT-Austin). This segment will delve into the importance of observational data in understanding Air quality.
- Community co-design, resilient solutions, and decision-making, with SETx-UIFL Jeewasmi Thapa (TAMU) and Katherine Liberknecht (UT-Austin). Their discussion will highlight the role of communities and their engagement in designing solutions that enhance resilience against climate impacts.
- Education and workforce development will be addressed by Liv Haselbach (Lamar University) among experts from other UIFLs. This part of the session emphasizes the necessity of preparing community members and younger generations to tackle climate challenges through education and skill development.
- Equity and social vulnerability, including SETx-UIFL researcher Nathanael Rosenheim (TAMU), that will talk about the relationships between social vulnerability and health.
- Atmospheric conditions including the UT-Austin researcher Elena McDonald-Buller representing SETx-UIFL where the relationships between urban heat and air quality will be discussed.
- Hydrology, focusing on droughts, floods, and water supply/quality issues, with contributions from Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers Ethan Coon, Saubhagya Rathore (SETx-UIFL).
- Integration across subsurface-atmosphere-human-natural systems, with insights from Liv Haselbach (SETx-UIFL).
- Data and software management, with UT-Austin and TACC researcher Will Mobley (SETx-UIFL).
- Greenhouse gas emissions and biogeochemistry, featuring other UIFL researchers such as Ken Davis and Jiazhen Ling (BSEC) and Ted Schuur (SW-IFL).
The conference will also host several coordination breakout sessions that will include important topics such as community building, green infrastructure representations in hydrologic models, and greenhouse gas and pollutant inventories, among others.
The event represents a vital opportunity for principal investigators from the UIFLs to engage in meaningful discussions around their research programs, their progress, and research challenges.