Summer Course Offering in Costa Rica

Summer course (June 2014) in Costa Rica. Tropical Conservation & Sustainable Development: Law, Policy & Professional Practice through the Organization for Tropical Studies (Rutgers is a member institution). Application deadline: March 15, 2014. More information available here.

Funding Opportunity: EERE Launches $3 Million Clean Energy Incubator Program -Proposals Due March 21, 2014

Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) has launched a competition to support clean energy technology incubators. The National Incubator Initiative for Clean Energy (NIICE) is a $3 million program that will fund up to five incubators that provide critical services to entrepreneurs and small businesses and accelerate the commercialization of clean energy technologies. Proposals are due March 21, 2014. See the press release.

2014 U.S. Climate Action Report

January 1, 2014. The Department of State issues 2014 US Climate Action Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This is the first U.S. Biennial report and the sixth U.S. National Communication to the UNFCCC. The report details how existing and planned U.S. action can reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions approximately 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Progress includes doubling electricity generation from renewables, stringent fuel economy standards, and promoting energy efficiency. Also discussed is how U.S. communities are preparing for climate change. More information available here.

Job Opportunities & Internships

Climate Access Internships
Rutgers University Students, SPIN Program

Department of Energy Internship
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy-Washington D.C.

Jerome Goldstein Scholarship for EcoEntrepreneurs 
Jerome Goldstein Scholarship

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Internships
NASA Ames Education

New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute
Coastal Community Resilience Specialist

The Fulbright - National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowship
Themes: Biodiversity, Cities, Climate Change, Cultures, Energy, Food, Oceans, and Water

American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy - Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings
Deadline: March 24, 2014

Rutgers Energy Insitute
Deadline: March 14, 2014

Rutgers faculty and students on coastal geomorphology, climate change, and sea level rise:

The jet-stream has increasingly taken a longer, meandering path, leading to weather that becomes "stuck" on an area for an extended period. According to RCI affiliate Jennifer Francis, this extreme weather in the middle latitudes could be due to a warming Arctic, but it's too soon to tell for certain. Read more here. 

Listen to RCI Affiliate, Michael Kennish on flood threats in Bayside Communities.  

Read about RCI Affiliate, Malin Pinsky's award of $50,000 fellowship through the Sloan Foundation to advance his research. 

"Anthony Broccoli, co-director of the Rutgers Climate Institute, said January was in the top 20 coldest months in over 100 years, but there have been colder winters." Read more here. 

Bitter cold may kill off beetles tearing through Pine Barrens, but RCI affiliate and Geography professor David Robinson maintains that a long-term warming climate will make it more difficult to thwart the beetle. Read more here.

Jennifer Francis, RCI Affiliate and IMCS professor, discusses the polar vortex and how it relates to our weather patterns. Read more here.

Listen to what RU Students are saying about climate change.

RCI Affiliate Malin Pinsky, Professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, published a study connecting differences in climate velocity—the rate and direction that climate shifts across the landscape—to observed species shifts. Click here for more information.

New publications by RCI Affiliate Ben Horton discusses sea level rise in New Jersey and worldly. Read more here and here. 

A recent study by RCI Affiliate Yair Rosenthal, Professor of Marine and Coastal Sciences, reconstructs Pacific Ocean heat content over the past 10,000 years, showing that intermediate waters of the Pacific Ocean are absorbing heat 15 times faster over the past 60 years than in the past 10,000. Read more here. 

RCI affiliate Jennifer Francis co-authored a study linking Arctic sea ice to shifting weather patterns in the Northern Hemisphere's mid-latitudes. Learn more about the emerging research on Arctic and mid-latitude linkages here. 

RCI Affiliates Ken Miller, Robert Kopp, Ben Horton, and James Browning of Rutgers University Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences project New Jersey sea level rise 11 to 15 inches higher than the global average for next century. Read more about the analysis here. Read the highlight in the Philadelphia Inquirer here. 

RCI Affiliate Ben Horton elicited sea level rise projections from 90 experts in the field. The future sea-level rise ranges provided by the experts are on average higher than those of the IPCC 5th assessment. Read more here.

Watch RCI Affiliate Robert Kopp and other experts discuss local and global impacts of climate change from the 5th IPCC Report.

Learn about the effects of dunes, development, storms, and sea level rise along Barnegat Bay in this Q&A and video clip interview with RCI Affiliate, Rutgers Professor Emeritus, Norbert Psuty. 

Listen to Anthony Broccoli, Professor of Environmental Sciences and Co-Director of RCI, speaking about historical climate trends, says that with the changing weather and development patterns in the region "the past cannot be used to predict the future."

Watch this video clip of the boat shed at the Rutgers University Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory, Port Norris, NJ from October 2013. Lab Director, Professor David Bushek notes, "This is the height of a typical fall (October or November) spring tide. When built over 100 years ago, the permit to build was 1 foot above high tide. It rarely flooded when I was a grad student in early 1990s. The surge from Hurricane Sandy was at least three feet higher than shown here."

See how RCI affiliate Lisa Auermuller, Watershed Coordinator for the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve is helping citizens understand sea level rise with tools developed by RCI affiliate Richard Lathrop, Director Rutgers Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis. Watch here.

 

THINK GLOBAL, BIKE LOCAL

Check out the Rutgers Bike Rental Program and commit to a healthy and sustainable lifestyle, which will improve the quality of life for all. 

Energy Innovation Contest

Register for the competition by sending an email indicating intent to submit an entry to Beatrice Birrer at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. no later than March 14, 2014. Please use "Energy Innovation Contest" in the subject line.

Proposals must be submitted on or before April 1, 2014. Read more: go to Energy Contest page at rei.rutgers.edu

Individual or teams of enrolled undergraduate students in any program on the New Brunswick Campus are eligible. Students are encouraged to consult with faculty advisers in various departments to help form teams and develop plans.