Institute for Climate and Community Resilience
The mission of the Institute for Climate and Community Resilience is to be a local, regional, and global leader in advancing climate system science and applying scientific knowledge to support equitable solutions for climate resilience at a community level.
To achieve this mission, the ICCR brings together faculty, students, and community organizations that share the goal of understanding and improving community resilience to weather and climate.
Overview
The ICCR addresses three strategic areas of climate resilience, including the climate system, compounding risks, and community-driven resilience solutions, and engages and supports collaborative scholarship and education opportunities for a Community of Scholars. The Community is composed of climate and resiliency scholars, as well as faculty who have relevant skills and experiences to apply to grand and urgent challenges in climate science and resilience. The placed-based work of the Institute engages diverse communities for local challenges by building meaningful partnerships with community groups. Through these partnerships, the Institute is strategically positioned to address climate resilience pursuits in the Southern Appalachian region, which has a unique risk and vulnerability profile that requires targeted, community-engaged work and can inform climate resilience for a global community.
People
Kelsey Ellis
Director, Institute for Climate and Community Resilience
Associate Professor, Department of Geography & Sustainability
Scholarship focus: Hazardous weather and climate and its intersection with society and the Weather and Climate Enterprise
Annette Engel
Donald H. and Florence Jones Professor of Aqueous Geochemistry, Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences
Scholarship focus: Environmental geochemistry, ecosystem-scale biogeochemistry, aquatic and terrestrial ecology, and climate science
Eminé Fidan
Assistant Professor, Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science
Scholarship focus: sustainable water management, extreme weather impacts, and large-scale watershed analysis
Gabe Schwartsman
Assistant Professor, Department of Geography & Sustainability
Area of interest: political ecology and environmental justice in the context of decarbonization and fossil fuel transition
Lisa Zottarelli
Clinical Associate Professor, College of Social Work
Scholarship focus: Social vulnerability and health disparities in extreme weather events, disaster preparedness, and public health messaging
Programs
The ICCR regularly hosts events that encourage team building between scholars across campus and with community groups.