News
It has been a busy and productive spring for the graduate students in the group. Of particulate note, Ibuki, Hannah, and Aandishah have all published their first papers. Hannah and Ibuki published a nice pair of papers that looked at the robustness of observed strengthening trends in the tropical Pacific sea surface temperature gradient. Ibuki's paper was recently accepted and performs a series of null hypothesis tests on trends in the gradient over the observational record. She shows that the trends are robust against a series of progressively more conservative statistical…
Two lab alumni were able to reunite at GMU in late April! Anson Cheung, a former postdoc in the lab who is now at the University at Albany, gave a talk titled "Understanding Holocene hydroclimate change in South America using proxy records and modeling." He was hosted by Tehreem Qureshi, a former undergraduate intern in the lab. Anson was Tehreem's primary advisor for her summer research experience, as well as her senior thesis, which was recognized as a top thesis in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. She is now a fellow in the Climate Science MS program…
For the past three years, Teachers College has co-hosted the Midwinter Climate Institute with the New York City Public Schools' Office of Energy and Sustainability, a professional development experience that has grown into one of New York City's most significant gatherings for climate change education. Bringing together 500 K–12 educators from across the city's public school system, the Institute reflects Teachers College's deep commitment to equipping teachers from multiple disciplines with the knowledge, tools, and confidence to bring climate change into their classrooms. At its core, the Midwinter…
I thought this video had been lost to history, but I recently stumbled upon it. I always liked the analogy and thought the short video production was done very well. I don't recognize the very young dude in the video, but so it goes...
On Wednesday, April 22, Hunter College High School proudly hosted Climate Day 2026, welcoming students for a day of presentations centered on climate science, sustainability, and environmental leadership.
To mark its 20th anniversary, Climate of the Past, an interactive journal of the European Geosciences Union, is launching a special webinar series celebrating two decades of leading paleoclimate science.
Each webinar will emphasize the journal’s scientific diversity and impact, featuring two invited talks of 30 minutes from leading researchers across different areas of paleoclimate science. Talks will be followed by a live 30 minutes Q&A session, allowing for discussion and engagement with the broader community.
How rare are truly rare climate extremes? This session uncovers how paleoclimate…
Jason has been a recent guest on a couple podcasts. He stopped by the Palma podcast to speak with Diana Maria Bunge, an alum of the ESP MPA program. The conversation focused on drought in the American Southwest and passing the 1.5 degree C global warming threshold. Check out the episode and the other great Palma episodes on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Jason also had the pleasure of being interviewed on What the Westies? - a new podcast created and hosted by middle school ENL students at the Manhattan School for Children on the Upper West Side in New York City. In a particularly…
On Friday March 13, 2026 HSFI held its first Climate Change Education Symposium inviting professionals in this field to educate us on the topic of climate change, ultimately creating an engaging, interdisciplinary platform for learning, dialogue, and action. Each speaker's segment connected to one another showing our students what climate change is, how it affects our communities, sustainable careers, and actions we are able to take such as starting the conversation.
It was another busy year at AGU! Check out some select action shots from the field...
Check out all of our lab presentations at AGU. They are listed below in chronological order. Come by and say hi!
MONDAY
Hunter Hughes, Gavin L Foster, Diane Thompson, Donna M Surge, and Duo Chan
ENSO and the onset of the rainy season in Central America: A moist static energy perspective.
Alan Garcia, Richard Seager, Ángel G. Muñoz, and Ron L Miller
WEDNESDAY
The Smerdon and Seager Labs Fall Potluck was back in force this year and it came with merch! Aandishah designed and printed not one, not two, but three different versions of t-shirts to commemorate the event. If you see one of these limited edition shirts on the street and want one for yourself...too bad! You just had to be there.
Excellent food, some frisbee, some soccer, and a brief investigation of the heritage of Sakura Park were also part of the activities.
Lab members gathered for dinner to wish Anson Cheung a fond farewell. Anson has finished a productive stint as a 2023-25 Lamont Postdoctoral Fellow and is moving on to take a postdoctoral position at the University at Albany with Mathias Vuille. It was a great sendoff and we look forward to watching the next stage of Anson's career unfold!
Far from the bustle of Columbia’s campus, a group of undergraduate students in degree programs managed by the Climate School Office of Undergraduate Programs recently journeyed to Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts, to explore sustainability through lived experience.
The Cuttyhunk Practicum, which began in 2024 as a partnership between Columbia and Barnard professors Jason Smerdon and Sandra Goldmark and the Gull Island Institute’s Classroom-To-Island initiative, offers sustainable development students a hands-on opportunity to examine what it means to inhabit a place well.
Designed to fulfill the…
We got wonderful news today! Richard and Aandishah were both honored with annual awards at Lamont. In his announcement, interim director Steve Goldstein described the accomplishments as follows.
Today Richard Seager, Palisades Geophysical Institute Lamont Research Professor, received the 21st Scientific Excellence in Mentoring Award. This award honors outstanding members of our scientific staff who go above and beyond to support, guide, and empower others.
Richard’s nominators included 7 graduate students. Here is an excerpt from the nomination: “Across the board, [Richard]…
There was lots to celebrate at the end of the academic year. We took the opportunity to get the group together and celebrate some notable accomplishments. Hannah passed her oral exams this semester. Tehreem graduated and presented her senior thesis. And Aandishah was elected president of the GSAS Graduate Council. Oh, there were also some notable papers published by Anson and Yelin this semester. Congrats to everyone on their wonderful accomplishments!