NASA GISS Climate Change Research Initiative

The Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI) program is an interdisciplinary, collaborative, year-long STEM engagement, and experiential learning opportunity for educators and graduate students to work directly with NASA scientists and lead research teams in a NASA research project hosted at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies; Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory; CUNY City College of Technology in New York City; or NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. The summer component of each CCRI project also includes undergraduate and high school interns.

Further information about the 2024-2025 CCRI program is available at the NASA Earth Science Division's Early Career Research Program website. Addtional project detail as well as application submission information is posted on the NASA STEM Gateway website.

CCRI Education Products

The following NASA-approved educational modules have been produced as part of CCRI research activities.

Dulaney, N., 2018: Earth's Energy Budgets. Applied Research STEM Curriculum Unit Portfolio. (16.8 MB PDF)

Dulaney, N., 2019: Future Temperature Projections. Applied Research STEM Curriculum Unit Portfolio. (7.3 MB PDF)

Dulaney, N., 2021: Changes in Climate and Wildfires. Applied Research STEM Curriculum Unit Portfolio. (5.0 MB PDF)

Mundo, A., 2021: Urban Surface Temperatures and the Urban Heat Island Effects. Applied Research STEM Curriculum Unit Portfolio. (9.2 MB PDF)

Sebastian, E., C., 2020: The Heat is On: Urban Heat Islands, Detection Strategies, and Mitigation Solutions. Applied Research STEM Curriculum Unit Portfolio. (5.1 MB PDF)

Wang-Mondaca, C., 2019: Wetlands. Applied Research STEM Curriculum Unit Portfolio. (7.9 MB PDF)

Wang-Mondaca, C., 2021: Blue Carbon: Bringing Field Research and ArcGIS Mapping to the High School Classroom. Applied Research STEM Curriculum Unit Portfolio. (2.6 MB PDF)

Note: PDF documents require the free Adobe Reader or compatible viewing software to be viewed.

CCRI Research Products

The following research journal articles have been produced as part of CCRI research activities.

Cesana, G.V., O. Pierpaoli, M. Ottaviani, L. Vu, and Z. Jin, 2024: The correlation between Arctic sea ice, cloud phase and radiation using A-train satellites. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, no. 13, 7899-7909, doi:10.5194/acp-24-7899-2024.

Chui, A.C., A. Gittelson, E. Sebastian, N. Stamler, and S. Gaffin, 2018: Urban heat islands and cooler infrastructure — Measuring near-surface temperatures with hand-held infrared cameras. Urban Clim., 24, 51-62, doi:10.1016/j.uclim.2017.12.009.

Copple, S.P., D.M. Peteet, D. Balk, C. Chang, B. Jones, and M. Tzortziou, 2023: Marsh archive reveals human population history and future implications for estuarine health in Long Island Sound. Sci. Total Environ., 895, 164885, doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164885.

Jakubowski, H.V., N. Bock, L. Busta, M. Pearce, R.L. Roston, Z.D. Shomo, and C.R. Terrell, 2021: Introducing climate change into the biochemistry and molecular biology curriculum. Biochem. Mol. Biol. Educ., 49, no. 2, 167-188, doi:10.1002/bmb.21422.

LeGrande, A.N., J.F. Booth, C.M. Naud, C. Ordaz, and J. Crespo, 2024: Just how river-like are atmospheric rivers? Geophys. Res. Lett., 51, no. 10, e2023GL105828, doi:10.1029/2023GL105828.

McConnell, K., C. Braneon, E. Glenn, N. Stamler, E. Mallen, D.P. John, R. Pandya, J. Abramowitz, G. Fernandez, and C. Rosenzweig, 2022: A quasi-experimental approach for evaluating the heat mitigation effects of green roofs in Chicago, Illinois. Sustain. Cities Soc., 76, 103376, doi:10.1016/j.scs.2021.103376.

Ordaz Osorio, C., J.F. Booth, A.N. LeGrande, and C.M. Naud, 2024: Assessing the impact of climate change on atmospheric rivers: A modeling perspective. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 129, no. 12, e2023JD040074, doi:10.1029/2023JD040074.

Pace, G., D. Peteet, M. Dunton, C. Wang-Mondaca, S. Ismail, J. Supino, and J. Nichols, 2021: Importance of quantifying the full-depth carbon reservoir of Jamaica Bay Salt Marshes, New York. City Environ. Interact., 12, 100073, doi:10.1016/j.cacint.2021.100073.

Peteet, D.M., J. Nichols, T. Kenna, C. Chang, J. Browne, M. Reza, S. Kovari, L. Liberman, and S. Stern-Protz, 2018: Sediment starvation destroys New York City marshes' resistance to sea level rise. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 115, no. 41, 10281-10286, doi:10.1073/pnas.1715392115.

Contact

Please address inquiries about the Climate Change Research Initiative to:

Matthew Pearce
NASA Office of STEM Engagement
Goddard Institute for Space Studies
2880 Broadway, New York, NY 10025
matthew.d.pearce@nasa.gov
1 (646) 419-0144