Summer 2025 Lecture in Climate Data Science: CHAD SMALL

JOIN THE LEARNING THE EARTH WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE + PHYSICS (LEAP) CENTER AT COLUMBIA FOR A SEMINAR ON CLIMATE DATA SCIENCE.

By LEAP Center

Date and time

Location

Columbia Innovation Hub - Tang Family Hall

2276 12th Avenue Room 202 New York, NY 10027

About this event

Event lasts 1 hour 30 minutes

TITLE: "The Art (and Science) of Science Communication for Earth Scientists"

SPEAKER: CHAD SMALL (University of Washington)

Date: July 17, 2025

Time: 12:00 p.m.

Format: Hybrid

Virtual: Zoom link provided upon registration

In-person: Columbia Innovation Hub, 2276 12th Avenue, Second Floor, Room 202, New York, NY 10027

*Please note that in-person space is limited.*

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Abstract: Science communication – clearly and comprehensively delivering scientific information to non-technical audiences – is becoming increasingly important. Whether it’s for helping people understand the world around them, or building public trust in the scientific process, science communication is being featured more prevalently in researchers’ toolkits. For geoscientists, science communication is becoming essential as anthropogenic climate change tips the scales toward more environmental crises. But if we’re supposed to increase scientific literacy on both general and policymaking levels, there needs to be an understanding of which parts of our work are most salient to those outside our field. In other words, we need to know which parts of our research tell the stories that need to be heard the most. This interactive workshop will unpack how we should communicate research findings to different audiences. There will be a special focus on how geoscientists should respond when asked for comments by the media, and also how we can craft our own independent research-based stories.

Bio: Chad is a third-year PhD student in Atmospheric and Climate Science at the University of Washington, researching teleconnections between tropical phenomena and midlatitude rainfall and flooding. He is also a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellow. Chad also spends his time writing as an environmental justice reporter and science writer. His work has been featured in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Grist, and Next City. He is the 2025 AAAS Mass Media fellow with Inside Climate News. He holds a BS in Environmental Engineering from Yale University and a MS in Earth and Atmospheric Science from the City College of New York.

Learn More: LEAP

CHAD SMALL
University of Washington

Organized by

LEAP Center

LEAP’s primary research strategy is to improve near-term climate projections by merging physical modeling with machine learning across a continuum from expertise in climate science and climate modeling to cutting-edge machine learning algorithms. The benefits will be significant for both the climate and data sciences communities. Climate scientists and modelers struggle to fully integrate the wealth of existing datasets into their models, while machine learning algorithms have been good at emulating and interpolating but have difficulties extrapolating or predicting extremes. By combining both approaches, LEAP will trigger a significant advancement for data science algorithms applied to physical problems. LEAP will incorporate physics and causal mechanisms into machine learning algorithms for better generalization and extrapolation, while optimally using the wealth of data available to climate science, in order to better predict the future.

Free