The Climate Change Institute is an interdisciplinary research unit organized to conduct research and graduate education focused on variability of Earth’s climate, ecosystems, and other environmental systems, and on the interaction between humans and the natural world.

Institute investigations span the last 2 million years to the present, a time of numerous glacial/interglacial cycles and abrupt changes in climate. Research activities include field, laboratory, and modeling studies that focus on the timing, causes, and mechanisms of natural and anthropogenically forced climate change, and on the effects of past climate changes on the physical, biological, chemical, social, and economic conditions of the planet. Institute research is supported by grants from a variety of sources including the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the W.M. Keck Foundation, and endowments from the Bingham Trust and the Dan and Betty Churchill Exploration Fund and others.

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Graduate program

Doctoral and Masters research is available through several academic programs on campus. The Institute also offers an MS degree in Quaternary and Climate Studies.

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