JCNERR and Rutgers Aid in Collaborative Research Consortium Project to Manage the Barnegat and Great Bays

Aerial shot of the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve (JCNERR). Photo credit: Rob Auermuller, Life on the Edge Drones.

The Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve (JCNERR) and several partners were awarded a grant to implement the newly-established New Jersey Consortium for Resilient Communities. JCNERR is managed by Rutgers NJAES, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The project, “Barnegat Bay and Great Bays Resilience Observing Network: Tracking the Changing Environment to Inform the Management of Estuarine …

Rutgers Among University Teams Awarded $28.7 Million in Department of Defense Funding

Malin Pinsky

The Department of Defense (DoD) recently announced $28.7 million in grants to 17 university-based faculty teams through its FY2021 Minerva Research Initiative to support research in social and behavioral science. Among the DoD awardees is a faculty team comprising Malin Pinsky, associate professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, that was awarded $1.3 million to fund a three-year project …

Onset of Modern Sea Level Rise Began in 1863, International Study Finds

Eroded Beach Dune

An international team of scientists including Rutgers researchers has found that modern rates of sea level rise began emerging in 1863 as the Industrial Age intensified, coinciding with evidence for early ocean warming and glacier melt. The study, which used a global database of sea-level records spanning the last 2,000 years, will help local and regional planners prepare for future …

Engineering Solutions to Rising Sea Levels Subject of Big Ten Network Interview with George Guo

Screenshot of George's Commercial

By Carol Peters EOAS faculty member Qizhong (George) Guo, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, discussed with BTN’s LiveBIG a few of the solutions he and his team have proposed to address sea level rise. Representing Rutgers University in a Big Ten Network LiveBIG interview titled “Rutgers Engineers Infrastructure that Addresses Sea-Level Change,” EOAS faculty member Qizhong (George) Guo …

Rachael Shwom Co-Authors Study Showing Carbon Labels Can Be Part of Climate Change Solution

Labels at all resolution levels shown are currently in use. Certificate labels indicate that the labelled products meet some standard, ordinal ratings differentiate among several levels of carbon footprints of the same product, quantitative labels offer numerical measurements of carbon footprints and some labels combine quantitative and ordinal ratings. Graphic credits: Roselin Christina.S (stars) and iconoci (footprints), Noun Project (https://thenounproject.com/).

Carbon labels can be an effective measure to change consumer and corporate behavior as the growing threat of climate change progresses, according to newly published research by Rachael Shwom, associate professor in the Department of Human Ecology, and a team of co-authors. Shwom, who is also the acting director of the Rutgers Energy Institute, conducts research that links sociology, psychology, …

Rutgers Among Global Organizations Awarded Funding to Advance Data-Driven Climate Solutions

Accelerator Grant Program Graphic

Rutgers New Jersey Climate Change Resource Center and the NJAES Office of Research Analytics are among 10 global climate action organizations named by the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation to its 2022 Accelerator Grant Program to advance their use of data and AI for impact, as part of the foundation’s $4.5 million commitment to climate action. Rutgers works to help New Jersey adapt to climate change …

Distinguished Professor Max Häggblom Leads $1.5 Million NSF Study on Microbiomes of Polar and Alpine Soils

Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Max Häggblom, is principal investigator of a collaborative, multinational project, “Dimensions US-China-South Africa: Establishing genetic, phylogenetic and functional mechanisms that shape the diversity of polar and alpine soil microbiomes,” funded by the National Science Foundation. Rutgers co-principal investigators are Lee Kerkhof, professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, …

Scientists Discover Link Between Climate Change and Biological Evolution of Phytoplankton

Emergence of new species of the coccolithophere (calcite producing marine algae), paced by approximately 400,000 year variations in the shape of Earth’s revolutions around the sun (eccentricity shown in inset) has been documented by the changes in the shape and size of their internal calcite plates shown here in photos obtained from scanning electron microscope. Figure courtesy of Luc Beaufort, Centre for Research and Teaching in Environmental Geoscience in France.

Using artificial intelligence techniques, an international team that included Rutgers-New Brunswick researchers have traced the evolution of coccolithophores, an ocean-dwelling phytoplankton group, over 2.8 million years. Their findings, published this week in the journal Nature, reveal new evidence that evolutionary cycles in a marine phytoplankton group are related to changes in tropical seasonality, shedding light on the link between biological evolution …

Climate Action Can Lessen Poverty and Inequality Worldwide

factory

The redistribution of revenues from a carbon tax can promote equity and protect vulnerable populations If all countries adopted the same tax on carbon emissions and returned the revenues to their citizens, it is possible to keep the global temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius while also benefiting wellbeing, reducing inequality, and alleviating poverty, according to a Rutgers …

Volcanic Eruptions Contributed to Collapse of China Dynasties

Volcanic eruptions contributed to the collapse of dynasties in China in the last 2,000 years by temporarily cooling the climate and affecting agriculture, according to a Rutgers coauthored study.

Volcanic eruptions contributed to the collapse of dynasties in China in the last 2,000 years by temporarily cooling the climate and affecting agriculture, according to a Rutgers co-authored study. Large eruptions create a cloud that blocks some sunlight for a year or two. That reduces warming of the land in Asia in the summer and leads to a weaker monsoon …