Ross Dixon, professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, will give the talk, "Navigating Uncertainty in Climate Projections: Scenarios, Simulations, and Earth's Complexity," at 5:00 p.m. Sept. 9 in the Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center's Ubuntu Room (Room 202).
The event is free and open to the public and will be livestreamed on Zoom. Register for the link. His talk opens this academic year's CAS Inquire series, "Uncertainty."
It is essential to have reliable regional climate projections for understanding, quantifying, and communicating these risks, Dixon writes, as well as developing adequate responses and mitigation strategies to reduce these risks. His research seeks to disentangle sources of uncertainty in regional climate projections and reduce uncertainty through improving models and providing guidance to stakeholders. In his talk, he will perform live climate simulations with a simple climate model and show how sensitive the simulations are to emissions scenarios and how the model represents climate feedbacks.
Four additional talks scheduled throughout the academic year will come from faculty members in sociology, political science, modern languages, and classics and religious studies, culminating in a panel discussion with the speakers in March 2026.
Students in the CAS Inquire program connect with college thought leaders and other inquisitive students to discuss ideas, using a college-wide series of public lectures as a focal point. The series launched in September of 2019, and themes have included the rise of the machines, finding common ground, and pain and pleasure. During the three-year program, CAS Inquire students take specialized courses, help with facilitating the program, and enjoy additional benefits. They can apply, or be nominated by faculty, for the program as freshmen.
