Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute

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Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute The overall goal of is to contribute to a resilient, equitable, and future.

RCEI will connect faculty, staff, and students through transformative climate change research, innovation, education, and outreach. The Rutgers Climate Institute is a University-wide effort to address one of the most important issues of our time through research, education and outreach. The Institute draws upon strengths in many departments at Rutgers by facilitating collaboration across a broad range of disciplines in the natural, social and policy sciences. Subscribe to our mailing list here: https://climatechange.rutgers.edu/keep-in-touch/mailing-list-social-media

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Rutgers University is among 30 universities nationwide chosen to take part in the U.S. Department of Energy's 2026-2027 ...
10/23/2026

Rutgers University is among 30 universities nationwide chosen to take part in the U.S. Department of Energy's 2026-2027 Marine Energy Collegiate Competition (MECC). Advised by RCEI affiliate Onur Bilgen, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, RU Power represents the third Rutgers team to participate in this highly competitive, multidisciplinary event designed to engage undergraduate and graduate students in ocean-based clean energy solutions.

Marine energy—power generated from ocean waves, currents, tides, and temperature gradients—is one of the world’s largest untapped energy resources. Continued innovation is needed to optimize marine energy designs and reduce costs to enable broader deployment. Launched in 2020, MECC participants apply a range of disciplines to design, build, and ultimately test small prototypes of marine energy technologies in preparation for joining the marine energy workforce.

Read and learn more at https://rcei.rutgers.edu/rutgers-team-to-participate-in-doe-marine-energy-collegiate-competition/

Standing in a plot of soil dotted with nearly equally spaced tufts of green and not-so-green grass, RCEI affiliate Stacy...
10/22/2026

Standing in a plot of soil dotted with nearly equally spaced tufts of green and not-so-green grass, RCEI affiliate Stacy Bonos spelled out the scope of Rutgers University's turfgrass-breeding program for a dozen Honors College - Rutgers University, New Brunswick students.

“Rutgers grass is everywhere,” said Bonos, director of the program and a professor with the Department of Plant Biology at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. She added the program “is a passion” of hers and other researchers at the Rutgers Plant Science Research and Extension Farm, often called the Adelphia Farm, in Freehold, N.J.

Bonos told the students how Rutgers turf played a starring role in soccer fields during the U.S.-hosted 2026 FIFA World Cup over the summer, among other places. “They’re at the White House,” Bonos said. “They’re at Yankee Stadium. They’re at Red Bull Stadium. They’re in my backyard. They’re in your backyard.”

Read and learn more at https://rcei.rutgers.edu/on-this-farm-in-freehold-the-grass-is-always-greener-by-design/

RCEI affiliate Hao Wang, a professor and graduate program director in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineer...
10/15/2026

RCEI affiliate Hao Wang, a professor and graduate program director in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, recently received awards from the U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials and Safety Administration (PHMSA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to support projects addressing critical challenges of national energy and transportation infrastructure.

According to Wang, it is especially rewarding to see his work supported by federal agencies and to be able to contribute research with the potential to improve infrastructure resilience and public safety.

Additionally, he says, “the awards allow my research team to advance cutting-edge technologies at the intersection of engineering, sensing, and AI.”

Read and learn more at https://rcei.rutgers.edu/cee-professor-awarded-federal-grants-supporting-infrastructure-resilience/

The Rutgers University Department of 4-H Youth Development and the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve ...
10/14/2026

The Rutgers University Department of 4-H Youth Development and the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve (Jacques Cousteau Reserve - Coastal Training Program) formally began their new educator-community climate resilience initiative for the greater Jersey City and Newark areas this past July at Liberty Science Center and the Liberty State Park Nature Center (Official: Liberty State Park).

The year-long program is designed to support Resilience Action Teams in select middle and high schools. Through school clubs, students will work toward implementing local, community-based projects aimed at making the areas they value more resilient to the effects of climate change.

The inaugural cohort includes Academy I Middle School, Infinity Institute, and William L. Dickinson High School in Jersey City; Lincoln Middle School in Kearny; Newark School of Data Science & Information Technology in Newark; and Union Hill Middle School in Union City (Union City Schools).

Read and learn more at https://rcei.rutgers.edu/rutgers-4-h-kicks-off-resilience-action-teams-initiative-in-northern-jersey/

Register by 10/15 to attend the Richard and Linda Turco Endowed Lecture and following reception, presented by MIT Profes...
10/13/2026

Register by 10/15 to attend the Richard and Linda Turco Endowed Lecture and following reception, presented by MIT Professor of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Arlene Fiore!

For more than two decades, Rutgers University researchers have conducted up-close studies of the wild orangutans of Born...
10/13/2026

For more than two decades, Rutgers University researchers have conducted up-close studies of the wild orangutans of Borneo from a remote, forested stretch of Indonesia. Now, wildfires are threatening the great apes and raising fears that the research station might have to be evacuated.

The crisis has prompted the Rutgers University Foundation to launch an emergency fundraising campaign to protect the Tuanan Orangutan Research Station (Tuanan Orangutan Research Program), a sprawling facility that serves as both research lab and a residence for the team.

“If these fires continue to spread, they could destroy decades of long-term scientific research, place both wildlife and local communities at risk, and release millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,” said RCEI affiliate Erin Vogel, co-director of the station and a professor of anthropology at the Rutgers University—New Brunswick Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences.

Read and learn more at https://rcei.rutgers.edu/wildfires-threaten-a-rutgers-research-station-renowned-for-its-studies-of-wild-orangutans/

Cutting greenhouse gas emissions now may limit how much ice Antarctica loses this century and reduce the rise in seas fa...
10/12/2026

Cutting greenhouse gas emissions now may limit how much ice Antarctica loses this century and reduce the rise in seas facing coastal communities, according to findings from a new study.

The research team found at least an 89% probability that the most ambitious low emission goal that fit the objectives of the Paris Agreement, an international treaty on climate change adopted in 2015, would result in less Antarctic ice loss by the end of the century than very high emissions.

“Coastal communities need to prepare for rising seas, and the amount of rise they will have to manage still depends on the choices we make today,” said Kopp, a Distinguished Professor with the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences and an author of the study.

Read and learn more at https://rcei.rutgers.edu/how-cutting-emissions-may-limit-antarctic-ice-loss-and-protect-coastlines/

For RCEI affiliate Dave Bushek, the obstacle to bringing students to Rutgers University's field stations across New Jers...
10/11/2026

For RCEI affiliate Dave Bushek, the obstacle to bringing students to Rutgers University's field stations across New Jersey was getting them there.

A visitor to Rutgers’ shellfish research facilities wondered why more students weren’t seeing them, too. Bushek, a professor of the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences - DMCS and coastal sciences, explained that transportation from campus was the problem. The visitor offered a solution.

“The person made it possible for us to purchase a shuttle,” Bushek said.

This fall, a white, 18-passenger shuttle bus is carrying students into areas of Rutgers that many never knew existed. Their destinations include research farms, shellfish laboratories and centers devoted to clean energy and food innovation.

Read and learn more at https://rcei.rutgers.edu/students-take-a-bus-ride-to-a-different-rutgers/

In the midst of severe drawbacks on federal funding, scientists still came together, impelled by the significance of the...
10/07/2026

In the midst of severe drawbacks on federal funding, scientists still came together, impelled by the significance of their work and the unquenchable search for knowledge. There are many such accounts of tenacity and discovery, and this one emerged from a makeshift motel room lab, where another piece of the story of life was brought into the light.

Rutgers University PhD graduate Dr. Julia Van Etten and RCEI Affiliate Debashish Bhattacharya are featured in a The New York Times article where Etten’s research stands out front and center. In collaboration with other scientists, such as Dr. Andrew Willoughby from Duke University and Dr. John Burns from Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Dr. Etten used a microscope, mouth pipettes, and “steampunk” tools composed of colored pencils and twine to isolate two new species of a particularly special single-celled organism, Paulinella.

Read and learn more https://rcei.rutgers.edu/in-an-80-motel-room-a-discovery-to-shed-light-on-the-origins-of-life/

Congratulations to RCEI affiliate Dr. Bob Kopp, who has been selected for the American Geophysical Union (AGU)'s 2026 Am...
10/06/2026

Congratulations to RCEI affiliate Dr. Bob Kopp, who has been selected for the American Geophysical Union (AGU)'s 2026 Ambassador Award! This award honors scientists whose work has had outstanding societal impact and who have shown exceptional leadership in connecting science with the public and with policy.

Kopp is a fitting recipient of this prestigious award, as his research has transformed how communities understand and plan for sea-level rise. His team demonstrated that twentieth-century global sea-level rise was faster than in any century for at least four millennia, and pioneered the probabilistic global and regional projections now used by coastal planners worldwide.

His science-policy work spans every scale. He co-led the development of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) AR6 sea-level projections and is a Lead Author for Working Group 1 in AR7; has served in multiple National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine leadership roles and contributed to several US National Climate Assessments; and chaired three New Jersey sea-level rise assessments that underpin the state’s coastal regulatory rules.

Read and learn more at https://rcei.rutgers.edu/congratulations-to-robert-kopp-recipient-of-the-american-geophysical-unions-2026-ambassador-award/

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