SES STUDENT SHOWCASE
10:00 - 11:30AM
An exhibit of undergraduate and graduation students work that examines sustainability, climate change, environmental solutions, resiliency, green design, and other Earth Day topics. The showcase will feature a variety of work, including posters, videos, projects, and other visual products.
For more details, please visit the student showcase page.
SUMMIT SPEAKERS
11:30AM - 12:30PM
High powered speakers from across the Commonwealth and beyond share their vision, policy initiatives, and stories that prove to be hopeful and inspiring.
- Curt Griffin, Director, School of Earth & Sustainability
- Kumble R. Subbaswamy, Chancellor
- Hon. Stanley Rosenberg, ’77, MA State Senator
- David Lubin, ’72 Political Science, Sustainability Strategist and Expert
- Carl Spector, Commissioner of the Environment, City of Boston
- Angela Burnett, Climate Change Officer for the British Virgin Islands and the Author of The Irma Diaries
BUFFET-STYLE LUNCH
12:30 - 1:30PM
RESILIENCY SPEAKERS
1:30 - 2:30PM
State, regional, and campus leaders will speak on reducing the impacts of climate change to become more resilient.
- Introduction by Kumble R. Subbaswamy, Chancellor
- Katie Theoharides, Assistant Secretary of Climate Change, MA EOEEA - will discuss the Massachusetts State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan (the first of its kind in the United States), and the Governor’s $1.4B Environmental Bond Bill an “Act Promoting Climate Change Adaptation, Environmental and Natural Resource Protection, and Investment in Recreational Assets and Opportunity”
- Dr. Ambarish Karmalkar, NECSC and UMass SES/Dept of Geosciences - will discuss research that has provided the statewide adaptation efforts with updated climate projections, including observed and expected trends in water resources, temperature and precipitation, and estimated sea level rise.
- Jeff Hescock, Interim Executive Director, UMass Environmental Health & Safety - will discuss how the state framework being developed can inform the UMass Campus Resiliency Planning process.
CAMPUS RESILIENCY COMMUNITY VISIONING WORKSHOP (IN DESIGN BUILDING 170)
2:30 - 3:30PM
Participants will explore what it would mean for UMass Amherst to be a climate-resilient campus, how that could be measured and recognized, and how resiliency can contribute to the University’s core mission. Small group process led by Professor Elisabeth Hamin and facilitated by SES graduate students. Faculty, staff, and students are all invited to attend. The day will conclude with a report-back and final words about next steps by UMass Campus Sustainability Manager, Ezra Small.
