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- The Climate Change Institute (formerly the Institute for Quaternary and Climate
Studies) is an interdisciplinary research unit organized to conduct research
and graduate education focused on variability of the earths climate,
ecosystems, and other environmental systems and on the interaction between
humans and the natural world. Institute investigations cover the Quaternary
Period, a time of numerous glacial/interglacial cycles and abrupt changes in
climate, ranging in time from the present to nearly 2 million years ago.
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 earth. 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, and
endowments from the Bingham Trust and the Dan and Betty Churchill Exploration
Fund.
To accomplish its goal of better understanding climate change and its impact
on humans and ecosystems the Institute includes faculty, staff, and students
from the departments of Anthropology, Biological Sciences, Computer Science,
Earth Sciences, History, and the School of Marine Sciences. Facilities include
the Stable-Isotope Laboratory, the Ice Core Microparticle and Tephrochronology
Laboratory; the Ion Chromatography and Glaciochemistry Laboratory; the Marine
Geology/Geophysics Laboratory, Geographic Information Systems Laboratory, the
Micropaleontology Laboratory, the Laboratory for Paleoecology and
Paleohydrology; the Zooarchaeology Laboratory; the Laboratory for Northeastern
Prehistory; and the Andean Archaeology Laboratory.
Institute research is of international scope and significance, and includes
projects in the United States, Antarctica, Asia, Canada, Europe, Greenland, New
Zealand, South America, and many regions of the worlds oceans. The Institute
maintains a strong program of international collaboration with a variety of
organizations such as: Stockholm University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences,
the Government of Nepal's Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (Nepal), the
Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Canadian Geological Survey (Off Campus
Partners) and has a tradition of honorary members including Thor Heyerdahl.
Field, laboratory and modeling aspects of the Institute's research routinely
involve graduate and undergraduate students.
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