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Can tiny ocean organisms offer the key to better climate modeling?
Researcher Xin Sun injects substance into glass vials.

Xin Sun prepares samples collected from the Eastern Tropical North Pacific aboard a research vessel. By adding stable isotope tracers to these vials, Sun and her team can track how different microbial groups convert nitrogen compounds into nitrous oxide, revealing how subtle shifts in oxygen and organic matter change the ocean’s chemistry.

 
 

(Image: Courtesy of Xin Sun)

Can tiny ocean organisms offer the key to better climate modeling?

In the shadowy layers of the Pacific, microbes decide how much nitrous oxide—a potent greenhouse gas—rises skyward. New research from Penn’s Xin Sun offers an improved understanding of microbial ecology and geochemistry—key to forecasting global emissions in response to natural and man-made climate change.

3 min. read

Sanya Carley appointed vice provost for climate science, policy, and action
Carley Sanya.

Sanya Carley is the Presidential Distinguished Professor of Energy Policy and City Planning in the Weitzman School of Design and the Mark Alan Hughes Faculty Director of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy.

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Sanya Carley appointed vice provost for climate science, policy, and action

Carley is an expert on energy policy, affordability, and transition.

2 min. read

Perry World House conference on climate progress since Paris Agreement

Perry World House conference on climate progress since Paris Agreement

Earlier in October, Perry World House hosted the “Climate Cooperation in Transition” workshop with the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research’s Global Governance Innovation project, which featured a stocktake of the progress made on climate since the Paris Agreement.

Taylor Swift, storytelling, and climate communication
A Taylor Swift fan with friendship bracelets makes a heart sign with their hands.

As part of Climate Week at Penn, leading expert on climate solutions and clean energy Joseph Romm will lead a workshop titled “Communication is a Climate Solution: How Taylor Swift can Level Up Your Storytelling.”

(Image: Rebecca Blackwell via AP Images)

Taylor Swift, storytelling, and climate communication

Clean energy expert and senior research fellow at Penn Joseph Romm says that Taylor Swift’s lyrics offer storytelling techniques that can be applied for impact-driven climate communications.

3 min. read

A world shaped by water and access
Three people test water below a sand dam.

Griffin Pitt, right, works with two other student researchers to test the conductivity, total dissolved solids, salinity, and temperature of water below a sand dam in Kenya.

(Image: Courtesy of Griffin Pitt)

A world shaped by water and access

Griffin Pitt’s upbringing made her passionate about water access and pollution, and Penn has given her the opportunity to explore these issues back home in North Carolina and abroad.

3 min.

A guide to Climate Week 2025
A person scooping leaves out of the BioPond with a net.

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A guide to Climate Week 2025

Taking place Oct. 13 to 17, Penn’s sixth Climate Week includes dozens of in-person and virtual events that cross disciplines, from energy policy and history to engineering and medicine

2 min. read

Students test one way to combat extreme heat in Philadelphia
Nafisa Bangura (left) and Angelica Dadda (right) doing hands-on experimental work in the Composto Lab.

Nafisa Bangura (left) and Angelica Dadda (right) examine CoolSeal-treated asphalt bricks in the Composto Lab to better understand how this coating behaves in controlled environments.

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Students test one way to combat extreme heat in Philadelphia

Third-year students Nafisa Bangura and Angelica Dadda expanded upon a multidisciplinary research endeavor to evaluate a reflective pavement coating as a tool to mitigate extreme heat. Their work may inform policy efforts to improve urban heat resilience.

4 min. read