Energy Department Taps Tech to Lead New Regional Climate Resilience Center
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded Michigan Tech nearly $860,000 to stand up the new Center for Climate-driven Hazard Adaptation, Resilience, and Mitigation (C-CHARM).
C-CHARM will strengthen regional climate resilience by empowering rural community planners in the Great Lakes region, providing them with vital climate data and the tools they need to better plan for climate change and increased severe weather. The new center is one of six Climate Resilience Centers (CRCs) being funded by the DOE.
The center’s leadership team includes Pengfei Xue (CEGE), Ana Dyreson (ME-EM), Chelsea Schelly (SS), Jenny Apriesnig (COB) and David Watkins (CEGE) — all members of the Great Lakes Research Center — as well as former faculty member Thomas Oommen, now with the University of Mississippi.
They will be joined by collaborators from the DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory; community partners at the Western Upper Peninsula Planning & Development Region Office; the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community; the Michigan Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Network; and the Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance.
Through this research, climate modeling for the Western Upper Peninsula will be available in more detail than ever before to help community planners identify key risks, vulnerabilities and disruptions in order to strategize ways to adapt and respond to a changing climate.
Read the full press release and get more details on Michigan Tech News.