From the Institute Interim Executive Director

The Irving Institute kicked off the summer with two exciting inaugural events: the Class of 1972 Speaker Series, featuring distinguished scholar and energy and environment expert, Dr. Bill Schlesinger ’72, and the New Energy Summer Summit, featuring 20 early researchers and scholars from 17 universities around the world.

Dr. Schlesinger, President Emeritus of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and former Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment, gave the inaugural talk on our shared climate future, "The Energy-Climate Nexus: Is There a Pathway to a Sustainable Biosphere?" on June 11.

I was honored to introduce Dr. Schlesinger, who retired as President of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, a private ecological research institute on the grounds of the Cary Arboretum in Millbrook, NY. He had assumed this position after 27 years on the faculty of Duke University. Completing his A.B. at Dartmouth (1972), and Ph.D. at Cornell (1976), he moved to Duke in 1980, where was Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and James B. Duke Professor of Biogeochemistry. He is the author or coauthor of over 250 scientific papers and 76,000 citations on subjects of environmental chemistry and global change and the widely adopted textbook Biogeochemistry: An Analysis of Global Change (Academic Press, 4th ed. 2020). He has published editorials and columns in the Charlotte Observer, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, and the (Raleigh) News and Observer, and other media outlets. His latest book, Translational Ecology, was published in September 2017 as an anthology of these popular writings. Schlesinger was among the first to quantify the amount of carbon held in soil organic matter globally, providing subsequent estimates of the role of soils and human impacts on forests and soils in global climate change. He was elected a member of The National Academy of Sciences in 2003, and was President of the Ecological Society of America for 2003-2004.

We, at the Institute, are deeply grateful to the Class of 1972 who generously endowed the Class of 1972 Speaker Series to cover the great issues of our time. We look forward to sharing exciting news about the series for the upcoming year!

Then at the end of June, we were thrilled to welcome 20 early-career energy and society scholars and researchers representing 17 universities around the world to campus for our inaugural New Energy Summer Summit. The idea for the Summit emerged from a desire to host an in-person convening of the growing community of early researchers and scholars we have been hosting virtually since 2020. Series alumni, as well as a new cohort of early-career scholars, converged on Hanover from June 26-29 to share their work, collaborate with each other and Dartmouth faculty, build networks, and enjoy summer fun in the Upper Valley. It was a pleasure to be able to host this community of rising scholars and we look forward to seeing the new ideas and research collaborations that grow from the convening.

We are busy this summer with strategic planning for the upcoming year and we hope you will stop by our beautiful new building on Tuck Mall to say hello when you are on campus!

~ April Salas
 

Congratulations to the Class of 2022!

New Energy Summer Summit Draws 20 Early-Career Energy Researchers to Campus

Student-Designed Mural Makes 'the Invisible' Visible in the Irving Institute

Muralists and curators: (L-R) Cammy Lee '22 (artist), Avery Hormaechea '24 (curator), Alessa Lewis '22 (artist), Harrison Munden '23 (artist), Sam Miller '24 (artist), Sanne Schouten '23 (curator). Not pictured: Kiera Bernet '23 (curator), Ekene Durukau '22 (artist), Leah Ryu '22 (artist), Michelle Chen '22 (artist) Photo courtesy of Avery Hormaechea

Dartmouth College student artists collaborated with the Irving Institute and Dartmouth Sustainability Office to install a colorful mural on the Project Lab glass in the Irving Institute atrium in spring 2022. The work was commissioned by Dartmouth Design Corps team Kiera Bernet '23, Avery Hormaechea '24, and Sanne Schouten '23 who were working with the Institute and Sustainability to help make the cutting-edge energy and sustainability systems in the building more visible to visitors and occupants. Learn more about the project and view more images here.

Irving Institute Welcomes Drs. Sarah Kelly and Angelika Hofmann

Irving Institute Partners with Dartmouth Admissions to Host Four-Part Summer Climate and Energy Open House Series

Tuesdays in July, the Irving Institute is once again partnering with Dartmouth Admissions to host a series of online open house events. The Summer Energy and Climate Series invites prospective students to learn more about the Irving Institute and multi-disciplinary climate and energy research, classes, programs, and other opportunities at Dartmouth. Learn more about the series here.

Dartmouth Energy News

Study Shows Economic Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A study published in the journal Climatic Change by Irving Institute collaborators Justin Mankin and Christopher Callahan Guarini’23 of the Dartmouth Climate Modeling and Impacts Group is the first to assess the economic impacts that individual countries have caused to other countries through their contributions to global warming.

Dartmouth College Partners with UCU Business, Engineering on Solar System: Thayer School of Engineering students Ethan Aulwes ’22, TH’22, Noah Daniel ’22, and Veronica Yarovinsky ’24 and Institute Senior Advisor Stephen Doig traveled to Uganda Christian University recently to install a solar water heater the students designed as part of an effort to reduce reliance on firewood for cooking at the school.

US Plans Its Largest Hydrogen Energy Infrastructure: Institute Senior Advisor Stephen Doig is interviewed in this CTGN piece on SoCal Gas's plans to build the country's largest green hydrogen energy infrastructure system.

In Appreciation of AGU’s Outstanding Reviewers of 2021: Thayer Professor and Irving Institute collaborator Klaus Keller was featured in a news brief recognizing outstanding peer reviewers for American Geophysical Union. Professor Keller reviews work for Earth’s Future.

Tuck Receives $52 Million Gift to Fund Dartmouth Summit on Health, Wealth, and Sustainability: The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth has received the largest gift commitment in the school’s history—a $52.1 million anonymous pledge to endow a recurring summit that convenes global leaders from the private and public sectors, academic researchers, and students with the goal of inspiring action to improve the health, wealth, and sustainability of people and the planet in the 21st century. By inviting participation from across Dartmouth, including the Irving Institute for Energy and Society, this One Dartmouth initiative will spark interdisciplinary solutions guided by rigorous research and infused with visionary leadership.

Can Biofuels Really Fly? Thayer Professor Lee Lynd talks about the future of energy from biomass in this recent Science article.

Thayer Professor Weiyang (Fiona) Li has received a 2022 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award for her project, "Novel Functional Electrochemical Materials for Energy and Sustainability." The awards program "supports the research and teaching careers of talented young faculty in the chemical sciences."

Thayer Professor and Irving Institute collaborator Colin Meyer talks about his research on snow and ice mechanics in this fantastic new Dartmouth Next video.