We are pleased to announce a School Seminar by Professor Alex Halliday, the topic is Climate change and the academic response.
Abstract:
The rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide is mainly linked to energy consumption accompanying improved living standards and increased longevity. Therefore, putting the brakes on climate change is hard, and workable solutions involve complex systems that include social science and ethics as well as technology and business. Universities are well placed to provide the requisite trustworthy research, education and thought leadership needed for tackling this all-encompassing challenge. However, academia is frequently siloed in a fashion that makes trans-disciplinary working across and beyond universities challenging. Building on the work of the Earth Institute, the Columbia Climate School aims to deliver research, impact and education by marshalling academic firepower in a new way to address climate and the related problems of sustainability.
Bio:
Alex Halliday is Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences and of Climate at Columbia University and Founding Dean Emeritus of the Columbia Climate School. He was Director of Columbia’s Earth Institute (2018-23), and before that, Oxford University’s dean of science and engineering (2007-15) and Vice President (Physical Secretary) of the Royal Society (2014-18). Alex is an isotope geochemist known for novel mass spectrometry techniques and their applications to Earth and planetary processes. He is particularly recognized for his work on the development of multiple-collector inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry and its application to the timing and processes of accretion, core formation and volatile loss in the terrestrial planets. However, he has also worked on mantle geochemistry, silicic volcanism, mineral deposits, ocean tracers, climate change, pollution, and human health. He has been President of the Geochemical Society, the European Association of Geochemistry, and the Volcanology, Geochemistry and Petrology Section of the American Geophysical Union.