U of U Giving Colleges and SchoolsCollege of Science Global Change and Sustainability Center Outreach Fund
College of Science
College of Science

Global Change and Sustainability Center Outreach Fund

Global Change and Sustainability Center Outreach Fund

Gifts to support undergraduate and graduate students conducting research into how global changes impact the dynamics and sustainability of natural ecosystems, human-built systems and climate systems.

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College of Science

Vestige of Change

Professor Brenda Bowen examines what the traces left by an ever-changing planet can tell us about what’s to come   As a professor of geology and geophysics, Brenda Bowen wants her students to understand how long the planet Earth has been around and that there’s nothing static about its surface or subsurface. “Our planet is 4.6 billion years old and, throughout that time, it’s been continually changing. The only constant is change,” Bowen says. “The current configuration of where continents, mountains, and oceans are is just this moment in time.” Bowen is the chair of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences…
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Snow on Mountain
Clean Air

Dirtiest snow-year in the Wasatch accelerated snowmelt by 17 days

As the shrinking Great Salt Lake exposes an ever-growing area of its lakebed, wind-blown dust becomes more dangerous for those living in Utah’s most populous region. It also makes the snowpack dirty, which threatens the state’s most precious resource—water. In a new study, University of Utah researchers analyzed the impact of dust on snow during the 2022 season. They found that 2022 had the most dust deposition events and the highest snowpack dust concentrations of any year since observations began in 2009. The dust caused the snowpack to disappear 17 days earlier than if no dust had been deposited. The…
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Randall Wilkes Press Conference
College of Science

$20 Million Gift Establishes the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy

The geography that makes Utah unique—red rock deserts, greatest snow on Earth, cities amidst natural beauty—also makes us vulnerable to one of the biggest challenges of our time: Climate change, which can drive or exacerbate severe drought, wildfires, air pollution, water scarcity, and disappearing snowpack. Luckily, the University of Utah has a deep pool of experts who use the campus location as a living laboratory to address these immense challenges. A generous $20 million gift from Clay and Marie Wilkes will leverage the U’s location and interdisciplinary knowledge to create the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy. William (Bill)…
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Secret Link