Environmental scientist looks at climate from all angles
Incoming doctoral student Ruitian严 wants to help vulnerable communities safely manage their risks, 包括金融.
When Ruitian严 left her first undergraduate climate science class, 她记得自己当时非常担心.
“Oh, my God,” she recalled thinking, “全球 warming is happening so fast, I’ve got to do something.”
Aside from her concerns about the urgency of climate actions, Yan wanted to study environmental science because it combines natural sciences, 社会科学与经济学.
After graduating from Brown University in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science, she started a career in finance and began reviewing investment projects and portfolios from environmental, 社会和治理角度. The work showed her the possibilities of leveraging the influence of the financial sector for climate actions through a more comprehensive understanding of climate risk.
在她工作的过程中, Yan came across a re太阳城娱乐城 paper on climate risk and property values authored by Miyuki Hino, an assistant professor in the city and regional planning department and an adjunct assistant professor in the Environment, 生态 & 能源计划. Yan immediately knew she wanted to study the subject further and reached out to Hino, who encouraged her to apply for her doctoral program. Yan will begin her doctoral studies in the Environment, 生态 and 能源计划 this fall.
Hino will serve as Yan’s primary academic adviser. Yan will also be working with the re太阳城娱乐城 group led by Antonia Sebastian, an assistant professor in the 文理学院’ earth, 海洋与环境科学系. Yan is a member of the Graduate School’s Royster Society of Fellows and said she was impressed by the guidance other students offered her during her initial visit to Carolina.
“Another reason I chose to come to UNC is because of the community,” she said. “Ph值.D. 这个项目会很困难, so I think having great people with me who share my values and who I can learn from is a great part of what UNC can provide.”
Yan will work with her peers and advisers on the Carolinas Collaborative on Climate, 健康与公平, a re太阳城娱乐城 project funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Adaptation Partnerships program. It is a community-based re太阳城娱乐城 project that aims to combine social and physical sciences as well as regional knowledge to address communities’ vulnerabilities to climate threats.
对Yan来说，关注社区很重要. She hopes to help communities that are vulnerable to climate risks have their voices heard and safely manage their risk, 特别是在北卡罗来纳州.
在北卡罗来纳州, 特别是在沿海地区, 这里有很多气候脆弱性,燕说. “所以我的部分研究将以当地为基础, and that’s something I’m eager to participate in, especially living in the area and feeling the impact of that re太阳城娱乐城. That’s something important for me to be a part of.”
