Penn State Climate Consortium’s Climate Conversation Café Event

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Climate adaptation scholar Maria Carmen Lemos will discuss how to scale up actionable knowledge for climate resilience in a talk at 9 a.m. on March 18 in 117 Earth and Engineering Sciences Building on Penn State’s University Park campus. Her talk, titled “Scaling up Actionable Knowledge for Climate Adaptation,” is part of the Penn State Climate Consortium’s Climate Conversation Café series. It will focus on linking climate information, decision-making and on-the-ground adaptation in ways that can be used by communities, practitioners and policymakers.

During her career, Lemos has explored how climate science can be co-produced with decision-makers to better support planning in sectors such as drought management, water resources, agriculture and urban planning. She has also investigated how institutions and governance arrangements can either enable or constrain the uptake of climate information, and what it takes to move from pilot projects to broader, more equitable adaptation efforts.

Lemos, a professor emerita at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability and co-director of the Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments Center, is internationally recognized for her work on climate adaptation and the role of knowledge in building adaptive capacity. Her research examines the co-production of science and policy, the intersection of development and climate — including how anti-poverty programs can reduce climate risk — and the democratic and equity implications of technocratic decision-making.

She has contributed as a lead author to major international and national assessments, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC AR5) and the Fourth U.S. National Climate Assessment (NCA4), and previously contributed to IPCC AR4. Lemos has also served on multiple committees of the U.S. National Academies, including panels on restructuring federal climate research and on environmental change and society, helping to shape how climate knowledge informs public policy.

The March 18 event is free and open to the Penn State community, but registration is required and in-person attendance is encouraged.