Congratulations and thank you to Mike Hayes, who agreed to become the new faculty area leader for Applied Climate Science, and to Betty Walter-Shea, who previously served in the position for one and a half years.
The School of Natural Resources has an interdisciplinary faculty of more than 80. Faculty areas provide opportunities for researchers with common interests or backgrounds to come together to address program needs.
The ACS faculty area under Walter-Shea's leadership developed a key concepts list for all its courses as a means of reviewing course contents to determine whether the courses meet student needs. It also began working on a proposal for an undergraduate major in applied climate science. The ACS via Ken Dewey invited David Changnon from Northern Illinois University to give a seminar and engage in discussion on applied climate science education.
Hayes, who teaches the Climate and Society course at SNR, anticipates helping the group wrap up the undergraduate major proposal this spring.
He has been director of the National Drought Mitigation Center at SNR since August 1, 2007, and has been with the NDMC since it was established in 1995. He began as the center's climate impacts specialist, and in 2006 became associate director of the center. The center works with scientists and planners across the country and around the world to monitor and plan for drought.
Steve Hu agreed to serve as co-leader, and will take over when Hayes steps down.