Graduate Student Opportunities

The new Carolinas Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessment NOAA (RISA) program, the Carolinas Collaborative on Climate, Health, and Equity, is recruiting 3-5 graduate students for Fall 2022 at NC State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This work will advance research on climate, health, and equity in Carolina communities. Our integrated physical and social science research will be tailored to the needs and priorities of the participating communities, and the solutions we develop will be co-designed to tackle both the societal drivers of risk and the changing climate hazard landscape. 

At the core of our RISA is a focus on mentoring the next generation of climate, health, and equity experts. We are recruiting the first cohort of graduate students who will be working across interdisciplinary lines to 1) understand and predict how co-occuring and consecutively climate hazards interact to shape climate risk and 2) identify and connect the complex linkages between structures of power, intersecting social positions, and climate-health inequities in vulnerable communities. Each student will be paired with a lead mentor and co-mentors on a dedicated project, but also be part of a larger cohort of interdisciplinary students working to tackle the complex and interacting factors driving climate injustice in the region.

Please reach out to individual mentors with interest.

NC State University

Public Health (Dr. Jennifer Runkle) The graduate student in the health impacts role will be based at North Carolina State University. Students with a background in public health, statistics, environmental sciences, geospatial analytics, or related field are encouraged to apply.

Climate hazards (Dr. Kathie Dello)

The graduate student in multi-scale heat analysis will be based at North Carolina State University. Students with a background in atmospheric sciences, meteorology, environmental sciences, geography, geosciences, statistics or engineering are especially encouraged to apply. The student will be enrolled in the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences (MEAS).

UNC Chapel Hill

Multi-hazard Risk Analysis  (Dr. Antonia Sebastian)

The graduate student in the multi-hazard risk analysis role will be based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They will conduct research to assess the probability of occurrence of extreme weather and climate events, leveraging both historical records and future climate projections. Students with a background in geography, geosciences, statistics or engineering are especially encouraged to apply. The student will be enrolled in either the Department of Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences or the Environment, Ecology, and Energy program. 

Social and Economic Impacts (Dr. Miyuki Hino)

The graduate student in the social and economic impacts role will be based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They will conduct research on the effects of climate hazards on migration and household wellbeing, drawing on a range of quantitative and qualitative datasets. The student will be enrolled in either the Department of City and Regional Planning or the Environment, Ecology, and Energy program.