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Time: November 16, 2023, 8:00 - 9:30 PM (Beijing)  ｜ 7:00 - 8:30 AM (New York)

Location: This hybrid event will be available online via ZOOM and will be held at the Columbia Global Centers | Beijing (1F Core Plaza, 1 Shanyuan Street, Zhongguancun, Haidian District)

Event language: Chinese & English

Columbia Global Centers | Beijing and Columbia Climate School are pleased to invite you to attend the information session for the Master of Science in Sustainability Science program.

In this event, you will have the opportunity to:

• Learn more about the program, including admission requirements, its academic distinction, student support services, and more.
• Meet Columbia’s climate expert and alumni in person and hear directly from the program director.
• Get all your questions answered and begin your Columbia experience.

Speakers 

Dr. Beizhan Yan is Lamont Associate Research Professor in Geochemistry at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) and Columbia Climate School, and the Co-Director of Admission. He received his Ph.D. in Geology in 2004 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY and currently he is a Lamont Associate Research Professor at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia University. His Ph.D. study at RPI (2000-2004) focused on the source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in urban waters. After two years of postdoc in Idaho National Laboratory, he joined Washington University in St. Louis to study nanoscale size effects on biogeochemical processes for environmental bioremediation. This research has important implications for the immobilization of uranium and biodegradation of aromatic compounds at contaminated sites. In 2007, he joined LDEO as an institutional postdoctoral fellow. Since then, he has established an Environmental Organic Geochemistry Lab with ability to extract, isolate, and identify organic contaminants and biomarkers from environmental and biological samples.

Using source-sensitive indicators and compound-specific stable isotope ratios, he has successfully traced metals and aromatic hydrocarbons in the waters and air of NYC and linked the exposures of these air pollutants to pediatric asthma outcomes. He is also leading a collaborative study to examine the association between pediatric respiratory outcomes and air pollutants in Beijing China. To determine possible impacts of hydrofracking on air and water quality and health outcomes, he is conducting a collaborative study in adjacent counties of western NY (Broome, Tioga, and Chemung) and northern PA (Susquehanna, Bradford, and Tioga).

Brendan Buckley is Lamont Research Professor in the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia Climate School, and Co-Director of M.S. in Sustainability Science. While he has worked in locations around the globe, Buckley has been one of the pioneers of tropical dendroclimatology, having produced the longest and best replicated records of absolutely dated tree ring sequences from Southeast Asia.

Among his most important discoveries were the identification of two key periods of drought that coincided with the two most tumultuous periods of the past millennium over Southeast Asia – the Angkor droughts of the late 14th/early 15th century, and the Strange Parallels Drought of late 18th century, respectively. He continues this important work by using new methods to develop discrete seasonal reconstructions of regional hydroclimate, including measures of the strength of summer and winter monsoons, as well as the “shoulder” seasons that lead into and out of them, over the past millennium. Buckley is a proponent of interdisciplinary research, working with historians, archaeologists, geochemists and atmospheric scientists.

Along with his research in the Asian tropics, he has a long history of research in the North American boreal forests, having conducted some of the first dendroclimatic forays in northern Labrador, Canada, and North America’s northernmost trees in the Firth River of Alaska. He was also instrumental in developing the longest temperature reconstructions from the Southern Hemisphere as part of his PhD research in Tasmania and New Zealand.

Chandler Precht is the Director of External Affairs and Communications for the Graduate Programs in Sustainability Management and Sustainability Science, offered by the School of Professional Studies in partnership with Columbia Climate School’s Earth Institute. Ms. Precht is also an adjunct professor at the School of Professional Studies, teaching the Integrative Capstone Workshop in the Sustainability Management program.

Ms. Precht has a comprehensive background in environmental science centering on water quality and links between environmental chemistry and disease. More specifically, much of her past research has focused on the connection between global climate change and the increasing incidence and prevalence of diseases in marine ecosystems. Prior to joining Columbia in 2020, she served as a hydrogeologist and environmental consultant in P.W. Grosser Consulting’s Environmental Services unit, where she worked on various large-scale conservation, sustainability, and remediation projects in diverse markets (e.g., residential, commercial, healthcare, and aviation).

Reminders

• Check-in is available 30 minutes before the event time.
• For any inquiries, please email [email protected].