PhenoCam
In the spring of 2024, Vanderbilt University is pleased to announce that the PhenoCam is live on the Peabody campus. This phenology camera monitors changes in tree canopy greenness at thirty-minute intervals, providing us with permanent continuous data on vegetation dynamics on campus under climate change. Our Vanderbilt site is part of the PhenoCam Network, a global network established in 2008 with >700 sites across various ecosystems for continental-scale phenological observations. The diverse array of images includes the tracking of vegetation phenology across North America and around the world, with the image archive currently including over 60 million pictures. Greenness index will be extracted from the photos and can be used for climate and environmental science research, teaching, and outreach. All data are open-access and publicly available in near-real time. The link for the Vanderbilt site is provided here, and for more information, here is the Phenocam Network website.
Lucie Scura
Lucie Scura majored in Climate Studies and Earth and Environmental Sciences with a minor in Philosophy. One of her best memories of her time in the department was the Climate Studies Advising Event, where she was able to network with students in the sustainability field, engage/collaborate with students on a deeper level, and enjoy some great food while doing it. Lucie served as the first Climate Studies Ambassador from 2022 to 2024, and she completed the first Climate Studies Honors Thesis in 2024. Her thesis explored current climate risk disclosure gaps in firm reporting and determined how their current climate disclosures/capabilities influenced their position on the emerging SEC ruling. Lucie continues her interest in quantifying the physical and transitional risks for private sector actors after graduation from PricewaterhouseCoopers (LLP) in New York City as a Climate Risk Modeling associate.
Davis Recht
Davis Recht graduated with a BA in Climate Studies and Public Policy Studies with a minor in Human and Organizational Development. He hopes to explore two of his interests, safe drinking water and justice issues in the United States and renewable energy, after his time at Vanderbilt. In Davis’s work for a solar utility company, he was able to find enrichment in combating climate change in the private sector. His experiences also include working at the Environmental Protection Agency, where he investigated research into the cumulative health risk impacts of Superfund sites to combine literature with practice and shift policy in a positive way. Davis decided to build on the interdisciplinary approach that he has taken, in and outside of an academic setting, by pursuing a Master of Environmental Management at Yale’s School of the Environment. He describes the mentorship and guidance of the professors within the Climate Studies Program to be enriching, and he hopes to continue those relationships with students and faculty well beyond his time at Vanderbilt.
Aaditi Lele
Aaditi Lele graduated with a double major in Climate Studies and Political Science with a minor in South Asian Language & Culture. She is interested in advocating for environmental justice and empowering impacted communities through law, policy, and journalism. Aaditi’s favorite course, Environmental Reporting, gave her the opportunity to interview and write about impacted communities in Tennessee and how they are responding and develop practical and field-focused skills. She continued this interest with an internship at the Washington Post. Her work in the Climate Health and Energy Equity Lab helped her to improve her communication and writing skills, which will be helpful for her planned future career in environmental or immigration law. Aaditi is inspired by how laws and policies will adapt to a changing climate, as well as how approaches to environmentalism will evolve to prioritize climate justice.
Induja Kumar
Photo by: Ade Forrest
Induja Kumar graduated as a Climate Studies and Political Science double major. Induja aims to learn from and work alongside frontline communities to utilize local knowledge and community science to address environmental injustices. Through interdisciplinary engagement, Induja has had the opportunity to traveled to Brazil (AADS), Costa Rica (CMA), and along the Pacific Northwest (Divinity School) to contextualize environmental justice struggles on a global scale. She has worked in local organizations like Sunrise Nashville on campaigns to make the Tennessee Valley Authority fossil-fuel free, and conducted research in the Climate, Health, Energy and Equity Lab on the environmental and social consequences of inequities in access to breastfeeding. Her favorite memory while within the department is being in the Climate Foundations class classes as a junior and getting to build a community with students from all differing years, majors, and job interests. Induja hopes to continue to work at a nonprofit, union, or government job to fight for a just transition for American workers and design better urban infrastructure according to the demands of frontline communities.