Mason Science Series Upcoming Events
Virginia's Inaugural Climate Assessment
Tuesday, March 24, 2025
3:30 - 6:00 p.m.
Doors will open at 3:30 p.m. with light hors d'oeuvres. The discussion begins at 4:00 p.m., and runs for an hour followed by a post discussion reception.
Country Club of Fairfax
5110 Ox Road
Fairfax, VA 22030
This event is FREE. Registration Required.
Abstract
The Virginia Climate Assessment (VCA) is the first document of its kind to provide a convenient, comprehensive, and reliable overview of our current knowledge about Virginia's changing climate and its impacts on the economy, agriculture, transportation, and infrastructure. Led by the Virginia Climate Center at George Mason University, subject matter experts across a variety of disciplines and Virginia institutions have come together to produce and peer-review the report. The VCA will provide legislators, policymakers, local and state officials, and the public with a single resource that contains updated, reliable information about climate and weather trends, and their impacts, throughout the state.
Join Dean Cody Edwards in conversation with Dr. James Kinter as they discuss the latest developments and possibilities in quantum technology, and how George Mason is leading the way.
About the Virginia Climate Center (VCC)
Operating as a climate extension service to Virginia municipalities and businesses, the Virginia Climate Center (VCC) partners with stakeholders to co-produce locally relevant data, products, and services. We aim to help municipalities and businesses adopt preventive and mitigation strategies to protect lives and property, enhance the standard of living, and promote wise resource management and sustainable entrepreneurship. Our large interdisciplinary team of Mason experts conduct research on Virginia’s vulnerability and risks to the impacts of climate change in order to provide local decision makers with actionable climate information.
The VCC is a congressionally directed community project funded through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Initially partnered with Northern Virginia municipalities, VCC is building a network of local governments and businesses throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia to collaborate on best practices and solutions.
About the Speakers
James KinterProfessor, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences | Director, Virginia Climate Center
Dr. James Kinter is Director of the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA), a Professor in the Climate Dynamics Ph.D. Program, and Chair of the department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences. After earning his doctorate in geophysical fluid dynamics at Princeton University in 1984, Dr. Kinter served as a National Research Council Associate at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, a faculty member of the University of Maryland and a research scientist and executive director at the Institute of Global Environment and Society before joining Mason. Dr. Kinter has served on many national review panels for both scientific research programs and supercomputing programs for computational climate modeling.
Dr. Kinter conducts research on climate variability and predictability on sub-seasonal and longer time scales, focusing on phenomena such as monsoons, El Niño and the Southern Oscillation, and modes of extratropical variability. He uses state-of-the-art global climate models, testing the effect of increasing model resolution on the fidelity of solutions.
- Prediction and Predictability of Climate from Days to Decades
- Improving Week 3-4 Weather Prediction Through a Global Convection-Allowing Version of the NOAA Unified Coupled Modeling Framework
- Demonstrating the Value of GOES-R Data in a Research and Education Framework
Dr. Kinter teaches graduate courses in atmospheric dynamics, climate predictability and global climate change. He also teaches a Mason Core undergraduate course on global climate change.
Cody W. EdwardsDean, College of Science | Professor of Biology
Dr. Cody W. Edwards is Dean of the College of Science and Professor of Biology at George Mason University, where he provides strategic and academic leadership for 12 departments and programs, 16 research centers, and a $90M annual budget. A dedicated leader in higher education, Edwards advances student access and success, faculty development, research growth, and cross-sector partnerships that strengthen Mason’s mission as Virginia’s largest public research university.
The Mason Science Series is sponsored by:
