CCIRC Student Research Day
April 2nd, 2012
On April 2nd, the Climate Change Impacts Research Consortium (CCIRC) and the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) at SFU hosted the second annual CCIRC Student Research Day. Eighteen graduate students and one undergraduate student presented their research and obtained feedback from fellow students and faculty members to help them refine their methodology and research goals, and strengthen their communication ability. CCIRC is a collaborative research team at SFU that integrates physical, environmental, and social approaches to improve understanding of climate change. The team is working to develop risk based approaches, using novel computer visualization techniques, that will assist stakeholders and decision makers to comprehend, measure, communicate, and manage climate change impacts more effectively. Some of our current and former SFU PICS fellows are or have been part of the CCIRC research team. Ph.D. candidate and PICS graduate research fellow Mary Ann Middleton from Earth Sciences is assessing how climate change and water use are affecting groundwater sensitive streams, and developing criteria for sensitive stream designation to protect fish habitat and aquatic ecosystems. PICS graduate research fellow Dionne Bunsha in REM is working with the Central Coastal First Nations to evaluate the factors of success for ecosystem stewardship by grassroots organizations, with the aim of helping these communities become more resilient to climate change impacts. For more information, visit www.sfu.ca/vpresearch/ccirc.html.
