Jainey Bavishi will explore how local leadership and civic collaboration are reshaping climate action
November 24, 2025
Jainey Bavishi, former deputy administrator of NOAA and former director of New York City’s Office of Climate Resiliency, will discuss “From the Ground Up: Communities Leading the Next Chapter of Climate Resilience” for the Charles and Marie Fish Lecture hosted by GSO.
The event, scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m., will be presented in-person at the URI Narragansett Bay Campus, Corless Auditorium, 215 South Ferry Road in Narragansett. The lecture is free and open to the public, but registration is requested.
As climate impacts accelerate and uncertainty grows, communities across the country are redefining what it means to be resilient. In a fireside chat, Bavishi will explore how equity, local leadership and civic collaboration form the backbone of effective climate action, even as traditional systems face strain. Moderated by Elin Torell, director of the URI Coastal Institute, the conversation will draw on lessons from city halls, federal agencies, and frontline communities to highlight how resilience can endure and evolve from the ground up.
Bavishi is a nationally recognized expert in the field of climate adaptation and resilience who has spent her career reimagining how cities and communities prepare for climate change. She most recently served as assistant secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and deputy administrator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), where she provided agency-wide direction for climate resilience, fisheries, and coastal and ocean programs, including efforts related to NOAA’s implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.
Previously, Bavishi acted as director of New York City’s Office of Climate Resiliency, overseeing the implementation of climate resilience strategies for the nation’s largest city. She also worked as associate director for climate preparedness at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Her work connects national policy to neighborhood-scale action, helping shape a more just and durable approach to resilience. Bavishi holds a master’s degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in public policy and cultural anthropology from Duke University.
The Charles and Marie Fish Lecture is an annual public lecture endowed by the family of Charles and Marie Fish. The Fishes established a marine biological program at the University of Rhode Island in 1935 and eventually a graduate program in oceanography at the Narragansett Marine Laboratory, which later became the URI Graduate School of Oceanography.