With a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) will serve as the hub for the nation’s Climate Change Education Partnership Alliance.

The NSF, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration are collaborating and combining the respective climate change education programs into a tri-agency initiative. NSF’s six regional climate change partnerships around the country involved universities, science centers, regional agencies and communications programs. The URI-GSO hub will serve to link these agencies and efforts together, initiate cross-region activities, and leverage additional funding. The grant will allow URI to build a network of climate change scientists, educators, communication professionals, and government and private-sector stakeholders to educate the lay public about the science of climate change and its implications.

“We’re going to act as the catalyzing agent for the activities that would not take place if there wasn’t an established hub,” said Alliance Director Gail Scowcroft, a former climate scientist who has led marine science and climate changed education programs at URI-GSO since the 1990s. “We’re going to help the regional partnerships share resources and best practices in climate change education among themselves and with other groups across the country.”