The Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media is excited to share that PCSSM Student Researcher Bronwyn Patterson will receive the Fred N. Scatena Award for Research on Climate Change on May 2, 2025 from the Penn Earth and Environmental Science Department.

Bronwyn Patterson is a fourth-year undergraduate candidate for a B.A. of Environmental Studies with a concentration in Sustainability and Management. From Annapolis, Maryland, Bronwyn is the captain of the Women’s Varsity Track and Field team here at Penn. Aside from competing for Penn Track, she is also a member of the Sphinx Senior Society, a team representative for the Student Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC), and was a 2022-23 Undergraduate Fellow for the the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. She is interested in the overlap between finance and climate action, as well as sustainable investing that can support the clean energy transition for the decades to come. Bronwyn’s senior thesis partners the programming language R with ChatGPT 4o-Mini to capture how ExxonMobil’s climate-change related discourse has changed over time, specifically within the last decade (2015-2024). Specifically, her research employs automated text analysis to quantify the number of press releases from ExxonMobil that include the linguistic “market levers” frame, which includes a range of phrases and diction that address climate change and/or its market risks. Her work aims to address a critical lack of extensive research into the fossil fuel industry’s public facing communication via automated text analysis, and will be used to establish connections between regulatory frameworks, financial risk, and climate communication in the energy industry. Bronwyn’s senior thesis project is an offshoot of a larger doctoral project by Annenberg School for Communication PhD Candidate Julia Cope.

Originally published April 9, 2025 by Meredith Rovine and Mandira Banerjee for Penn Today

(Image: Courtesy of Annenberg School for Communication)

The Science & Community Impacts Mapping Project (SCIMaP) communicates how proposed federal funding cuts lead to reduced economic activity and job losses nationwide. The SCIMaP team’s analysis of across-the-board reductions to research infrastructure support for National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants, known as indirect costs, shows an estimated $16 billion in economic loss and 68,000 jobs lost nationwide.

“The NIH funds crucial research to address leading health problems like cancer, diabetes, dementia, heart disease, infectious diseases, mental illness, and more,” says Alyssa Sinclair, Joan Bossert Postdoctoral Fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center and co-lead for the project. Sinclair, who is also a postdoctoral fellow at the Communication Neuroscience Lab at the Annenberg School for Communication (ASC), added that research innovations have a big impact on our daily lives. “Research innovations directly improve our daily lives by curing and preventing diseases, unlocking new technologies, and improving the safety of our food, water and environments.”

“Medical and scientific breakthroughs supported by the U.S. government impact all our lives,” says Emily Falk, professor and vice dean of ASC. “Research innovations are at the core of many things that enhance our daily lives and keep us safer.”

She added that the U.S. government’s investment in research has made the nation a leader in the world. “SCIMaP shows what’s at stake for local economies and the future of innovation in our communities,” says Falk.

This story is by Meredith Rovine and Mandira Banerjee. Read more at Annenberg School for Communication.

Originally published February 5, 2025 by Erica Moser for Penn Today.

More than two dozen events held Feb. 10-14 will give students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to learn about energy-related research and work at Penn and beyond.

Penn is holding its fifth Energy Week from Feb. 10-14, with a lineup of daily events for faculty, staff, and students to engage in the latest solutions-focused work happening at Penn and in government and industry.

“We are in a moment with a lot of shifting energy and climate policy at both the federal and the state level. This presents a real opportunity for places like Penn to provide research, education, and community around good, sound policy outcomes,” says Cory Colijn, executive director of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, which is co-hosting Energy Week with the Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology (VIEST). “We anticipate there being an increased amount of appetite for bipartisan solution-making, and we feel like Penn can be a real platform to advance those conversations.”

“We need opportunities to recognize the good work that we’re doing, to celebrate what everyone on campus is doing every day to try to bring us to energy solutions that get us to the sustainable future that we really need,” says Nadine Gruhn, managing director of VIEST.

“Like our fall Climate Week, Energy Week is one of the great opportunities we have at Penn to showcase the important work we are doing in the energy/climate/sustainability arena,” says Michael Mann, vice provost for climate science, policy, and action. “It offers us an opportunity to engage in a larger conversation with our students, faculty, staff, and community about what we’re doing to address the great challenges we face today.”

Mann gave insights into an event he will participate in on Feb. 13: “Conservative and Concerned About Climate Change? You’re Not Alone,” with Bob Inglis, the executive director of republicEn.org. “I’m thankful to be part of a conversation with my friend Bob Inglis, a leading conservative voice on climate, about what we can do to encourage collaboration across the partisan divide on matters of climate and environmental sustainability,” says Mann. “I hope it’s a model for the sort of progress we can make in the years ahead.”

The full schedule can be viewed at energyweek.upenn.edu. Events include:

• Feb. 10-14, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Kleinman Center (Fisher Fine Arts Building)—An E-Waste Drive gives people the opportunity to responsibly recycle electronics, such as old cell phones and accessories, laptops and keyboards, and batteries.

• Monday, Feb. 10, 12-1:30 p.m., Kleinman Center Energy Forum (Fisher Fine Arts Building)—In the Energy Week Lightning Talks, students will present TED-style talks on energy-related research for an audience and panel of judges.

• Monday, Feb. 10, 3-4 p.m., Wu & Chen Auditorium (Levine Hall)—This year’s Joseph Bordogna Forum is a discussion about creating lasting impact at the interface of energy, technology, and society, featuring David Turk, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, and Vanessa Chan, formerly of DOE and now Penn Engineering’s inaugural vice dean of innovation and entrepreneurship.

• Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2-3 p.m., Berger Auditorium (Skirkanich Hall)—In a panel moderated by Chan, three members of the Biden-Harris Administration will discuss their work catalyzing clean energy technology investments in the private sector. This includes Maria Robinson of the Grid Deployment Office, Jigar Shah of the Loan Programs Office, and Giulia Siccardo of the Office of Manufacturing Energy and Supply Chains.

• Tuesday, Feb. 11 and Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2-3 p.m. both days, (Penn Museum)—A tour of the Penn Museum collection will focus on ancient climates and energy production, giving participants a chance to learn from people of the past.

• Tuesday, Feb. 11, 5-6:30 p.m., Kleinman Center Energy Forum (Fisher Fine Arts Building)—Students interested in a career in the energy sector will benefit from an alumni panel featuring graduates of the School of Arts & Sciences, School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Wharton School. This includes Derek Wong of Excelerate Energy, Kelly-Ann Corrigan of Runwise, and Lolita K. Jackson of Sustainable Capital LLP.

• Thursday, Feb. 13, 11 a.m.-12 p.m., Annenberg School for Communication, Room 300—As part of the Environmental Innovations Initiative’s Climate 101 series, Benjamin Lee of Penn Engineering will give a talk about climate change and artificial intelligence.

• Thursday, Feb. 13, 12:30-1:30 p.m., Kleinman Center Energy Forum (Fisher Fine Arts Building)—Michael Mann will join Bob Inglis, the executive director of republicEn.org for a conversation called “Conservative and Concerned About Climate Change? You’re Not Alone.”

• Thursday, Feb. 13, 4-5 p.m., Vagelos Laboratory for Energy Science and Technology, Room 121—Gregg Beckham, group leader and senior research fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, will present the 3rd Vagelos Institute Lectureship in Energy Science and Technology, focusing on the U.S. Department of Energy-funded BOTTLE Consortium and its approach to plastics recycling and redesign. This and other events, such as a poster session and pitch showcase for graduate students, give people a chance to see Penn’s newest building.

• Friday, Feb. 14, 12-4 p.m., Fisher Fine Arts Library—The Common Press hosts a hands-on studio where participants can print an energy-themed valentine or write an energy-related valentine to a local, state, or federal policymaker.

The Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media is happy to announce that Heather Kostick has been appointed Associate Director of PCSSM. Heather has been with PCSSM since its launch in 2022, and looks forward to continuing advance and expand the mission of PCSSM under the direction of Dr. Michael Mann.

Heather manages center research, communications, planning, and programming while collaborating with Penn organizations and centers, as well as, external organizations to further the center’s mission of science and sustainability communication in the media. She joins PCSSM after having previously worked for the Masters of Environmental Studies and Applied Geosciences programs in LPS. Heather received her B.Sc. in Wildlife Conservation from Juniata College, her M.E.S. from the University of Pennsylvania, and is a Ph.D. candidate in Environmental Science at Drexel University. Heather’s research interests include climate misinformation and disinformation, urban ecology, urban green space, biodiversity, and conservation.

Originally published on October 15, 2024 by Ron Ozio for Penn Today.

Michael Mann has been named the University of Pennsylvania’s inaugural vice provost for climate science, policy, and action, effective Nov. 1.

Mann is a Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science and director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media.

In making the announcement, Provost John L. Jackson Jr. called Mann “one of the world’s leading experts in climate change and sustainability. We are deeply grateful to him for deciding to become a candidate and withdraw as a member of the consultative committee before the start of the search process and then for taking on this role at a pivotal time for global climate action.

“As vice provost, he will continue his essential work while partnering across campus to bring together the wide range of work already being done at Penn, leading innovations and catalyzing new collaborations.”

Mann is a globally renowned scholar of climate science whose many honors include the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, Hans Oeschger Medal of the European Geosciences Union, Friend of the Planet Award from the National Center for Science Education, and John Scott Award from the City of Philadelphia. Elected to the Royal Society in 2024 and the National Academy of Sciences in 2020, he has been named one of the world’s most influential people in climate policy, one of the 10 most influential earth scientists, one of the top influencers in sustainability, and one of the 50 scientists who are changing the way we see the world.

Mann is an author and/or editor of six award-winning books and hundreds of publications across popular and scholarly media, including most recently “Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis” (Public Affairs/Hachette, 2023), named one of the best books of the year by Financial Times; the widely acclaimed and influential “The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet” (Public Affairs/ Hachette, 2021), named one of the 20 Best Sustainability Books of All Time and to numerous other best books lists; and “The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars” (Columbia University Press, 2012), based on his landmark contributions to the 2001 report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which included the now-famous “hockey stick” chart documenting the rise in global temperatures during the past thousand years.

Mann came to Penn in 2022 from Penn State University, where he was Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science and director of the Earth System Science Center. He taught at Penn State from 2005 to 2022, following earlier positions at the University of Virginia and University of Massachusetts and an Alexander Hollaender Distinguished Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the Department of Energy. He received a Ph.D. in geology and geophysics and an M.S. in physics from Yale University and an A.B. in applied math and physics from the University of California, Berkeley.

“I thank Provost Jackson, Deputy Provost Beth Winkelstein, and the members of the consultative committee,” Mann said. “I couldn’t be more honored to help lead Penn forward in its mission to address the defining challenge of our time. We have all the key pieces in place, across our 12 schools, to lead on every aspect of the climate crisis—from the fundamental science to the impacts, solutions, and communication challenges—while exploring the ethical, sociological, and political dimensions of this predicament. In doing so, we honor the legacy of our founder, Benjamin Franklin—a statesman, a scholar, a scientist, and an environmentalist—as we proudly seek to make a better world. I look forward to the progress we will make together in the months and years to come.”

Photo by Eric Sucar.

A press release from Asia Initiatives on award recipients at the 25th Anniversary Gala in New York in September 2024:

8th UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to Present Awards at Asia
Initiatives’ 25th Anniversary Gala in New York on September 25, 2024
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon continues his mission of promoting women’s empowerment and Sustainable Development Goals beyond his tenure at the United Nations.

New York, NY: On September 25th, Asia Initiatives, an international nonprofit organization that leverages social capital to promote sustainable development, will host its 25th Annual Gala at Gotham Hall in New York. During the event, the 8th United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will present the Ban Ki-moon Award to Chandrika Tandon, Lekha Singh, Maria Wilhelm, and Dr. Joe Romm.

Mr. Ban is a long-time supporter of Asia Initiatives, saying “I am pleased to see that Asia Initiatives is providing women the tools of empowerment, including education, healthcare, upskilling, microcredit and environmental sustainability, through the organization’s innovative community currency called Social Capital Credits.”

Mr. Ban has been instrumental in emphasizing the importance of empowering women as a part of the Sustainable Development Goals, which he helped launch during his tenure at the UN. He continues this work through the Ban Ki-moon Center for Global Citizens, with offices
in Vienna, Seoul, and New York.

This year, the Ban Ki-moon Award, which was originally focused solely on women’s empowerment, has been expanded to also recognize significant contributions in environmental leadership and humanitarian work. The four recipients of this year’s Ban Ki-moon Award have made remarkable advancements in these areas:

Chandrika Tandon, a global business leader, Grammy-nominated musician, and dedicated humanitarian, is being honored with the Ban Ki-moon Award for her outstanding contributions to humanitarian work. She is the founder and chair of Tandon Capital Associates and the Krishnamurthy Tandon Foundation, serves as Chair of NYU Tandon School of Engineering, is a
Trustee of NYU Langone Health, and a member of the President’s Global Council at NYU. Additionally, Tandon founded and supports the Boyd-Tandon School of Business at Madras Christian College in Tamil Nadu, India. Her personal mission is to elevate human happiness
through music and education.

Lekha Singh will receive the Ban Ki-moon Award for Women’s Empowerment. Singh is a renowned photographer, filmmaker, and humanitarian, celebrated for her work highlighting social issues and capturing the resilience of people in conflict zones and marginalized
communities. Her photography has been exhibited worldwide, drawing attention to critical issues and inspiring change through compelling visual narratives. Singh has executive produced more than 15 films, including the Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning The Square. In 2000,
she founded Aidmatrix, mobilizing over $1.5 billion in aid annually and collaborating with 35,000 charities across five continents, ultimately feeding over 25 million people each year. Her latest exhibition, Women Carry the World, has been showcased at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris, as well as in museums across Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Portugal, and at the European
Parliament in Belgium.

Maria Wilhelm will be honored with the Ban Ki-moon Award for Environmental Leadership. Wilhelm is a documentary producer and business leader. Along with James Cameron, Wilhelm co-chairs LIGHTSTORM, which encompasses LIGHTSTORM EARTH, a documentary unit dedicated to projects that address climate change, celebrate oceans, and champion nature. Productions include the noted The Game Changers, and the Emmy Award-winning Years of Living Dangerously and Secrets of the Whales. She is the Executive Director of the Avatar Alliance Foundation, a vice-chair at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a trustee of the
African Wildlife Foundation, a board member of the TBA21 Foundation, and a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

Dr. Joe Romm is also receiving the Ban Ki-moon Award for Environmental Leadership. Romm has an MIT physics Ph.D. and is a Senior Research Fellow at the UPenn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media where he researches climate solutions. Romm has served as the Acting Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, overseeing a $1 billion budget for climate solutions. In 2009, Rolling Stone named Romm one of 100 “People Who Are Changing America” and Time named him “The Web’s most influential climate-change blogger.” Romm is the author of 11 books and is currently working on the 20th-anniversary edition of The
Hype About Hydrogen. Romm’s TEDx talk is “The surprising truth about solving climate change.” Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman said, “I have learned a lot of what I know about energy economics from Joe Romm.”

Past recipients of the Ban Ki-moon Award for Women’s Empowerment have included Dr. Jane Goodall, Chelsea Clinton, Cecile Richards, Paul Polman, Kathy Matsui, and Gloria Steinem.

Dr. Geeta Mehta, co-founder of Asia Initiatives, explains that this annual event aims to celebrate the breakthrough accomplishments of thought leaders and the hard work, hope, and tenacity of thousands of women and their families who participate in our projects.

Registration and further details on our 25th Anniversary Gala can be found here.

For further information, please contact Program Associate Emma Gardephe at emma.g@asiainitiatives.org. Asia Initiatives (www.asiainitiatives.org) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in New York.

-END

Originally published September 3, 2024 by Xime Trujillo for Penn Today

To foster this proactive approach to the climate crisis, Mann is leading one of EII’s research communities, “Understanding Climate Anxiety and Messaging in Climate Change Communication in Understudied Populations Among Philadelphia Area Middle and High Schoolers.” The goal of the interdisciplinary community of researchers is to understand students’ emotions about climate change, the extent to which they are experiencing anxiety, and how these factors are connected to climate science communication and messaging.

“Middle and high school student’s frustration is not just a consequence of climate change impacts, but also a response to today’s politics and the state of democracy,” notes Mann. Research findings suggest that merely articulating concerns about how the planet is warming is a form of ineffective communication; it is key to advocate for change through informed dialogue, activism, and participation in the democratic process, including voting, he explains. In climate science messaging, “there is a thin balance to strike, between recognizing the climate crises and the urgency that is needed to address it,” Mann emphasizes. For this reason, he says, “urgency and agency are overarching messages that help to counterbalance climate anxiety, especially among young audiences.”

Nowadays, high school students are particularly exposed to mixed messages that seek to minimize the climate crisis and the human-caused activities that are driving it. Even further, they are especially vulnerable to “doomscrolling” messaging about the climate crisis via different social media feeds. It is a sad truth that spreading “despair and doom-filled” messages results in higher levels of youth online engagement.

Aiming to understand the psychological impact of climate change on young people, the research community led by Mann has sought partnerships with schools in West Philadelphia and gathered expertise from faculty across Penn’s Schools, including Emily Falk at the Annenberg School for Communication, Jennifer Pinto-Martin at the School of Nursing, Lily Brown at the Center for Treatment and Study of Anxiety, and Kate Staley, a visiting scholar at PCSSM.

This story is by Xime Trujillo. Read more at the Environmental Innovations Initiative.

Originally published on August 21, 2024 by Peter Stone for The Guardian

Association of attorneys general has received millions from Koch Industries, fossil fuel lobby and fund linked to billionaire Leonard Leo

A powerful group that boasts 28 Republican attorneys general, including many who have sided with oil and gas firms to block states seeking compensation for weather disasters caused by climate change, has raked in millions of dollars from fossil fuel giants and a dark money fund tied to Federalist Society co-chair, Leonard Leo.

The Republican Attorneys General Association (Raga) has roped in about $5.8m from oil and gas giants and their allied lobbying groups since Joe Biden was elected president in 2020, campaign finance records show.

Further, Raga has received a whopping $18.8m from the Leo-linked Concord Fund since 2014 when the dark money non-profit first registered with the IRS, according to the liberal-leaning Center for Media and Democracy.

During the first half of 2024, the Concord Fund was the largest donor to Raga, plowing $2m into the group’s coffers. The Concord Fund, formerly called the Judicial Crisis Network, spent millions of dollars supporting Donald Trump’s three conservative supreme court nominees and is led by Leo’s longtime close associate Carrie Severino.

Survivors of climate disasters demand US inquiry into big oil’s ‘climate crimes’

Labelled by watchdogs and critics as a “pay to play” operation for often supporting lawsuits by major donors, Raga has garnered six-figure checks from fossil fuel giants such as Koch Industries, which is chaired by billionaire Charles Koch, the American Petroleum Institute and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers.

While oil and gas monies have been pouring into Raga’s coffers, Republican attorneys general have emerged as major allies of the oil industry on litigation to beat back climate change lawsuits and environmental rules

Raga, which bills its mission as “Defending the Rule of Law. Keeping America Safe,” drew fire during Trump’s fight to thwart Biden from assuming office when an affiliate, the Rule of Law Defense Fund, spent $150,000 on robocalls to boost attendance at Trump’s January 6 rally. The robocalls urged “patriots” to come to the rally and said: “We will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal.”

Launched in 1999, Raga has raised and spent tens of millions of dollars to help elect conservative attorney generals – including many who have filed corporate-friendly litigation.

Key Democrats in Congress and energy analysts voice sharp criticism of Raga’s role in defending fossil fuel interests at a time when climate-related disasters are rising, and Raga is raking in millions of dollars from oil and gas interests and dark money groups

“Raga is one tentacle of the effort by rightwing billionaires and the fossil fuel industry to capture our courts and government to the benefit of big corporate interests,” Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island Democratic senator, said.

“With big oil facing the possibility of real accountability in honest courtrooms, obedient Raga attorneys general are rushing in to provide taxpayer-funded legal services for their polluter funders. It’s a corrupt scheme.”

Energy experts too see GOP attorneys general working in tandem with the oil industry to block major environmental rules.

“Red state AGs are trying to put up a brick wall against important new environmental regulations,” Michael Gerrard, who heads the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, told the Guardian “Since the beginning of the Obama administration, everything that Democrats do to curb fossil fuel emissions or fight climate change is challenged by red states and industry.”

Gerrard’s point is underscored by several recent legal moves by Republican attorneys general who belong to Raga and have been busy this year filing legal actions to defend fossil fuel interests in key battles.

In late May, for instance, 19 Raga members asked the supreme court to halt actions by Democratic attorneys general in five states including California, Connecticut and Minnesota which brought cases in state courts seeking billions of dollars in damages from oil and gas companies due to climate change-related weather disasters such as wildfires, severe storms and floods.

The Raga members’ argument, which experts have said is unusual, comes as dozens of local and state governments have filed lawsuits that allege fossil fuel businesses for years deceived the public about their products’ risks which contributed to climate crisis.

The Republican attorneys general argue only federal agencies can regulate interstate gas emissions and that the state suits will increase costs for consumers in other states.

“They do not have authority to dictate our national energy policy,” Steve Marshall, the Alabama attorney general, said in a statement announcing the 19-state lawsuit. “If the supreme court lets them continue, California and its allies will imperil access to affordable energy for every American.”

Earlier in May, 27 Republican attorneys general and industry trade groups filed lawsuits to block the Environmental Protection Agency from going forward with a new Biden administration rule that requires coal-fired power plants and new natural gas plants to make large-scale reductions in carbon emissions.

The EPA rule, which had just been approved in April, requires existing coal-fired plants and many new ones to cut their emissions by 90% by 2032 which could require billions of dollars in new expenditures.

Furthermore, this April, 20 Republican attorneys general filed a petition asking the supreme court to intervene in a major lawsuit brought by Honolulu against Sunoco and slated to go to trial later this year that seeks billions of dollars in damages from major oil companies for misleading the public about climate crisis-related disasters.

The move by the Republican attorneys general came as several oil and gas giants including the powerful American Petroleum Institute filed similar petitions with the supreme court.

The growing volume of litigation by GOP attorneys general attacking environmental rules and trying to thwart climate change lawsuits, dismays energy experts and watchdog groups.

“What the oil industry is trying to do is to block efforts to hold them accountable for their actions, and undo the laws that would hold them accountable,” said Joe Romm, a senior research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media.

“The oil industry is a lot like their pal Donald Trump. They both believe they should be above the law.”

Longtime Raga watchers concur.

“It should come as no surprise that state attorneys general whose electoral campaigns are buttressed by the fossil-fuel-funded Raga are using their public offices to attack efforts to mitigate climate change despite how rising temperatures are harming their states,” said Lisa Graves, the executive director of the progressive watchdog group True North Research and the co-founder of Court Accountability.

More broadly, Graves lambasted Raga as a “pay-to-play group that has received millions via Leonard Leo, the rightwing lawyer who orchestrated the packing of the US supreme court”.

In a similar vein, Jim Jones, the former Republican Idaho attorney general, told the Guardian last year that he was troubled by Raga’s conservative direction.

“They’ve become political operatives instead of the people in their states to safeguard the rule of law. They seem to be pandering to rightwing extremist groups to gain office in the first place and then to retain office.”