Aurora
Aurora is our weekly newsletter aimed at faculty, staff, and students of the department.
Volume
28
No.
19
Employment & Opportunities
School Partnerships Program Volunteer
Overview: The School Partnerships Program (SPP) pairs UBC Let’s Talk Science volunteers with teachers in the Metro Vancouver region to deliver STEM outreach programs to students in grade K-12 classrooms, with a specific focus on delivering these programs to schools in underserved communities. The volunteers commit to running 3 fun, hands-on STEM activities in their paired teacher’s classroom over the course of the school year (November 2024 - June 2025). Each visit will be approximately 1-hour long. As a volunteer, you will have the opportunity to either design your own activity, borrow a kit from the Let's Talk Science Inventory, or follow a lesson plan which aligns with the curriculum and subject interests of the partnered educator.
Responsibilities:
- Attending a mandatory, one-time volunteer training orientation in mid-October
- Planning and organizing science activities in collaboration with paired teacher's science curriculum
- Committing to lead 3 x 1-hour in-person activities over the course of the school year
Requirements:
- Passion for science communication and science outreach
- Strong general background in popular fields of science (Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Physics, Neuroscience, Earth Sciences, Botany, etc.)
Application Process: Students interested in volunteering can apply by filling out the survey.
Deadline to Apply: October 4, 2024
Post-doc Positions in Modelling the Climate Impacts of Carbon Dioxide Removal
We invite applications from highly motivated PhDs for two postdoctoral positions investigating the climate implications of carbon dioxide removal. The positions are part of transdisciplinary research projects (CanCO2Re and Mission Innovation) assessing the sustainability, equity and feasibility of carbon dioxide removal, with partners across Canada.
The successful candidates will be supervised jointly by Dr. Kirsten Zickfeld at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Metro Vancouver and Dr. Paul Kushner at the University of Toronto.
The successful candidates will join a dynamic research environment with expertise in Earth system modelling, climate dynamics and climate-carbon cycle interactions. The focus of the positions will be on quantifying the climate implications of a range of emission scenarios with different means and amounts of carbon dioxide removal.
Position 1: Earth system modelling of the impacts of carbon dioxide removal. This position will be based at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and will involve:
- A primary responsibility to design, execute, and analyze of Earth system model simulations.
- A primary responsibility to prepare scientific publications and disseminate research results in conferences and workshops.
- A secondary responsibility to support development of emulators to capture and generalize the Earth-system model simulations.
- Opportunities to engage in outreach/knowledge mobilization activities of the CanCO2RE project.
Position 2: Earth system model emulators to study the impacts of carbon dioxide removal. This position will be based at the St. George (downtown) campus of the University of Toronto and will involve:
- A primary responsibility to develop, apply, and analyze emulators to capture and generalize the Earth-system model simulations supported under CanCO2RE.
- A secondary responsibility to design, execute, and analyze the original Earth system model simulations under specific scenarios.
- A primary responsibility to prepare scientific publications and disseminate research results in conferences and workshops.
- Opportunities to engage in outreach/knowledge mobilization activities of the CanCO2RE project.
Funding for both positions is available for one year, with possibility of renewal for one additional year. The preferred start date is January 2025.
How to apply:
Evaluation of applications will start on October 21 2024 and will continue until the positions are filled.
Simon Fraser University and the University of Toronto are strongly committed to diversity within their communities and especially welcome applications from racialized persons / persons of colour, women, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas.
News & Events
Seminar - Computing the Climate: How we know what we know about climate change
Date and time: Wednesday October 23, 2024; 12pm to 1:30pm
Location: Terrace Lab (Room 458), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. The Terrace Lab is accessible through the School of Information (Room 470 in IKBLC) - please ring the doorbell to be let in if the door is not propped open.
Event Description: Dr. Steve Easterbrook will discuss his latest book, Computing the Climate, to examine how global climate models are developed, tested, and used within climate science to understand changing levels of greenhouse gases. He will also touch on how climate science can be communicated to different audiences to share knowledge on climate change.
IOF Seminar: Driving youth engagement and leadership in ocean and climate action across the Caribbean
Khadija Stewart, Founder, EcoVybz and EcoSeas Caribbean
Thursday, October 4, 2024 - 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Online: over Zoom
UBC members, alumni, and all others, please RSVP at here.
MASc Thesis Defense: Taylor Swift-Lapointe
Title: Seasonal forecasting of streamflow in a mountainous catchment in British Columbia
Date & Time: Monday, October 7 2024 at 2:00 pm
Location: ESB 5104