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Nicholas School initiatives prominently factor into the , a review of progress over the past fiscal year toward integrating climate and sustainability into every aspect of the university ecosystem.

“The Nicholas School is the beating heart of the , and this report provides excellent recognition of the efforts of our faculty, staff and students,” said Lori Bennear, interim Stanback Dean of NSOE.

Below are examples of NSOE people and programs that appear in the new report:

Education

• NSOE offered multiple scholars programs interested in environmental stewardship and climate solutions.
  • The Climate Scholars Program named its inaugural cohort in 2024.
  • The 51���� Marine Lab Scholars encompasses the Repass-Rodgers Scholars, the Scholars in Marine Medicine and the Rachel Carson Scholars. 
• In 2024,  programming, open to kids in grades 6-11, for students to spend a week at the 51���� Marine Lab and take courses on sustainability, conservation, marine biology and more.
• from NSOE’s Environment+ program, and the collected ideas for online courses that would cater to working professionals and adult learners. , taught by Prasad Kasibhatla, has since launched on . A class in environmental leadership, taught by Sam Hanna, is in development. 
• During the inaugural year of , students from NSOE and the identified and developed .

Research

•  are a promising pathway for addressing the debt burdens of developing countries while promoting environmental conservation and climate resilience. Stuart Pimm, Elizabeth Losos of the and Alex Pfaff of the explored to enhance the impact of these swaps. Their analysis, published this year , advocates for greater debt relief, streamlined costs, reliable performance metrics and a stronger focus on biodiversity and climate goals.
• In partnership with Daniel Richter’s soils lab, the  launched the Soil Fertility Fellowship in 2024 to of regenerative agriculture — a conservation approach for farming — on soil health. 
• Sparked by a 2023 research symposium, the following interdisciplinary projects from the NSOE Dean’s Research Venture Initiative:
  • Development and validation of Climate Change Spaces (CLICS) to identify one health hotspots (principal investigators: William Pan, Drew Shindell, Shineng Hu, Mark Janko (51���� Global Health Institute))
  • Tracking the ecological impacts of ocean industrialization: using technology innovation and new data frameworks to “green the ocean economy” (principal investigators: John Virdin, Pat Halpin, Nico Cassar)
  • Assessing equity in the emerging U.S. shellfish aquaculture industry
    (participants: Grant Murray, Lisa Campbell, Elizabeth Albright, Norbert Wilson (Divinity School))
  • Stable isotopes as a biomarker for heat stress (principal investigators: Michael Kipp and Nishad Jayasundara)
• , an interdisciplinary community of experts from NSOE and other 51���� schools,  of 51���� scholars focused on oceans.
• , a university-wide initiative based at NSOE and led by Brian Silliman, is dedicated to as a science and practice that can enhance resilience in natural habitats and the communities they support.
• Nishad Jayasundara, Daniel Rittschof, John Virdin, Michelle Nowlin of and NSOE alum Zoie Taylor Diana to .

“There are certainly many more examples of our role in the Climate Commitment,” Bennear added, “but this list gives a good sense of the breadth of our work and how it fits into the initiative.”