Colorado State University

COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY is a premier system of public higher education committed to excellence, setting the standard in teaching, research, and service. The board of governors presides over Colorado State University (CSU), which is composed of Colorado State University (located in Fort Collins, Colorado) and CSU-Pueblo. At Colorado State, research and outreach from the sciences to the humanities are advancing on multiple fronts to explore climate-change phenomena and find solutions.

The Center for Earth-Atmosphere Studies fosters the training and education of scientists working on climate and radiation-cloud problems. Graeme Stephens has been the principal investigator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) CloudSat mission since 1993. His research focuses on atmospheric radiation and on the application of remote sensing in climate research, with particular emphasis on understanding the role of hydrological processes in climate change. The department offers a wide range of courses for students interested in climate research. Courses include large-scale atmospheric dynamics, analysis and diagnosis of observed climate variability, climate modeling, the global carbon cycle, the global hydrologie cycle, and radiative transfer.

The Colorado Climate Center is part of the Department of Atmospheric Science at CSU. The goal is to assist the state of Colorado in monitoring climate over time scales of weeks to years, as well as recognize that climate involves complex interactions between the atmosphere, the oceans, continental glaciers, and the land. Vegetation processes are an important component of the climate system. This service should contribute to a reduction in the state's vulnerability to climate variability and change. One of the latest efforts to address climate change began with the creation of a sustainability advisory committee. Vice President for Research Bill Farland and Vice Provost Lou Swanson, who leads Outreach and Strategic Partnerships programs at CSU, were appointed co-chair of the committee.