Combining Data & Principles of Community Engagement to Achieve Climate Justice
Understanding and connecting STEAM and social justice to solve community problems is at the core of Our Future Is Science initiatives. Dr. Courtney Cogburn is a professor at Columbia University and is working with colleagues to predict climate changes at the Center for Learning the Earth with Artificial Intelligence and Physics (LEAP).
With a mission to create a new discipline that combines climate science with data science, their research efforts aim to reduce uncertainty around climate projections so that we will one day be able to answer questions such as, “How many heatwave days will there be in the year 2050?”
In her December 14th talk, Dr. Cogburn will discuss her efforts at LEAP as well as her goal to transfer knowledge—through an equity and inclusivity lens—to diverse communities most vulnerable to climate change.
Courtney Cogburn, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work and faculty of the Columbia Population Research Center and Data Science Institute where she co-chairs the Computational Social Science Working Group. She employs a transdisciplinary approach to improve the characterization and measurement of racism, and in examining the role of racism in the production of racial inequities in health. Dr. Cogburn’s work also explores media as a social stressor that contributes to racial inequities in health. She also works at the intersection of emerging technology and social justice. She is the lead creator of 1000 Cut Journey, an immersive virtual reality experience of racism that premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, and is also the co-founder of the Justice Equity and Technology Studio at Columbia. Dr. Cogburn is a member of the American Medical Association’s External Equity & Innovation Advisory Group, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Health Equity Collective, and also serves as the Chief Equity Officer and Knowledge Transfer Director of the Learning the Earth with Artificial Intelligence and Physics (LEAP), an NSF Science and Technology Center (STC). Dr. Cogburn completed postdoctoral training at Harvard University in the RWJF Health & Society Scholar Program and at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. She received her Ph.D. in Education and Psychology and an MSW from the University of Michigan and completed her BA in Psychology at the University of Virginia.
The Community Talk Series is a platform to expose individuals to diverse careers, as well as information, insights and perspectives on the intersections of STEAM disciplines and social justice issues.
This event is organized by Our Future Is Science, an initiative of the Aspen Institute Science & Society Program.
