About Us
Initiated in 2023, the Climate Resilience Network (CRN) unifies the expertise of UMD’s scientists with the immediate requirements of Maryland’s decision-makers to address the complexities of climate change. It is funded by the Grand Challenges Grants Program, which supports projects that address emerging societal issues, including climate change, social injustice, global health, and education disparities. This program is a Fearlessly Forward strategic initiative designed to accelerate solutions to humanity’s grand challenges within our communities and around the globe through education, research, scholarship, creative activities, and service.
From multiple “100-year floods” in Ellicott City, to deadly high temperatures in Baltimore, to greater occurrences of flash droughts, to the rising sea levels that threaten the ecology and economy of the Chesapeake Bay, it is clear that Maryland is being increasingly impacted by the effects of climate change. Monitoring, predicting, managing, and mitigating these impacts are major challenges that must be overcome in order to allow communities time to prepare for and respond to oncoming extreme events. Typically, these actions occur separately from one another, as researchers fail to involve the needs of stakeholders and stakeholders feel alienated from research. When researchers and decision-makers operate independently, there is a lost opportunity for practical and collaborative solutions.
Working alongside stakeholders and having them involved, researchers can assess regional needs and find innovative solutions rooted in both the pressing demands of the community as well as UMD’s groundbreaking research and turn these into “actionable science.”. Based in a research-to-impact philosophy, the initiative develops outcomes that meaningfully support communities in Maryland and neighboring states to educate and mitigate the impacts of our changing climate.
Our Objectives
1. Actionable Science
Leverage areas of ongoing research that will fill the gaps necessary to develop actionable information for stakeholders. Work with partner institutions and agencies to develop research groups, data collection missions or data assimilation projects to fill the gaps that currently hinder decision and policy making.
2. Decision Support
Develop working groups of stakeholders and decision makers. Work with a variety of groups at different levels, spatial scales and decision timelines. Work together to develop information that can be used to make better decisions in real time through long-term planning. Work together to make continuous iterative updates in decision support information.
3. Community
Embrace the ideas of community data and information sharing, shared modeling platforms, and shared technology resources. Focus on local knowledge, unwritten history and local stories to understand and work within those local paradigms.
4. Education and Outreach
Create impactful, crosscutting experiential learning opportunities to engage students of all ages in research-related service. Engage students in hands-on experience with both faculty researchers and stakeholders through the Climate Resilience Network intern program. Establish lines of communications and networks of stakeholders to work collaboratively in identifying regional climate challenges. Work together to develop strategies and solutions around mitigation and adaptations.