6.S898 | Fall 2019 | Graduate

Climate Change Seminar

Calendar

The class meets twice a week, on Tuesday and on Fridays. The Tuesday class is usually seminar-style with students presenting and discussing papers assigned by the upcoming guest speaker. A full list of readings is available. The Friday class features guest speakers.

Week # Seminars Guest Lectures Key Dates
1 Introductions, syllabus, and schedule No guest lecture  
2 Student-led discussion of readings Kerry Emanuel (MIT): An Overview of Climate Change  
3 Student-led discussion of readings No guest lecture  
4 Student-led discussion of readings David McGee (MIT): Paleoclimatology and Extreme Climates Project Deadline: Submit project team (names of 1–2 people) and a short paragraph for 2–3 possible topics
5 Student-led discussion of readings Raffaele Ferrari (MIT): Ocean Dynamics and Modeling  
6 Student-led discussion of readings Noelle Selin (MIT): Environmental Science and Governance  
7 No seminar John Deutch (MIT): The Optimum Allocation of Available Budget to Joint Climate Control Mechanisms Project Deadline: Submit a 1–2 page project proposal
8 In-class climate model demo Francis O’Sullivan (MIT): Energy and Climate  
9 Student-led discussion of readings Paul O’Gorman (MIT): Atmospheric Science and Machine Learning  
10 Replaced with a second guest lecture: John Sterman (MIT) on Climate Policy Simulations Dava Newman and Gui Trotti (MIT): Earth’s Vital Signs Revealed: A View from Space for Action on Earth  
11 En-ROADS climate simulator John Reilly (MIT): Economic Modeling  
12 Student-led discussion of readings Bill Weihl (MIT / Akamai / Google / Facebook / …): On How Companies can Contribute  
13 Debriefing: Lessons learned, confusions, and open questions No guest lecture  
14 Project presentations No guest lecture  
15 Project presentations No guest lecture Project Deadline: Final written report due