VanSickle brings expertise in climate, health, and community engagement to support Equitable Climate Futures and the Academic Climate Leadership Group.
Institute at Brown for Environment and Society
News Archive
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Visiting Professor Robert Brulle offered commentary on energy security and fossil fuel companies' PR tactics.
Professor Stephen Porder offered commentary on solar power as a viable alternative to oil.
Mother Jones
Thanks to Trump, Petro-Imperialism Is Back
IBES affiliate Jeff Colgan, a professor of political science and director of the Climate Solutions Lab, discussed the role of oil in recent U.S. military actions and the national security advantages of solar and wind energy.
March 11, 2026
News From Education
Where Climate Meets the Classroom: RI Leaders on Sustainable Schools and the Future of Environmental Education
As part of Brown Climate Week, practitioners from across Rhode Island explored how education policy, school leadership, and environmental partnerships shape climate learning in schools.
The Brown Daily Herald
New study advances modeling of ocean’s finer details
IBES Fellow and DEEPS Professor Baylor Fox-Kemper co-authored a recent study showing how small-scale ocean processes have substantial effects on global model results.
March 10, 2026
News from Brown
New sensor network makes real-time flooding, air-quality data available to Rhode Island communities
Data from flood sensors that track coastal and roadway flooding, along with air-quality readings and weather information, are freely available to the public through a new dashboard.
National Geographic
These frog mating calls may also serve as weather reports
Voss Postdoctoral Researcher Luke Larter offered commentary on the implications of a new study that suggests female frogs listen for changes in the male calls as a signal for when it’s warm enough to mate.
The Brown Daily Herald
The tropics may be getting even hotter than expected, Brown researchers find
Former Voss Postdoc and current IBES instructor Lina C. Pérez-Angel authored a recent study which found that tropical warming may be occurring to an even greater degree than previously expected.
The Brown Daily Herald
Students host seventh annual conference on sustainable investing
Students, policy experts, and industry professionals in finance and sustainability gathered on campus for the student-run Future of Sustainable Investing Conference, part of Brown Climate Week.
The Brown Daily Herald
Brown’s first-ever Climate Week celebrates education, innovation
The Herald spoke with Climate Week organizers and participants to understand how different industries and corners of academia can contribute to climate solutions.
The Brown Daily Herald
Ancient plant wax preserved in lakes reveals insights into climate patterns
Assistant Professor Daniel Ibarra coauthored a study that investigates ancient plant waxes preserved in sediments from two Utah lakes.
As a featured speaker in the Brown Seminar Series on Environment and Society, Providence College's Thea Riofrancos examined the political ecology of the energy transition, drawing on extensive fieldwork and research across Latin America, the United States, and Europe.
This opinion article quotes IBES Visiting Professor Robert Brulle, an expert on climate obstruction.
John Fullerton, founder of the Capital Institute and former JPMorgan managing director, joined IBES' Professor Ricardo Bayon for a fireside chat.
Communications Sustainability
Large language model reveals an increase in climate contrarian speech in the United States Congress
IBES and Sociology Professor J. Timmons Roberts William Kattrup '25 contributed to this study.
Professor of Education and IBES faculty affiliate Matthew Kraft conducted a nationwide assessment of U.S. PreK-12 public and private schools’ proximity to known environmental hazard sites.
IBES Affiliate Jeff Colgan, a professor of political science and international studies and director of Brown's Climate Solutions Lab, co-authored a recent paper that assesses the merits and weaknesses of climate realism, which favors long-term climate investments over near-term solutions.
With the help of an IBES Catalyst Research Award, Associate Professor of History and IBES Faculty Affiliate Lukas Rieppel has teamed up with Oglala Lakota scholar Craig Howe to help people further understand the Earth’s history.
Geophysical Research Letters
Representation of Surface Mixed-Layer Eddies Affects the Large-Scale Ventilation of the Global Ocean
DEEPS Professor and IBES Fellow Baylor Fox-Kemper co-authored this study, which reveals how small-scale ocean processes have substantial effects on global model results.
IBES and Epidemiology Professor Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou is among the co-authors of a recent study that links tropical cyclones to spikes in drug-related deaths for months after impact.
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Invisible Harms: Drug-Related Deaths Spike After Hurricanes and Tropical Storms
IBES and Epidemiology Professor Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou is among the co-authors of a recent study that links tropical cyclones to spikes in drug-related deaths for months after impact.
Professors Stephen Porder and Timmons Roberts offered research-driven perspectives on climate change, energy policy, and equity during recent testimonies to state policymakers, urging them to stay the course on Rhode Island’s climate commitments.
News from IBES
A week of climate collaboration across Brown
Brown Climate Week, March 2–7, 2026, will spotlight Brown’s climate research, career exploration, and sustainability leadership through talks, conferences, networking events, and more.
IBES Professor Timmons Roberts expressed support for a proposed bill that would hold fossil fuel companies financially responsible for their emissions.
Testifying before the RI House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, IBES Professor Stephen Porder discussed how the state could electrify the economy to meet mandates outlined in the Act on Climate.
Capital News Service
Climate action moves forward despite Trump’s policy rollbacks. Will it be enough?
Baylor Fox-Kemper, an IBES Faculty Fellow and Professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, offered commentary on the clean-energy economy and climate change.
February 2, 2026
News from Brown
Parts of the tropics may warm more than expected as CO2 rises, study finds
A reconstruction of temperature in Colombia during the Pliocene, when CO2 levels were similar to today, suggests that parts of the tropics might soon experience more dramatic warming than previously expected.
University of Colorado Boulder
Some tropical land may experience stronger-than-expected warming under climate change
A new study led by former IBES Voss Postdoc Lina Pérez-Angel used lake sediments from the Colombian Andes to reveal that, when the planet warmed millions of years ago under carbon dioxide levels similar to today’s, tropical land heated up nearly twice as much as the ocean.
Former Voss Postdoc Lina C. Pérez-Angel authored this article, which found that the tropics are warming more than expected.
Erica Walker, an IBES Faculty Affiliate and Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, discussed her new research project, for which students in Mississippi will be trained to collect air quality, noise, and light pollution measurements.
Brown Bookstore
2025-2026 Brown University Book Award
"Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait" by IBES and History Associate Professor Bathsheba Demuth has been selected as the 2025-2026 Brown University Book Award.
Professor of Education and IBES faculty affiliate Matthew Kraft and members of his SustainableED team conducted a nationwide assessment of U.S. PreK-12 public and private schools’ proximity to known environmental hazard sites.
January 30, 2026
News from Brown
Childhood lead exposure associated with increased depressive symptoms in adolescence
A federally funded study led by Brown University researchers links increased childhood blood lead concentrations with increased depressive symptoms in adolescence, with larger increases when exposure occurred later in childhood.
Rhode Island House of Representatives
Stephen Porder Testifies to RI House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources
"There is no way to comply with the Act on Climate and continue to rely on gas and oil," IBES Professor Stephen Porder testified at the Rhode Island State House.
AGU Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology
Plant Wax Isotopic Reconstructions Reveal Thermodynamic Drivers of Hydroclimate Over the Last Two Glacial Cycles at Great Salt Lake and Bear Lake, Utah
Assistant Professor Daniel Ibarra is coauthor of this study.
Corwin Zigler, a professor of biostatistics and an IBES affiliate, was consulted as an expert for this reporting.
IBES Assistant Professor Rachel Wetts and coauthor Loredana Loy reveal that "appeals to class-based resentment against cultural elites are one prominent strategy to urge publics to reject climate mitigation strategies."
The new suite of student offerings includes a 500% increase in paid internships and research opportunities as well as professional development workshops, alumni networking, and an annual Climate Career Fair.
With IBES as the lead sponsor, Brown’s first-ever Climate Week is an open invitation for students, faculty, alumni, and community members to come together to explore how research, policy, and practice intersect to drive meaningful climate solutions.
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology Erica Walker, an IBES affiliate faculty member, offered commentary on the public health impact of pellet mills in the American South, which are 50% more likely to be located in communities with a high proportion of poor and nonwhite residents.
American Physical Society
Brad Marston on science, democracy, and the hard work ahead
Brad Marston — an IBES faculty fellow, professor of physics, and 2026 president of the American Physical Society — discussed his research and priorities for the year ahead, including focusing on climate science and the role of democracy in scientific discovery.
Professor of Engineering Yue Qi, an IBES affiliate and deputy director of Brown's Initiative for Sustainable Energy, is a senior author on a study that found a nanoscale silver coating could be the key to making ultra-powerful solid-state batteries work.
This opinion piece cites recent research from the IBES-based Climate and Development Lab, led by Professor Timmons Roberts.
News from IBES
WATCH | GIS Career Panel
Held during the 2025 Geography Awareness Week, the November 19 panel brought together professionals who have built diverse careers in transportation, utilities, government, and environmental planning.
According to a new report from the IBES-based Climate and Development Lab, opposition to climate legislation from Rhode Island’s main utility company and business interests are slowing climate legislation in the state.
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Interpersonal and Self-Inflicted Violence Linked to Temperature Spikes
This article relays key findings from a new study of which Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou, a professor at IBES and the School of Public Health, is a co-author.
IBES and Epidemiology Professor Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou is among the authors of this new study, which links violence and temperature spikes.
bioGraphic
Pachyderm Pharmacies
Voss Postdoc Elodie Freymann, who studies self-medicating behavior among chimpanzees in Uganda, offered commentary about new research on elephants' search for medicinal plants.
Climate and Development Lab
Who’s Obstructing Climate Action in the Rhode Island Legislature?
Members of the IBES-based Climate and Development Lab found that Rhode Island Energy and the Public Utilities Commission are among the entities obstructing climate action in the state.