Seminars

Emory Climate Talks hosts Dr. Suzanne Simard for a virtual conversation about her new book, Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest.

Dr. Suzanne Simard is a Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia and the leader of The Mother Tree Project, which researches forest renewal practices that protect biodiversity against climate change. Dr. Simard’s work has been published widely, with over 170 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, Ecology, and Global Biology. She is also co-author of the book Climate Change and Variability.

Her latest book, Finding the Mother Tree, brings us into the intimate world of trees, exploring the ways in which trees learn and adapt their behaviors, remember the past, demonstrate agency over the future, and cooperate with a sophistication typically ascribed to humans. Dr. Simard’s research has been communicated broadly through TED Talks and TED Experiences, as well as articles and interviews in The New Yorker, National Geographic, The Globe and Mail, NPR, CNN, CBC, and many more.

Bryan Jacob is a Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech and serves as Solar Program Director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE). This role ranges from conducting research on solar power trends to advocacy on utility resource planning and specifically includes collaboration with stakeholders in the solar energy development industry. Highlights from Bryan’s earlier career include launching Climate Coach International to help organizations implement practical climate protection strategies and 21 years leading environmental initiatives for The Coca-Cola Company. He is also a nine-time national champion in weightlifting and represented the U.S.A. in both the 1992 and 1996 Olympics (Barcelona and Atlanta). 

Jason Keiper is Chief Technology & Sustainability Officer at Stepan Company, based in Northfield, IL (USA). He is responsible for Stepan’s global R&D teams and Sustainability program.

Jason joined Stepan Company in 2001 as a research chemist, and then moved to Syngenta in 2006. At Syngenta, he held several roles in product development, eventually leading their Product Technology & Engineering team globally. He rejoined Stepan in 2019 in his current role. 

Jason received his Ph.D in Chemistry in 2000 from Emory, and held a postdoctoral position at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Matthew is a Senior Lecturer in Carbon Accounting at the University of Edinburgh’s Business School. His current research focuses on the development of methods for corporate, product (life cycle assessment), project and policy-level greenhouse gas accounting.  He has particular interest in bioenergy, offsetting, electricity accounting, greenhouse gas removal, and land use baselines. He has served as a member of several technical working groups for the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), and is on the peer review panel for BEIS/Defra’s emission factors publication for company reporting. Prior to his current position Matthew worked for over seven years in carbon management and greenhouse gas assessment at the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management, and at Ecometrica.

Allison Bridges, PhD, recently completed an Earth Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship at Columbia University and is now a Lecturer in the Sustainability Management Graduate Program and a Fellow at the New York City Mayor’s Office of Resiliency. Allison’s postdoctoral research focused on the use of sustainability indicators in decision making, post-disaster recovery and resiliency, and policies for decarbonization.

Adam Parris is an interdisciplinary researcher and knowledge broker with 17 years of experience developing, applying, and translating science for numerous US states, cities, and local communities. His background ranges from landscape change to sea level rise impacts to collaborative approaches to equitable climate adaptation in large coastal cities. Currently, he is the Deputy Director of Climate Science and Risk Communication at the Mayor’s Office of Resiliency in New York, where he works to integrate climate information into all aspects of city decision-making. Previously, he led the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay.