Energy & Environment-themed Bass Connections projects address critical energy and environment-related challenges, including climate change. In the 2023-24 academic year, 14 Energy & Environment projects were undertaken. Highlights included:
- Assessing Climate Change Risk of Rural Coastal Plain Communities:
This project explored community-engaged solutions to climate change in coastal Carolina areas, investigating local perspectives on community members’ resilience to saltwater intrusion, sea level rise, and coastal change. - Quantifying Wetland Carbon Emissions in the Southeastern United States:
In this project, students used machine learning to identify parameters affecting Southeastern U.S. wetland emissions of carbon dioxide and to make predictions about these wetlands’ ability to capture or emit carbon dioxide. - Tracking Climate Change with Satellites and Artificial Intelligence:
Students on this project team used machine learning methods and satellite data to build a model that identifies built infrastructure vulnerable to climate impacts such as fires, floods, and extreme weather. - Marine Conservation Evidence and Synthesis:
This project explored direct impacts of climate change on tropical fish and fisheries and how those impacts can have downstream ecological effects on the ecosystems those fish are part of, as well as the human systems that rely on those marine ecosystems.