Climate+ brings together undergraduate and graduate students for a 10-week, full-time research experience focused on climate, energy, and environmental sustainability. Participants gain hands-on experience in data analysis, visualization and machine learning while working on real-world climate issues. Offered by the Rhodes Information Initiative in partnership with the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability, Climate+ brings together interdisciplinary teams of undergraduate and graduate students to address pressing climate, energy, and sustainability issues using data science.
The 2025 Climate+ projects spanned a wide range of topics, including:
- Tracking aquatic insect emergence using machine learning to monitor ecosystem changes.
- Mapping global coastal zones to support ocean conservation and climate resilience.
- Improving Duke’s greenhouse gas data system for better climate impact reporting.
- Forecasting heavy rainfall in the Southeastern U.S. using deep learning.
- Evaluating electricity access in developing countries via aerial imagery.
- Modeling urban heat stress across 60 cities to inform public health strategies.
- Assessing flood risks in Milwaukee River communities.
- Mapping forest biodiversity with remote sensing and AI.
One project team focused on accurately mapping tree species at high resolution to evaluate biodiversity, helping inform forest management and conservation. The team developed an AI-driven deep learning framework that integrates hyperspectral imagery, aerial photography, LiDAR point clouds and ground data to classify tree species by analyzing their uppermost leaves and branches, or “crowns.” Compared with traditional approaches, this method allows for more precise identification even in complex, overlapping canopies.
Students trekked through Duke Forest to get a grasp of the overlapping canopies from the ground, gain insights from a Duke Forest expert and better understand how their data analysis would be working to support forest dynamics. By the summer’s end, students had contributed to a detailed map of a National Ecological Observatory Site, and during the fall semester, several students are continuing to build on this research. READ MORE.
Photo: Students Ethan Cho, left, and Leonard Eshun, right, present their research on mapping high-stakes coastal zones at the Climate+ showcase in spring 2025.