CMU faculty helps lead new efforts on climate assessment research

A new U.S. Climate Collection paper sets research priorities for understanding climate risks across the country.

For more than two decades, the National Climate Assessment was the primary way the federal government shared with the public how the climate is changing and what that means for communities, infrastructure, and the economy. When federal work on the sixth assessment stopped in 2025, many of the scientists involved kept the research going.

Costa Samaras, the Trustee Professor of civil and environmental engineering and Director of the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, is one of three co-leads of a new paper “Research priorities for robust climate assessments in the United States.” This was published as the inaugural paper in the U.S. Climate Collection, an initiative of the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society to catalyze assessment science that advances U.S.-focused climate change research. 

Samaras co-led the effort with Melissa Kenney of the University of Minnesota and Robert Kopp of Rutgers University. Together they brought together 175 authors, nearly all of whom contributed to past national climate assessments. Among the team is another CMU researcher, Dr. Emily Zuetell, who contributed expertise on climate resilience to the paper.

Where the science needs to go next

The paper identifies research needs across planetary-scale systems, environmental settings, economic sectors, U.S. regions, and U.S. international interests. Across these areas, the authors highlight several shared priorities:

• Changing risks: how ongoing greenhouse gas emissions continue to alter and intensify climate hazards
• Compounding and cascading impacts: how overlapping extreme conditions are straining older policies, infrastructure, and institutions
• Climate and society: how social systems shape both the impacts communities experience and how they respond
• A portfolio approach to climate action: how future assessments can evaluate mitigation, adaptation, disaster management, climate interventions, and resilience planning together rather than one at a time

The authors note that “climate assessments are both the results and the process.” Bringing experts together to review evidence is how the field builds shared understanding and supports evidence-based decisions. Professors Kenney, Kopp, and Samaras also serve among the lead organizers of the U.S. Climate Collection, an ongoing compendium of freely available research papers to inform the public, the global research community, and to decision-makers across public policy and industry on the assessment of risks and solutions to climate change.

Leading the way on climate adaptation and resilience

This work builds on Carnegie Mellon's reputation for shaping the future of climate adaptation and resilience. Samaras founded CMU's Center for Engineering and Resilience for Climate Adaptation (CERCA) in 2014, and the center is currently led by David Rounce. CERCA brings engineers, scientists, and policy experts together to help communities prepare infrastructure for a changing climate.

CERCA and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering also lead the way in education. Samaras's course, Climate Change Adaptation for Infrastructure, was one of the first dedicated courses to teach climate adaptation to engineers. The course prepares students to design infrastructure for future climate conditions and prepare technical recommendations through policy, and is part of the the Department’s climate-resilient environmental systems and technologies focus area

“CMU has a long history of teaching our students to help communities plan and design for climate change resilience and respond with innovative solutions,” said Samaras. “Our students and researchers are ready to lead, and together they will help solve the country’s biggest challenges in climate, energy, and resilience.

Our students and researchers are ready to lead, and together they will help solve the country’s biggest challenges in climate, energy, and resilience.

Costa Samaras