“Critical, timely, and necessary”: New Wrigley Institute postdocs collaborate on climate and carbon solutions
In April 2024, the USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability received a remarkable gift: $4 million from Ballmer Group to seed a new initiative on climate and carbon management.
Focused on tackling nothing less than the root cause of climate change – too much carbon in Earth’s atmosphere – the initiative has grown to encompass 10 individual research projects run by 17 faculty and postdoctoral scholars. These projects cover climate- and carbon-related issues and solutions across disciplines, ecosystems, and timeframes, from the natural sciences to the social sciences, the bottom of our oceans to Earth’s atmosphere, and geologic time to instantaneous choices.
The program’s postdocs are crucial to its success, and they’ve come from across the globe to the Wrigley Institute for a chance to help build a better future for our planet.
Keep reading to learn more about their research, their perspectives on climate and carbon, and why they still have hope for the future.
Steffen Buessecker
Research: Buessecker studies microbial and mineral processes that may impact Earth’s climate. At the Wrigley Institute, he’s investigating how enhanced rock weathering, a process that uses crushed rock to capture carbon, can be applied at scale in the ocean.
Why he became a scientist: “I am a geomicrobiologist by training, and I have always been fascinated by the global impact of the smallest living beings on the planet – microbes. We can learn from the scalability of microbial activity.”
What climate and carbon management means to him: “That we humans learn to manage the planetary carbon cycle in order to affect our climate sustainably.”
YC Chan
Research: Chan studies how atmospheric chemistry and trace gases affect the emergence, sustainability, and detectability of life in the Universe. His Wrigley Institute research focuses on how carbon-removal technologies impact air quality and, by extension, public health.
What excites him about the Climate and Carbon Initiative: “I’m most excited about collaborating with researchers from a wide range of backgrounds to translate scientific findings into scalable strategies that reduce the impacts of climate change. This initiative provides an incredible platform for linking data, modeling, and applied carbon solutions.”
One big challenge and one big opportunity he sees: “A major challenge is aligning technological innovation with social and economic realities—solutions must be scalable and just. The biggest opportunity lies in using data-driven decision-making and community engagement to connect local actions with global issues and outcomes.”
Mohammed Hashim
Research: Hashim is an ocean chemist who seeks ways to improve our understanding of the connection between the ocean and the planet’s climate. His Climate and Carbon Management research focuses on the use of chemical resins to increase the ocean’s capacity for storing carbon captured from the air.
What climate and carbon management means to him: “To me, climate change is one of the most critical challenges facing humanity, and this initiative is an attempt to bring people with unique backgrounds, expertise, and aspirations together so we can advance climate solutions. It is critical, timely, and necessary.”
What gives him hope: “While we still need to work hard to protect our environment and planet, I am hopeful because life on Earth is remarkably resilient. It has survived numerous intense disruptions and mass extinction events.”
Samantha Mertens
Research: Mertens studies the psychology behind environmental choices, including ways to encourage environmentally friendly behaviors. At the Wrigley Institute, she’s studying consumer attitudes toward direct air capture (DAC) technology, which pulls carbon dioxide directly from the air.
Why she became a scientist: “I have a passion for sustainability and an interest in understanding people. In undergrad, I grew curious about why the state of the environment was alarming for some people and not others. I began to recognize the many factors that shape sustainable behaviors and wanted to know how I could help people make sustainable decisions, even when sustainability might not be important to them.”
One big challenge and one big opportunity she sees: “One big challenge: quality science takes time. Finding the right strategies for climate and carbon management requires extensive research and development. One big opportunity is interdisciplinary collaborations, like this initiative, that develop strategies centered around environmental, social, and economic factors.”
Amanda Molder
Research: Molder investigates the impact of media and communication on people’s attitudes, behaviors, and policy preferences regarding environmental issues. She has a dual role with the Climate and Carbon Management Initiative. As a researcher, she’s studying how communication and framing affect public attitudes toward carbon-capture technology. She also serves as the research project administrator, fostering cross-disciplinary collaborations among the postdocs and faculty connected with the initiative.
What excites her about the initiative: “I’m most excited about working on an interdisciplinary team made up of people who are genuinely curious about other perspectives. I think this willingness to learn from each other creates the conditions for truly cutting-edge research in what is still a relatively new and under-explored field.”
What gives her hope: “I feel hopeful when I see intergenerational groups coming together for advocacy, activism, and local action—small but powerful steps that collectively make a difference. And as a mom of a young child, I find hope in the next generation, who are being raised to live in greater harmony with the Earth’s intricate systems.”
Paul Rousteau
Research: Rousteau’s research focuses on microbes in ocean and salt-marsh ecosystems, including how they process and store carbon. At the Wrigley Institute, he’s studying sea level rise, global warming, and their effects on microbes that help regulate planet-warming gases. He also supports related science communication activities.
Why he became a scientist: “I wanted to look where (microbial) life can survive the harshest conditions and still have a huge impact on our life, with potential applications to the search for life in space or on other planets.”
One big challenge and one big opportunity he sees: “The challenge is to make people see that science is not magic, and that global warming from our carbon emissions has a real impact on the planet and our lives. But I think those are both opportunities as well.”
Learn more about the Climate and Carbon Management Initiative >>
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