Morgan State launches Center for Urban and Climate Science Research - Baltimore Sun

Morgan State launches Center for Urban and Climate Science Research - Baltimore Sun

Morgan State University has created a new Center for Urban and Coastal Climate Science Research to address climate change.

The center, which is one of six centers that Morgan launched to represent one of the Peaks of Excellence as recommended by its Blue-Ribbon panel, will be working with the global scientific community and policymakers to develop solutions for climate change.

“Under the leadership of President David K. Wilson, Morgan has continued to advance its research and increasingly become more well-known for its strong STEM programs and research centers,” said Willie May, vice president of research and economic development at Morgan State, in a news release. “The university’s newest addition, the Center for Urban and Coastal Climate Science Research, will work alongside Morgan’s other research centers, to leverage our innovative researcher faculty and academic staff to study and predict the impact of climate change on urban and coastal communities.”

The center will involve faculty members from various research areas at Morgan, including biology, chemistry, climate science, computer science, civil engineering and others. The university plans to hire 10 new faculty members to be a part of the center and will be taking a look at existing faculty to join, May said.

Morgan is looking to provide climate change research for the coastal regions across the U.S., Baltimore city and Maryland.

Additionally, the center will research connecting artificial intelligence and machine learning, health disparities, environmental health and climate science in a transdisciplinary approach.

The funding for the new Center for Urban and Coastal Climate Science Research was part of Gov. Wes Moore’s fiscal year 2025 budget, which commits $3 million annually to the center’s operation.

May told the Baltimore Sun there were two primary reasons for the university to create this research center, which is to take a unique look at Maryland’s climate while fulfilling a university goal.

In 2021, Morgan State University established the Blue-Ribbon Panel on a STEM research expansion strategy to one day make the university a national leader in academia, May said.

The panel recommended a center for artificial intelligence and machine learning as well climate change, and with this center, Morgan State is fulfilling the last recommendation from the panel, May said.

Climate change in Maryland has already start to run its course with the state experiencing higher average temperatures, longer heatwaves and milder winters, making an urgent need for a research center, Morgan State said in its news release.

“Maryland is a unique state with more coast per unit area than any state in the country, so we need to look at climate change as a uniquely Maryland perspective,” May told the Sun Wednesday. “This was reinforced by a recommendation by a Blue-Ribbon panel and that was one of the five recommendations.”

Although the university has fulfilled the last recommendation, there will be another research center in the university’s future, but there isn’t a timetable on when it will be, May said.