Fairfield University will launch a new Center for Climate, Coastal and Marine Studies this fall.
The new center will support research related to climate, coastal, and marine systems through interdisciplinary studies, university officials said.
The center will support faculty research initiatives across schools and the College of Arts and Sciences, in disciplines including anthropology, applied ethics, biology, chemistry, computer science, counselor education, economics, education studies and teacher preparation, English, finance, management, mechanical engineering, physics, politics, sociology, visual and performing arts, and more.
Robert Nazarian, associate professor of physics and special assistant to the associate vice provost for research and scholarship, will serve as inaugural director for the center. His primary area of research is the physics governing the ocean, atmosphere and climate.
Phase one of the initiative, which will take place over two years, is set to begin in September with monthly seminar series, undergraduate and faculty summer stipends, mini- grants, and outreach with community partners. Each of the center’s phases will focus on a specific theme, with the current one focusing on climate in and around Long Island Sound.
This is Fairfield’s first center “singularly dedicated to supporting faculty and faculty-student research,” said Provost Christine Siegel.
Fairfield University has more than 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
