Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Worth the Watch

Check out this fantastic mini-documentary on the 2010 Climate Leadership Challenge, with footage from last year's competition at the Nelson Institute Earth Day conference.

It's worth the watch:


2010 Climate Leadership Challenge from Climate Leadership Challenge on Vimeo.


A big thanks to Peter Boger for the filming and production!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Announcing: New CLC Team Building Site!

I'm excited to announce a new tool for those of you who are interested in building a team for the Climate Leadership Challenge. We've created a Ning network, which is a private, customized social network for groups with related interests. We're inviting you to join (it's free) so that we can use the site to create profiles that list our departments, skills, and interests in order to allow networking and team building based on pairing students with complimentary skills.

Here is the invitation to join:

http://climateleadershipchallenge.ning.com/?xgi=2TsUpvsrEcIINU

Please pass it on.

I have written instructions for what details to include about yourself. The goal is to get everyone who is interested in entering the CLC to join the Ning site so that you all can use it as a match-making method to form your teams.

Please be in touch with any questions : sageCLC@gmail.com

ALSO: if you would like to meet in person, my office is Room 264 at SAGE on Old University in the Institute for Enzyme Research building (right by the pedestrian bridge that crosses University). Please email to set up an appointment. I'm happy to meet with you to answer questions, direct you to resources, or to serve as a sounding board for your ideas. I'm here to support YOU! So please be in touch anytime.

Looking forward to hearing from you! Now go join Ning and tell your friends!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

5 Reasons Why You Should Enter the Climate Leadership Challenge

Why should you invest your time and energy in crafting a proposal for the Climate Leadership Challenge?


Here are five reasons:

1. You could win the $50,000 Climate Leadership Challenge Grand Prize to launch that great idea of yours into action -- start a business, sell your idea, form a non-profit, fund your research...the opportunities are endless.

2. Participating in the Climate Leadership Challenge looks really good on a résumé - future employers, funding sources, and graduate schools will look highly on your ambition and innovation.

3. It's a great opportunity to meet faculty, staff, and other campus resources like the folks at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) who are able to share their knowledge and expertise, which will benefit you in your academic and career goals far beyond the Climate Leadership Challenge.

4. Even if you don't win, you will have caught the attention of future employers, funders, and business partners in the community simply by participating in the Climate Leadership Challenge. (Even the kids who don't win American Idol still go home with a record deal, right?)

5. Climate change is impacting every facet of our lives - food, air, water, transportation, land use, public health...you have the capacity to make a difference. The Climate Leadership Challenge can help you do that.

So what's your idea?

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Please help us spread the word by sharing this post on Facebook and twitter. Thanks!

Monday, October 4, 2010

Technical Solutions to Climate Change - meet the expert!

I'm excited to share with you another great opportunity to help you prepare for the 2011 Climate Leadership Challenge


For those of you interested in technical solutions to climate change, this Friday you'll have the chance to pick the brain of an expert about your ideas.


Dr. Klaus Lackner, a professor from Columbia University and pioneer in developing technology to capture carbon dioxide from ambient air, is visiting campus on Friday, October 8 to give a public lecture about his research. Full details of the event are provided here.


Dr. Lackner is open to and enthusiastic about meeting with students who are interested in entering the Climate Leadership Challenge to talk with you about your questions and ideas. I can't stress what an incredible opportunity this is for you to sit down individually or with a small group for a discussion with Dr. Lackner. 


If you are interested in setting up a brief chat, Dr. Lackner will be available from 2:30-3:30pm in 2180 Mechanical Engineering this Friday, October 8


If you are interested -- please contact me (sageCLC at gmail) or Scott Williams (spwilliams at wisc.edu) to set it up. 

Dr. Klaus Lackner is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University. He is also the director of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at the Earth Institute. Dr. Lackner’s principal fields of interest include: Carbon management; alternative fuels and energy management; fluid mechanics and transport processes; applied physics. The specific on-going research efforts of Lackner's group range from the development of a new technology to capture carbon from the air to the investigation of an approach to energy production and conversion that favors smaller units that are mass-produced, modular, and controlled in aggregate by cheap automation and control systems. He co-founded Global Research Technologies in 2004 as a mechanism to commercialize carbon dioxide air capture technologies. Dr. Lackner received his Ph.D in Physics from Heidelberg University.

And don't forget about the Speed-Networking event this Thursday at 5:30 in the Engineering Centers Building's Tong Auditorium! Come one, come all. 

Hope to see you there! And as always - please help spread the word by sharing a link to this post on twitter and facebook. Thanks!