Presenter(s):
Margaret Leinen, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, UCSD
Julie Zimmerman, Yale University
Kilaparti Ramakrishna, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Neil Leary, Dickinson College
Robert Kopp, Rutgers University New Brunswick
Beth Martin, Washington University

Primary Convener:
Pamela McElwee, Rutgers University New Brunswick

Recent policy changes at the federal level have created a number of challenges for scientists, particularly those working on topics of climate change and biodiversity, and even outside of federal agencies. For example, in spring 2025, the US government did not invite nominations for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s call for authors for AR7, a role the State Department has normally played. To step into this absence, a new network called the US Academic Alliance for the IPCC (USAA-IPCC) was formed in March 2025, with support and hosting provided by AGU. The USAA-IPCC, made up of 10 US academic institutions that have observer status with IPCC, aims to  increase awareness of authorship calls and expand nomination opportunities for experts in climate research and practice, and USAA-IPCC was able to successfully submit 284 nominations of US scientists to AR7 in April 2025. This town hall will discuss the work of USAA-IPCC going forward, including how other institutions can join the IPCC as observers, and what other work the USAA-IPCC can to do to support scientists who want to engage in assessment processes at national and global levels.

Cross-Listed:
SY - Science and Society
GC - Global Environmental Change