Climate scientist committed to breaking down barriers to equal access to science and policy knowledge.

 

About

Science Policy Analyst with FYI Science Policy News at the American Institute of Physics

Dr. Adria K. Schwarber is a climate scientist working in science policy. She is currently an analyst with FYI Science Policy News at the American Institute of Physics, where she reports on science policy developments and creates actionable science policy resources for the community. Dedicated to breaking down barriers to equal access to science and policy knowledge, Adria has endeavored to support scientists of all ages in their learning and policy engagement goals. This passion has driven her to discuss climate change science with general audiences, volunteer as an editor with the National Science Policy Network, and judge local K-12 STEM fairs in underserved areas. In the future, Adria hopes to apply these skills to advance U.S. science diplomacy priorities with a focus on supporting climate change agreements and building international scientific education and research capacity.

Adria earned her Ph.D. in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science at the Univeristy of Maryland, College Park under the guidance of Drs. Steven J. Smith and Corinne Hartin at the Joint Global Change Research Institute. Her research sought to clarify climate dynamics on shorter time scales using models of varying complexity—from complex models, which take several months to simulate 100 years of climate on a supercomputer, to simple climate models that can simulate the same period on a personal computer in less than a minute, in addition to using several observational datasets. At the University of Maryland, Adria served as a Graduate Student Government Vice President, advancing broad policy initiatives (e.g., serving on the Review of the Operations of The Graduate School Committee) and more targeted endeavors (e.g., serving on the Graduate Career Pathways Conference Committee).

Originally from Kentucky, Adria earned a dual B.A. in chemistry and political science from the University of Louisville in 2013. As an undergradaute, she worked on inorganic synthesis of Moylbdinmum-Sulfur (Mo-S)complexes in the laboratory of Dr. Mark Noble. Adria spent the summer of 2010 in Japan studying language and culture as a Gilman Scholar through the KIIS program. She returned to Japan for an academic year (2010-2011) as a Boren Scholar at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University. Adria credits this time spent studying abroad in Japan with sparking her interest in science diplomacy.

Projects

Science Policy and Leadership

National Science Policy Network

o Provide editorial support to early-career scientists, resulting in four graduate student-led publications in local newspapers across the U.S. and a published memo in the Journal of Science Policy and Governance

o Coordinated and led a coalition of 8 Kentucky-based science organizations in delivering a nonpartisan questionnaire asking Kentucky candidates about their science policy priorities ahead of the November 2020 election

University of Maryland Graduate Student Government

o Served on University-level committees and investigated policies pertaining to the academic and professional development of graduate students while representing over 10,000 graduate students on the Graduate Student Government, leading to the implementation of a grievance procedure and Science Advocacy Day event

o Led a team to successfully execute Graduate Research Appreciation Day, the largest graduate-student-only, on-campus conference at the University of Maryland for two years (Budget of approx. $28,000 with 200+ attendees)

Advisory and Professional Roles

STGlobal Organizing Committee

o Supporting a team of graduate students and professionals in organizing a conference on the social and policy dimensions of science and technology, in addition to organizing a panel on the intersection of disability studies and science and technology development

American Physical Society

o Improved professional development resources for graduate students as part of the American Physical Society’s Topical Group on the Physics of Climate, resulting in the establishment of a conference travel grant for students studying the physics of climate, which was featured in an APS News story

ComSciCon-AIP Organizing Committee Member

o Organized and moderated a science policy panel featuring representatives from the National Science Policy Network, MIT DC Office, and Union of Concerned Scientists

Reviewer with Nature Climate Change

Science Communication and Public Engagement

o Pursued opportunities to engage with K-12 communities, including at the Teen Earth Optimism Event at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, KID Museum’s Invent the Future Challenge Summit, and serving as a volunteer science fair judge across Prince George’s County, Maryland

o Synthesized and communicated technical information to members of Congress in collaboration with professional organizations during Climate Science Week 2016 - 2018, UCAR Capitol Hill Visit Day 2017, AAAS Making Our CASE Workshop Congressional Visit Day 2017

Speaking Engagements and Presentations

o Performed a spoken science story at Story Collider DC: The (Un)beaten Path

o Shared the basics of my research at the University of Maryland’s Terps Exchange event

o Presented to scientists and graduate student groups about scientific integrity in climate science and researching your congressperson

Research

My doctoral research sought to clarify climate dynamics on shorter time scales using models of varying complexity—from complex models, which take several months to simulate 100 years of climate on a supercomputer, to simple climate models that can simulate the same period on a personal computer in less than a minute, in addition to using several observational datasets.

Dedication

I dedicated my dissertation to all the young girls and women aspiring to a career in science. Pursuing science is challenging in many ways. Though you will expand your understanding of the world around you, you will also face many adversities that are unfortunately ingrained in the STEM education system. Without the mentors I have had throughout my career, including my 6th-grade science teacher, Ms. Katy Drinkhouse, and my high-school science teachers, Sr. Mary-Ethel Parrott and Sr. Judith Averbeck, I would not have pursued a STEM degree.

I hope one day you will not face questions of the space you occupy or your abilities as a scientist. Until then, I leave you with this inspirational poem by Maya Angelou.

Project 1: Evaluating Climate Emulation: Unit Testing of Simple Climate Models

Simple climate models (SCMs) are numerical representations of the Earth’s gas cycles and climate system. SCMs are easy to use and computationally inexpensive, making them an ideal tool in both scientific and decision-making contexts (e.g., complex climate model emulation; parameter estimation experiments; climate metric calculations; and probabilistic analyses). Despite their prolific use, the fundamental responses of SCMs are often not directly characterized. In this study, we use unit tests of three chemical species (CO2, CH4, and BC) to understand the fundamental gas cycle and climate system responses of several SCMs (Hector v2.0, MAGICC 5.3, MAGICC 6.0, FAIR v1.0, and AR5-IR). We find that while idealized SCMs are widely used, they fail to capture important global mean climate response features, which can produce biased temperature results. Comprehensive SCMs, which have non-linear forcing and physically-based carbon cycle representations, show improved responses compared to idealized SCMs. Even some comprehensive SCMs fail to capture response timescales of more complex models under BC or CO2 forcing perturbations. These results suggest where improvements should be made to SCMs. Further, we provide a set of fundamental tests that we recommend as a standard validation suite for any SCM. Unit tests allow users to understand differences in model responses and the impact of model selection on results.

Project 2: Characterization of Model Variability in CMIP5

Contributions from both unforced variability (e.g., ocean-atmosphere interactions) and external forcing ( e.g., anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, volcanic activity, variations in solar intensity) drive changes in Earth’s global mean surface temperature. Understanding the relative contributions from these different components is of great interest to the scientific community (e.g., detection and attribution studies, time of emergence estimates). Though many studies draw conclusions using estimates of, or assumptions about, unforced variability using multi-model ensembles, a robust characterization of model-specific unforced model variability has not been conducted. We fill this gap by developing a methodology to create model-specific unforced noise envelopes using complex model output from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) experiments. From this, we can determine how realistic complex model variability is compared to observations. We compare CMIP5 model results from the past1000 and PiControl experiments with two historical observational datasets (GISTEMP, HadCRUT4) and paleoclimate reconstructions from PAGES2k. We first examine variability in those CMIP5 models with sufficient data (e.g., published past1000 output and long PiControl runs) and apply our methodology to extrapolate information for the majority of models with less available data. We use power spectra of temperature-time series to compare variability across all time scales. Preliminary results suggest that observations have more variability than the suite of CMIP5 models investigated. Additionally, we investigate model variability at the regional level, using the sub-global regions defined by PAGES 2k. Our approach allows for a more robust assessment of complex model variability at time periods and regional levels important to human systems.

Project 3: Changes in Climate Sensitivity over Time

The time scales of climate system responses to anthropogenic emissions vary depending on the chemical species emitted. Though carbon dioxide(CO2) emissions primarily drive anthropogenic climate change, emissions of various other radiative forcing agents, including short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs), also contribute signifcantly to Earth's altered radiative budget. Much of the literature focuses on long-term climate responses emphasizing analysis with equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) or transient climate sensitivity (TCR). There is limited literature exploring shortterm climate change responses occurring in a 20-30 year time horizon. To address this gap, we seek to clarify climate dynamics on decadal time scales with the ultimate goal of understanding the implications of near-term emission reductions on climate. Using observations and coupled model results from CMIP5, we analyze the range of temperature response over time, with specific attention to the 20-30 year time sequence. Similarly, we also explore sub-global temperature responses at a hemispheric-scale. We find that the range of responses of land/ocean varied less than the range of hemispheric responses. Our results are a first step of better quantifying the short-term climate responses to change in SLCFs.