09/23/2026
A new paper from 175 volunteer scholars, led by IonE’s Melissa Kenney (University of Minnesota), Bob Kopp (Rutgers University), and Costa Samaras (Carnegie Mellon University), outlines research priorities that can inform future national, sub-national, and sectoral climate assessments.
This is the first paper in the U.S. Climate Collection, a joint special collection created by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the American Meteorological Society to publish U.S.-focused climate assessment science. The commentary describes the advancements in science since the last national climate assessment and identifies opportunities for future synthesis research.
We sat down with lead author Kenney to talk about the priorities, the science, and why efforts like these matter. She emphasizes that this paper isn't just by scientists, for scientists. Its purpose is to support the research needed to help communities make climate-informed decisions.
“It is my deepest professional obligation to make sure that the specialized knowledge that I have – that our scientific community has – is not just held within the scientific community, but it is translated and shared in ways that make that science accessible and usable to everyone,” says Kenney.
Read the Q&A: https://environment.umn.edu/insights/research-roadmap-us-climate-assessments
Explore the full U.S. Climate Collection paper: https://www.agu.org/USClimateCollection/collections
