Science Moms is a nonpartisan group of climate scientists and mothers.
We founded Science Moms to help mothers who are concerned about their childrens’ planet, but aren’t confident in their knowledge about climate change or how they can help. Together, we aim to demystify climate science and motivate everyday moms to demand solutions that preserve the planet for their kids.
As scientists, we have collectively spent decades studying our earth and what human activity is doing to it. We are steeped in this reality every day and know that to solve this problem, it will take all of us moms joining forces.
Together, we can give our children the healthy and prosperous future they deserve.
Dr. Katharine Hayhoe
Dr. Melissa Burt
Dr. Emily Fischer
Dr. Ruth DeFries
Dr. Tracey Holloway
Dr. Joellen Russell
Dr. Rosimar Rios-Berrios
Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson
Dr. Irina Marinov
Dr. Erica Smithwick
Kathy Jacobs
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Dr. Katharine Hayhoe
Katharine Hayhoe is an accomplished atmospheric scientist who studies climate change and why it matters to us here and now. She is the Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy that works on conservation and climate in more than 70 countries around the world. She is also a Distinguished Professor and Endowed Chair at Texas Tech University, and her new book, “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World” will be released by One Signal / Simon & Schuster in September 2021.
Katharine has been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, one of Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Thinkers, and is among FORTUNE magazine’s World’s Greatest Leaders. She is the 2019 recipient of the United Nations Champion of the Earth Award in Science and Innovation.
Katharine is also well-known for her work bridging the gap between scientists and Christians – work that finds its origin in her own faith. She’s been named by Christianity Today as one of their 50 Women to Watch and she serves as the World Evangelical Alliance’s Climate Ambassador. Katharine currently hosts the PBS digital series, Global Weirding: Climate, Politics and Religion. Her husband Andrew is a pastor, hosts a nationwide SiriusXM daily call-in show, and is the author of numerous popular Christian books.
Katharine was inspired to become a scientist by her father, who was a science teacher. When not working on climate change, she likes to be outside with her son, skiing in the winter and hiking or paddleboarding in the summer. She also loves to cook and knit.
Dr. Melissa Burt
Dr. Melissa Burt is a research scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University with a focus on arctic clouds, radiation, and sea ice, as well as the Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering at Colorado State University. Melissa’s research focuses on the interactions of Arctic clouds, radiation, and sea ice, with interests ranging from cloud-radiation feedbacks, hydrological and energy cycles in climate, and climate change feedbacks. Dr. Burt oversees strategic and implementation efforts for diversity, inclusion, and equity goals across the college. This position focuses on recruitment, retention, and engagement of faculty/staff, and supports the college-wide recruitment and retention efforts of undergraduate and graduate students from historically underrepresented groups.
She lives in Colorado with her husband and young daughter. Melissa and her daughter love to go to the beach, which they consider a happy escape for both of them. She first became interested in science by reading the children’s page in the Washington Post with her grandfather, especially the segments about weather. She’s now a research scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado University with a focus on Arctic clouds, radiation, and sea ice.
Dr. Emily Fischer
Dr. Emily Fischer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University (CSU). She is also an affiliate faculty member of the CSU School of Global Environmental Sustainability (SoGES). When she’s not teaching, Dr. Fischer leads a number of initiatives designed to provide high-quality mentorship to the next generation. She has been awarded a Macelwane Medal by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in recognition of significant early career contributions to the Earth Sciences as well as the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Atmospheric Chemistry Committee Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award.
Emily is a mom of two daughters, ages 5 and 8. Colorado is home now, but she is originally from Rhode Island and misses the ocean terribly in the summer. She likes to paint anything — toes, canvases, furniture, etc. — and eat olives (any kind will do). She likes watching romantic comedies, reading books with her kids, and reading approximately half of each of the books chosen by her book club.
Dr. Ruth DeFries
Dr. Ruth DeFries is a professor of ecology and sustainable development at Columbia University in New York. In addition to authoring over 100 scientific papers, she has written books on the complexities of sustainable development, such as “The Big Ratchet: How Humanity Thrives in the Face of Natural Crisis” and “What Would Nature Do?: A Guide for Our Uncertain Times.” Dr. DeFries is also committed to linking science with policy, as shown in her involvement with the Environmental Defense Fund, Science for Nature and People, and the World Wildlife Fund. Among many other distinctions, Dr. DeFries was elected a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, one of the country’s highest scientific honors, and received a MacArthur “Genius” Award.
Ruth is both a mother and a grandmother. Her children grew up in a time where climate change was a future risk, but her grandchildren are growing up in a time where climate change is a here and now reality. Her motivation for her work is to make the world a better place for everyone.
Dr. Tracey Holloway
Dr. Tracey Holloway is the 2017-2021 Gaylord Nelson Distinguished Professor at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, jointly appointed in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the Department of Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences. She serves as the Team Lead for the NASA Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Team, working on air quality management and public health. Tracey is a co-founder and the first President of the Earth Science Women’s Network “ESWN.” She was the first-ever recipient of the MIT C3E Award in Education and Mentoring, a Stanford University Leopold Leadership Fellow, and was awarded the 2018 UW-Madison Undergraduate Research Student Mentoring Award.
Tracey has two boys, an eleven-year-old dreamer full of stories and ideas, and a four month old who is just starting to show what his personality is! She’s been able to take up hobbies inspired by her children’s interest and things they all enjoy doing together, such as cooking, reading, going to museums. She wishes there were more than 24 hours a day to give to both her family and science, both of which are team sports.
Dr. Joellen Russell
Dr. Joellen Russell is the Thomas R. Brown Distinguished Chair of Integrative Science and Professor at the University of Arizona in the Department of Geosciences. She currently serves as chair of the NOAA Science Advisory Board’s Climate Working Group, as an Objective Leader for the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research’s AntarcticClimate21, and on the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s Community Earth System Model Advisory Board. Before joining UA, Prof. Russell was a Research Scientist at Princeton University and the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory.
Joellen is the mother of two children, 9 and 13. Her children and students’ compassion, kindness, and hard work have convinced her that when it’s their turn, we’ll all be in good hands. Growing up in a tiny fishing village in the arctic, she was always fascinated by the ocean and knew she wanted to be an oceanographer at the age of twelve.
Dr. Rosimar Rios-Berrios
Dr. Rosimar Rios-Berrios is a Scientist I at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. Her research focuses on high-impact weather, especially tropical cyclones, numerical weather prediction, and precipitation extremes. Dr. Rios-Berrios also spends a great deal of her time mentoring the next generation of scientists through internships and short-term visits at NCAR.
Rosi, as most people call her, was born and raised in Puerto Rico where her family endured the devastating effects of Hurricane Maria, including many weeks without any communication and several long months without power or water. Her experience inspired her to further understand how climate change impacts extreme weather events.
She lives in Colorado now with her husband and their one-year old son, Loki. While she misses the warm, tropical days on the Island, she also enjoys living in a place with seasons and outdoor activities all year round. When she is not working, she is likely hiking, running, sewing, cooking, doing yoga or pilates, or just playing with her little one.
Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson
Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson is an Associate Dean and Carolina Distinguished Professor in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of South Carolina. Her research focuses on understanding the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients and carbon and they are influenced by climate change. Her many research honors include the Early Career Award in Oceanography from the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and being named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography. Claudia is passionate about teaching and mentoring the next generation and is active in many efforts to increase diversity in the sciences.
Claudia has been happily married to her husband, Bryan, for over 25 years and has two children Noah (20) and Julia (16) who tower over their mother. It is unclear from where their musical talent is derived, however, their love of the outdoors is shared by the whole family. Claudia’s favorite pastime is family vacations to any location new and adventurous (and without snow).
Dr. Irina Marinov
Dr. Irina Marinov is a climate scientist and an associate professor at University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Irina received an Undergraduate Research Mentorship award and holds the honor of being the first woman to be tenured in the Earth and Env Sciences Dept at UPenn.
Irina uses big models and satellite data to study the role of the oceans on our climate and the impact of climate change on the oceans. She has worked on global oxygen, nutrient and carbon cycling in the ocean, phytoplankton ecology, ocean circulation and the dynamics of huge holes in the Antarctic ice called polynyas.
Irina grew up in Romania and was inspired to become a scientist by her family, who often spent time in nature. She has also been lucky to have inspiring teachers and mentors throughout her education and professional life. Before joining UPenn, Irina was a student at Middlebury College and at Princeton, a NOAA Climate and Global Change postdoctoral fellow at MIT and a postdoctoral researcher at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Irina, her cosmologist husband, and their two boys love being part of their vibrant and diverse West Philadelphia community, and are busy on weekends discovering new pockets of nature in Pennsylvania. Sometimes she gets asked, “Aren’t you depressed to study climate change?” Her answer is always, “Absolutely not! It’s up to us to fix and heal the planet. Together we can and will do it.”
Dr. Erica Smithwick
Dr. Erica Smithwick’s research focuses on sustainable land management under climate change, with particular focus on wildfire and natural carbon storage strategies. She is a Distinguished Professor of Geography in the Department of Geography at The Pennsylvania State University, where she is also an Associate Director of the Institutes of Energy and Environment. She served as a Fulbright Scholar in South Africa and is currently an Administrative Fellow.
Erica is a mom of three children, ages 18, 16, and 9, two dogs, two cats, numerous goldfish (“won” at the local fair), and former nanny to many guinea pigs and hamsters. Erica’s love of science is coupled with a love of travel, and one of Erica’s greatest joys is inspiring that sense of adventure in her kids. When not with them or at the “Smithwick zoo,” she loves trail running with friends (one of whom re-introduced her to a hula hoop) and her pollinator garden.
Kathy Jacobs
Kathy Jacobs is a professor of Environmental Science at the University of Arizona and Director of the Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions (CCASS), focused on building adaptation and assessment capacity at multiple scales. CCASS is within the Arizona Institutes for Resilience, and builds capacity to accelerate adaptation and on-the-ground solutions to climate issues. From 2010 – 2013, Jacobs worked in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House. She was director of the Third National Climate Assessment, and the lead advisor on water science, policy, and adaptation. From 2006-2009 Jacobs was Executive Director of the Arizona Water Institute, a consortium of Arizona’s three universities focused on water sustainability. She worked 23 years as a water manager for the Arizona Department of Water Resources. Jacobs is a trustee of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, a member of the National Academies Board on Environmental Change and Society, and serves on 15 other advisory committees.
Kathy has two grown daughters, one of whom is Assistant Principal at a public elementary school in Denver, and the other works on ecosystem restoration and adaptation to sea level rise in California. She has three grandchildren and hopes to minimize the impact of climate change on their futures!
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