Meetings & Events

Upcoming events

Rice SciPol meetings

Wednesday at 6 PM CT

We have informal Zoom meetings every other Wednesday to catch up and discuss science policy initiatives in progress. Please email RiceSciPol@gmail.com for call details.

Previous events

Dr. Katharine Hayhoe:
COVID-19, climate change and reaching across the aisle


In 2020, the U.S. saw intense forest fires and a record number of hurricanes and other extreme weather events as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. All have highlighted the fracture lines that can sometimes exist between science experts and science skeptics. 2020 demonstrated how the lack of collaboration and trust in both climate and public health science has led to worse societal outcomes — indicating that more effective science communication and communicators are needed. In this event, Katharine Hayhoe, co-director of the Climate Center at Texas Tech University, discussed her work as an atmospheric scientist and a renowned science communicator who aims to bridge cultural and political divides with regard to climate science.

This event was part of the Civic Scientist Lecture Series, sponsored by the Baker Institute Science and Technology Policy Program with generous support from Benjamin and Winifer Cheng. Additional support was provided by Rice University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering and Wiess School of Natural Sciences and grants from the Kavli Foundation and the National Science Foundation (Grant No. 2042854). Follow @stpolicy on Twitter, and join the conversation with #BakerScience.