Mission Statement
The mission of the James B. Near Center for Climate Studies is to promote climate science through education, research, transition to operations, and community engagement and the development of public-private partnerships. The scope of the Center’s activities will consist of the relation of Earth’s climate to (a) national security, (b) coastal environment and infrastructure, and (c) human health and welfare.
National Security
Climate effects are a “threat multiplier” for the US military and a critical issue into the foreseeable future. The Department of Defense, as well as many other federal agencies, are prioritizing investments in research that focus on environmental risks, for example improving computer models that resolve interactions among sea level rise, extreme precipitation, and storm surge. Thus, the Center will partner with the Department of Cyber and Computer Sciences for building climate models, the Department of Intelligence and Security Studies to meet the challenge of future uncertainty in national security and ROTC to link with the needs of the branches of the military.
Related Research funded by a Climatological Research Studies Grant:
| Infrastructure Reliability, Public Perception, and Social Networks: A Social Sensing Approach to Study Evacuation Decisions During Natural Disasters |
| A Social Sensing and Image Processing Approach for Detecting Acute and Chronic Climate Hazards |
| Change Detection and Dimensionality Reduction in Hyperspectral Imagery |
| Climate Change Impacts to Ports and Extended Coastal Supply Chains: Exploring Critical Infrastructure Vulnerabilities and Strategies for Strengthening Supply Chain Climate Adaptation and Resilience |
Coastal Environment and Infrastructure
Recurrent flooding is a priority issue for policy makers in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Flooding is costly to coastal communities through loss of revenue and degradation of infrastructure. However, flooding is not the only climate related problem facing this region of South Carolina. Severe heat waves are detrimental to coastal tourism, rising sea surface temperatures affect fish populations, and acute drought events can decrease freshwater supply and increase salinity levels affecting agricultural productivity and ecosystem services. Solutions to these problems, e.g. green and grey engineering projects, require an interdisciplinary approach, which is not possible within traditional academic programs. Thus, the Center will partner with the Department of Physics to understand tidal flow and heights, Biology to assess coastal ecosystem health, and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering for climate-resilient coastal infrastructure.
Related Research funded by a Climatological Research Studies Grant:
| Environmental Effects on Muscle Function in a Recreationally Important Fisheries Species, Cynoscion Nebulosus: Temperature and Parasite Host Interactions |
| Long Term Study of Tides on the Ashley River: Flow Speed and Water Levels |
| Effects of Temperature on Barnacle Biomechanics: Larval Swimming and Adult Feeding in a Globally Important Biofouling Barnacle, Amphibalanus amphitrite |
| Modeling the Coupled Effects of Sea-Level Rise and Electric Vehicles on Low Lying Coastal Roads |
| Assessing Environmental Exposure and Temperature-Related Effects of Floodwater-Associated Tire Wear Particles to Daggerblade Grass Shrimp, Palaemon pugio |
Public Health and Welfare
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the necessity of science literacy. Like public health science, climate science is inherently global, involves many feedback loops and requires the critical analysis of data trends. Climate extremes also can be linked to health disparities. The Center will partner with the Department of Biology to understand climate’s impact on water quality, Department of Chemistry to monitor atmospheric pollutants, Department of Health and Human Performance to relate climate to physical activity and exertion, the Swain Department of Nursing to better understand climate-related health outcomes, and the Department of Mathematics for big-data mining and interpretation
Related Research funded by a Climatological Research Studies Grant:
| Impact of Nuisance Flooding on Charleston Coastal Waterways: Are Unwanted Bacteria More Prevalent in Our Backyards? |
| Encroaching Tides and Extreme Rainfall: Charleston-Area Floodwater as a Source of Microplastic and Tire Wear Particles in Our Coastal Waterway |
| Exploring the Role of Photocatalytic Decomposition of Perfluorooctanoic Acid on a Mineral Dust Proxy |
| Further Characterization of Potential Bacterial Pathogens in Nuisance Flooding Affecting Charleston: Implications for Human Health |
| Assessing the Role of Nuisance Flooding in Transporting Street-Associated Microplastic and Tire Wear Particle into Adjacent Tidal-Creek Salt Marsh Systems |
| Quantifying the Cooling Effects of Street Trees in Charleston, SC |
Purpose
The Lt. Col. James B. Near Jr., USAF, ’77, Center for Climate Studies (a.k.a. the “Center”) serves the students and faculty of The Citadel and citizens of South Carolina by enhancing understanding of climate and its variability, change, and risks. It will guide curriculum development in atmospheric and climate science, conduct place-based research, and inform and promote the design of sustainable, scientifically sound, technologically feasible, economically efficient, and ethically defensible climate-risk management strategies. As climate change is a critical issue facing the nation’s military and citizenry into the foreseeable future, the Center is vital to The Citadel’s mission of educating and training principled leaders. It appears as Objective 6.3 within The Citadel’s strategic plan, Our Mighty Citadel 2026: Advancing Our Legacy of Leadership, and has been endowed with a gift from a deceased alumnus.