Experts Join Stony Brook University President Andrea Goldsmith to Confront the Climate Crisis and Chart a Path Forward

During Inauguration Week, a panel of scientists, policy leaders and communicators gathered to share insights on accelerating progress toward a healthier, more resilient planet.

A compelling panel of climate experts with careers spanning academia, industry, non-profits and government joined Stony Brook University President Andrea Goldsmith as part of her Inauguration for a dynamic conversation focused on the challenges posed by climate change and the strategies needed to address them. Alumni, friends, partners, faculty, staff and students gathered on Monday, April 13, for “Turning the Tide: How Science, Innovation and Partnership Are Driving Meaningful Climate Solutions,” a program held at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City and cosponsored by Stony Brook and The New York Climate Exchange.

Goldsmith opened the program by highlighting Stony Brook’s leadership and her role as board chair of The New York Climate Exchange. “Having served in this role for almost a year now, I am convinced that The New York Climate Exchange, through its powerful partnership model and compelling vision, is uniquely poised to tackle the immense and urgent challenges of mitigating the effects of climate change at speed and scale,” she said.

The Exchange, anchored by Stony Brook and with a campus planned for Governors Island, brings together the expertise of 48 partners, including universities, companies, nonprofit organizations, philanthropies and community partners. Its mission centers on three critical aspects of climate change mitigation and adaptation: harnessing climate data to drive solutions, strengthening urban and community resilience and advancing climate‑action financing. “The Climate Exchange partner model and its location in New York City, the most vibrant city in the world, and on Governors Island, one of the most beautiful parts of this great city, uniquely positions us to make meaningful progress in these areas,” Goldsmith said. “And it makes me incredibly proud that Stony Brook is the anchor institution for The Exchange and its work. If we can all work together to create solutions, I’m hopeful that we will be able to address the existential threat of climate change to our communities and to our planet, and build the solutions that we need.”

The discussion featured five panelists working at the forefront of science, policy and public engagement to bring about measurable action, each offering distinct insights shaped by their fields and experiences.

Dan Zarrilli, chief climate and sustainability officer at Columbia University, spoke about the most pressing climate challenges of the coming decade and the policy frameworks needed to address them. He noted that 2026 represents a pivotal moment, with climate impacts accelerating even as clean‑energy solutions become more accessible and affordable.

“As we’re watching the impacts of climate change continue to get worse, we’re facing a lot of challenges for what we’re dealing with,” he said. “But we’re also seeing solutions getting more plentiful and more affordable — whether it’s batteries and electric vehicles or solar and wind.”

Zarrilli emphasized that meaningful progress ultimately depends on strong, predictable policy that sets the ground rules for decarbonization. He pointed to New York City’s building‑decarbonization legislation as an example of how clear targets can unlock innovation, explaining that “the policy landscape has opened up the innovation of the market,” mobilizing entrepreneurs, startups and investors to help meet the city’s ambitious 2050 emissions goals.

Kevin Reed, chief climate scientist for The New York Climate Exchange, associate provost and Stony Brook professor, emphasized that meaningful climate solutions depend on deep, long‑term partnerships. He explained that The Exchange is being built precisely for this purpose: bringing together universities, corporations, community groups and nonprofits to ensure that a wide range of voices helps define both the problems and the solutions. 

Reed noted that more than 30 community‑based and international organizations are part of the network, underscoring that “you really need to have all of these different types of individuals at the table” to address challenges that vary from neighborhood to neighborhood. He added that this collaborative model positions The Exchange to focus on critical areas such as climate data, financing mechanisms and urban resilience, helping New York City prepare for a future where infrastructure, innovation and everyday life must adapt to a changing climate.

Jesse Jenkins, associate professor and macro‑scale energy systems engineer at Princeton University, explained that the electricity sector already has “the clearest blueprint for what it takes to decarbonize,” pointing to a tool kit that includes wind, solar, hydropower, nuclear, advanced geothermal and rapidly scaling battery storage. He emphasized that while these technologies can supply clean, low‑cost energy, the real challenge is building infrastructure fast enough to meet surging demand. “We basically need to rebuild the entirety of today’s grid, which took 150 years to build, and then double or triple it in the next 30 years,” he said. Jenkins noted that achieving this will require broad social buy-in, fair distribution of costs and a renewed commitment to building at a pace the United States hasn’t seen in generations.

Lynn Loo, CEO of the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation and the Theodora D. ’78 & William H. Walton III ’74 Professor in Engineering at Princeton University, emphasized the power of partnerships to accelerate climate progress. She described effective collaboration as bringing mission-aligned groups together who hold “very different perspectives,” noting that “it’s that tension that moves you collectively toward the same mission.” Loo explained that her organization now works with more than 130 partners and serves as a neutral, international “action tank” focused on piloting real‑world solutions. She highlighted a recent ammonia‑fuel trial involving 16 companies, many of them competitors, as an example of how identifying shared barriers, such as safety and operational guidelines, can unite industry players who might not otherwise collaborate. By convening competitors, community groups, nonprofits and global institutions around common challenges, she said, the Centre is helping to shape standards and demonstrate how collective action can drive meaningful change.

Sean Decatur, president of the American Museum of Natural History, discussed the need to bridge scientific research with public understanding and to create more spaces for people to engage meaningfully with climate issues. He noted that while most Americans believe climate change is real, many underestimate how widely that view is shared. “People are concerned — they think it’s real — but they don’t have a place to go to talk about it,” he said, adding that the museum’s work focuses on communicating the science clearly, connecting it to people’s lived experiences and helping audiences understand the solutions we can pursue collectively.

The program underscored Stony Brook’s expanding role in shaping climate leadership while also highlighting the power of bringing researchers, policymakers and the public into shared conversation. Throughout the evening, the insights exchanged made clear both the urgency of the climate crisis and the importance of collaboration in driving meaningful, science‑based solutions.

Taken together, the discussions pointed to a future in which Stony Brook and its partners help chart the path forward — not only by advancing research, but also by convening the people and ideas capable of turning that knowledge into action.  

-Written by Christine McGrath
-Photos by Juliana Thomas

View more photos from the event below.