@vanessainstem
She/her 🇧🇷🇹🇼🇺🇸🏳️🌈 Atmospheric chemist & mathematician, studying air quality in Salt Lake City. Mostly sharing academic & COVID related posts. Clean Air Kits discount at: https://linktr.ee/vanessasun CUNY ➡️ MIT ➡️UUtah (PhDing 👩🏻💻)
Present your research at the 2026 CNY Environmental Science & Studies Conference (March 27–28, SUNY ESF)! Student oral talks (10–12 min) & posters welcome. Free, interdisciplinary, and open regionally.
Registration deadline is March 6! There are still lots of spots open for student talks!
Student sharing a PowerPoint
Student sharing a graphical abstract
Celebrated #PhycologyFriday in lab meeting with project updates & graphical abstracts. Proud #newPI here! 🌊 🧪
Is this still open for signing? I was going to see if I could send it to some people in my dept but it doesn’t look like it’s editable on my end, so you might have closed it off?
We already have over 40 signatures from US researchers and professors supporting NSF-NCAR and telling NSF to maintain control of the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputer with NCAR! Do sign and share.
Very glad to be doing this with @350brooklyn.bsky.social and @bklynlibrary.bsky.social! Join us next Saturday afternoon, RSVP link follows --
Red broken heart graphic on a navy blue background. The text overlay on the heart reads: "Having Long Covid is heartbreaking because… sweeping my apartment means spending a day in bed." Above the heart, highlighted text reads: "Share what it’s like to live with Long Covid by March 1." In the bottom right of the graphic is a teal bubble; inside, the text reads "your experience here" with an arrow pointing to the heart.
Red broken heart graphic on a navy blue background. The text overlay on the heart reads: "Long Covid is heartbreaking because… it’s robbed my son of his childhood and his education." Above the heart, highlighted text reads: "Caregivers: Share your Long Covid experience by March 1." In the bottom right of the graphic is a teal bubble; inside, the text reads "your experience here" with an arrow pointing to the heart.
March 1 is the deadline to share your Long Covid story for our public awareness project. Submissions will be displayed at our Long Covid Awareness Day events on March 15th, to highlight the many different ways #LongCovid is heartbreaking.
Submit your story here: covidsociety.ca/priorities/l...
Four-panel comic of a black cat with stern eyes and the text “I wish your March is full of…”. In the final panel, the cat’s eyes turn big and shiny against a pink background as it holds a small red heart.
As spring break approaches, I hear the sound of my former advisor’s voice saying, “Spring break is an undergrad holiday” (and also lamenting about how it didn’t used to be a holiday between Christmas and New Year’s).
The best things that came out of a geology class I took at Harvard were the 2 good friends I made and the dinosaur nuggets that one of them introduced me to
Thanks to my geology friend for introducing me to dinosaur chicken nuggets. Now I only buy the dino ones, no other chicken nugget is worthy :)
Need more industries to speak up against the attacks on NCAR.
www.riskmarketnews.com/trumps-clima...
Let me just make a few little adjustments to that title…
“How a scientist with a PhD in Geology and 25 years of experience is helping lead California’s earthquake work”
Way to devalue my experience.
AI is not inevitable. If we had sane people in government that were not in thrall to billionaire tech CEOs, LLMs could be regulated, forced to obey existing copyright laws, and banned from places where their use is inappropriate, such as college classes. This should be a moderate position.
Please enjoy our research paper on how Bluesky is the preferred home of academics of all stripes, including professors of rare moths. (Yes, we actually have lots of entomologists here).
academic.oup.com/icb/article-... 🧪
Last December, weather and climate scientists sat down with us to tell us why they loved the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and why it benefits us all. Last night, the NSF began dismantling it. Listen to what they have to say, and why it's urgent that we #SaveNCAR wclivestream.com/act
While others are stepping back on climate, Project Drawdown is stepping up!
We’re proud to announce the Climate Science Serving America Fellowship to support U.S.-based Ph.D.-level scientists & engineers focused on climate solutions for the public good.
drawdown.org/news/project...
The EPA's decision not to rely on the DOE Climate Working Group report for the Endangerment Finding repeal is appropriate. The report’s fundamental flaws make it unsuitable as a basis for policy decisions. The report demonstrates systematic methodological failures. It relies heavily on cherry-picked studies while omitting contrary evidence from the peer-reviewed literature. Key findings are presented in ways that misrepresent what the underlying research actually shows. These are not minor errors—they are the kinds of problems that would render a scientific analysis indefensible in any rigorous review process, including judicial review. The process itself also failed to meet basic scientific standards. The report was not peer reviewed and certainly appears to be working backward from a pre-determined conclusion. The DOE received substantial public comments challenging the report’s conclusions after the public release but never responded to them. A credible scientific assessment requires engagement with contrary evidence and criticism, not silence. Notably, the Climate Working Group’s membership are the cream of the crop of climate contrarians. The DOE report therefore represents the best case against mainstream science. That they produced a report that is so lacking in credibility actually demonstrates how strong mainstream climate science actually is.
I've been getting a lot of requests from reporters for comments about the removal of the DOE Climate Working Group report from the EPA's repeal of the endangerment finding.
Here are some comments:
Happy birthday to Charles Darwin,
patron saint of tired scientists, grumpy fieldworkers, and hating your own manuscript.
“Do you ever think about
how much life goes on around you
while you go about your business?”
My first new comics poem for Terra Affirma is live: sarahmgilman.substack.com/p/passages-f...
Great piece out today in Physics Today on historical origins, contemporary relevance, & fundamental irreplaceability of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which remains at imminent risk of dismantling for partisan political reasons.
Eawag 2-year postdoc fellowship in Switzerland. Funding for Independent projects hosted in one of the research departments… come join us in Switzerland 🇨🇭! apply.refline.ch/673277/1335/...
Girls don’t want flowers for Valentine’s Day.
They want you to book them a shark research experience that raises money for science outreach!
I can help. Let’s chat.
Update: their defenses don’t overlap so I can go to both!!! YAY!
Dear journalists: carbon dioxide is correctly written as CO₂
It is not:
C0₂
CO²
Co or Co₂ (Co is cobalt)
C02 or C0² (please, make it stop)
CO2 is just, barely, acceptable
Here is the third lecture of my graduate Environmental Security course. This week covered the topic of climate and security. youtube.com/watch?v=DpoKNGNt2q8&feature=youtu.be
While another friend has announced that she is quitting her PhD program, another two of my friends are having their PhD defenses on the same day! 😵💫 So many feelings.
Email titled Enter Subject Here with the text: Dear Chris, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31. Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall Deputy Headmistress
Email titled “Message sent in error” with the text: To Whom it May Concern: You may have recently received an email with test language which was sent in error. Please disregard this message. We apologize for any inconvenience.
I am very inconvenienced that I have not been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Esri!
Does this mean I’m not a wizard??
Western Water Assessment has produced a 2025 hazard summary for the Intermountain West—Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.
Read the report here: wwa.colorado.edu/resources/ha...
@cires.colorado.edu #drought #wildfire #flood #hail #tornado #highwind
Just about all of my climate data visualizations should finally be updated to include the latest data through 2025/2026 🥹
For example...
Global Climate Indicators: zacklabe.com/climate-chan...
Polar Climate Indicators [all links for the different pages are listed here]: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...
I sold a math book to a math grad student and now we are about to become besties🤞🏼 He says he might want to go into climate science after his PhD AND he did both chemistry & math in undergrad?! It’s like the perfect setup for instant friendship 😭