At 16, Katya Kondragunta has already lived through two disasters amped by climate change. First came wildfires in California in 2020. Ash and smoke forced her family to stay inside their home in the Bay Area city of Fremont, for weeks. Then they moved to Prosper, Texas, where she dealt with record-setting heat last summer. “We’ve had horrible heat waves and they’ve impacted my everyday life,” the high school junior said. “I’m in cross country ...
“It has these interesting technical parts in math and physics, but then also has this element of geology,” she said, “and oceanography and ecology.' When higher ed institutions put their programs together, they often draw on existing meteorology and atmospheric sciences studies. Some house climate under sustainability or environmental science departments. But climate tracks need to go beyond those to satisfy some incoming students.