Autumn 2025
An Intro to Climate Systems Engineering
By Members of the Climate Systems Engineering Initiative
(including David Keith, Tiffany Shaw, and B. B. Cael)
Saturdays at 11am, October 4 - November 22, 2025
Location: Kersten Physics Teaching Center, 5720 South Ellis Avenue, room 106
This event is free and for the public. Attend in person or watch the livestream here!
An Introduction to Climate Systems Engineering is a multidisciplinary exploration of emerging approaches to reduce climate change itself and mitigate some of its risks. Featuring talks by leading researchers from the University of Chicago’s Climate Systems Engineering initiative (CSEI), this series will examine the science, technologies, and policy implications behind large-scale interventions such as sunlight reflection methods (SRM), open-systems carbon removal, and glacial preservation. Join us for a primer on what’s possible with this emerging field and what kinds of public policy and research are needed if society chooses to pursue these tools.
Learn more about the Climate Systems Engineering Initiative at https://climateengineering.uchicago.edu
Schedule
October 4: Climate as a 4D Problem
David Keith introduces the series, outlining the four dimensions of climate action: decarbonization, carbon removal, sunlight reflection, and adaptation; the four tools that can weaken the causal chain that stretches from economic activity to the impacts of climate change on humans and nature.
October 11: Carbon Removal Part 1: The Carbon Removal Landscape
David Archer introduces the carbon cycle and natural geochemical processes as a basis for explaining how humans might intervene in these cycles to deliberately remove carbon, reversing the accumulation of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion.
October 18: Climate Models
Tiffany Shaw explains the scientific basis for predicting how the climate changes in response to emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosol pollution and examines what climate models can and cannot tell us about what to expect.
October 25: Carbon Removal Part 2: A Deep Dive into the Methods
B. B. Cael and detail approaches to carbon removal, including ocean alkalinity enhancement, land-based methods, bioenergy with carbon capture, and direct air capture with storage.
November 1: Sunlight Reflection Methods (SRM) Part 1: How to Reflect Sunlight
David Keith provides an overview of sunlight reflection methods (SRM), the history of SRM, and why stratospheric aerosols like sulfur are central to climate systems engineering approaches.
November 8: Glaciers and a Journey Through Direct Air Capture
Doug MacAyeal discusses the science of glaciers and introduces interventions to prevent glacial melt. David Keith recounts his experience developing technologies for direct air capture at Carbon Engineering, and draws critical lessons about the role of cleantech start-up companies in developing climate-tech.
November 15: Sunlight Reflection Methods (SRM) Part 2: Consequences
David Keith and Tiffany Shaw review the expected climate responses to SRM, potential side effects, and what can be learned from past aerosol pollution, highlighting the limits and uncertainties of experiments.
November 22: Climate Systems Engineering in Context
David Keith and Tiffany Shaw will discuss the field of climate systems engineering and speculate about its future.
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