The Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center’s 2024 Annual Gathering will take place from August 13-15 in East Lansing, Michigan. It will be hosted by Michigan State University, a MW CASC consortium member institution, at their STEM Teaching & Learning Facility.

Where the Water Meets the Land

Michigan is surrounded by Great Lakes and home to 20 million acres of forest. The Michigan State University Campus itself is situated on the banks of the Red Cedar River. At this year’s Annual Gathering, we’ll have a special focus on climate adaptation at the interface of land and water, including how research and planning can be better integrated to support climate solutions, navigating complex policy, and environmental justice implications, such as the cultural and spiritual importance of water to Tribal Nations, inequities related to water and greenspace access, and other issues. While we’ll highlight local work and perspectives related to this theme, this is a topic of region-wide relevance – altered hydrological regimes and novel terrestrial landscapes are two of the key management challenges the MW CASC identified in our science agenda. 

What to Expect at the 2024 Annual Gathering 

As always, we want to take advantage of our time together to deepen engagement and collaboration across our community. We’ll be emphasizing interactive sessions and networking opportunities. Many of our sessions will highlight Midwest CASC-funded research, address our science priorities, and demonstrate our core values in action.  

We won’t just be talking about land and water, either. After experiencing one of the warmest winters on record, loss of winter, one of the MW CASC’s key management challenges, is going to be a hot topic at the Gathering. Our event venue, the first mass timber building in Michigan, showcases another throughline in our planning discussions: adaptation and mitigation as complementary strategies to address the challenges of climate change. Finally, climate justice and the role of climate adaptation science will be a cross-cutting theme at the event. 

Interested in submitting your research or poster for consideration of inclusion? Our call for abstracts is open until May 31. 

Who’s Invited

The Annual Gathering is open to the entire MW CASC community, including researchers on funded projects, students, current and prospective partners, and staff and faculty at consortium member institutions. We hope to see you there!