Some of Alexis Abramson’s earliest memories were colored by the impact of industry on the environment—namely, the polluted Cuyahoga River, which famously caught on fire near her hometown when she was young. Being a good steward of the planet became ingrained in her identity and led Abramson to a career in engineering and sustainability, and now to her new role as dean of the Climate School.

As someone steeped both in science and liberal arts, Abramson says the Climate School, with its expertise in multiple disciplines, is in a unique position to tackle the climate crisis. “It can be a leader in solutions-focused collaboration by bringing the disciplines together,” she says.

We sat down with Abramson to learn more about her commitment to climate action, her ideas on innovation and collaboration, and the impact she believes the school will have on addressing the climate crisis.

What personal experiences have shaped your commitment to climate action, and how do they influence your approach as a leader in this field?

I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, which was a steel town. Because of industrial waste, when I was growing up, the Cuyahoga River caught fire many times. As a young child, I didn’t really understand why that was significant, but later it became embedded in my thinking around environmental issues.

I love the outdoors and really consider it part of who I am. To support the planet and support living things, we needed to take responsibility for our actions. We need to be good citizens of the planet. That philosophy became integrated into my education and subsequent career. That, combined with my interest and experience as a leader—leading the Climate School and helping everybody in our community have that kind of impact—is probably the greatest challenge and opportunity I’ve been given in my career.

As the incoming dean, what is your leadership philosophy, and what’s your approach to building a culture of collaboration and innovation within the school?

I’m highly collaborative. Be it programs that we’re implementing or practices we’re considering, I try to get as much of the faculty, researchers, staff and students engaged with them, because that’s how we can have the greatest impact.

I’m also very strategic and metrics driven. I think it’s really important to have a vision for the future and to be as specific about that vision as possible, because that vision guides decision-making. It’s one thing to say that we’re a great climate school. It’s another thing to give real concrete examples that demonstrate we’re on our path to getting there.

Regarding a culture of innovation: I think that’s been embedded in the Climate School since day one. It’s unlike other schools. It’s very solutions-focused, while most schools are discipline focused.

What strengths do you think the Climate School offers in the global climate landscape, and how might you further cultivate them?

The Climate School is essentially a new paradigm for higher education. Most schools are very disciplinary, and yet the Climate School is multidisciplinary, incorporating engineering and science and business and policy and human health and psychology and sociology and anthropology. Having all these things under one umbrella is unique and quite a strength, particularly if you’re focused on solutions. All these things come together in unique ways to tackle such interdisciplinary problems. In addition, being in New York City, with the many global connections we have, is a huge advantage. Climate is a global problem.

What strategies do you have for increasing collaboration between climate science, policy, economics and even the arts and humanities? 

I’d love for us to use more quantitative and tangible metrics. For example, how many gigatons of CO2-equivalent are we saving a year, or how many millions of human lives are we saving? We’re going to need a lot of collaborative thinking to get to that point, and so how do we get people to have productive and high-impact conversations? I’m used to working with multidisciplinary teams and in some of the other roles that I’ve had, in particular at Dartmouth where I was the dean of engineering, we implemented and leveraged design-thinking approaches to solve complex problems. Design thinking is essentially a creative problem-solving process that uses a systematic approach to lead to positive solutions and outcomes. It considers the real needs of the people, along with possibilities presented by technology, business and policy. I think the Climate School can be a leader in piloting these solutions by bringing the disciplines together and by using a more design-thinking, human-centered approach. That way we get to better solutions faster, which is exactly what we need. 

You’ve been a strong supporter of women in STEM. How might you promote women and underrepresented students at the Climate School? 

Everyone should feel like they can come to school or work as their true selves; they should feel valued and that their work has impact. If you start with that premise, and with an understanding that people come with different experiences and different needs and different selves, you need to design the system in such a way where everybody can come to the table with passion and commitment and feeling valued.

At Dartmouth, we spent a lot of time surveying focus groups with the faculty, staff and students, and understanding where the pain points were. We established small working groups comprised of the people who were experiencing some frustrations or challenges, for example, women and underrepresented minorities, and then worked with our colleagues to find solutions to those very specific things. I’d love to bring more of that very action-oriented, solutions-driven work so that we can continue to tackle some of the challenges that people face and overcome those barriers together.  

Climate change disproportionately affects marginalized communities. How might you ensure that the school’s research, education and outreach efforts are inclusive and address these inequalities?

I think that comes from making sure that we’re engaging the whole community in these discussions around inclusivity, in any decision making. That collaboration piece is so important—no matter what we’re doing and the education we’re delivering, the research, and the practices we’re implementing. To me, it’s about collaboration and building community and the culture where that’s appreciated. We should be celebrating achievements across diverse populations as well, so that everybody can see the benefits of diversity.

As an engineer, you’ve had a commitment to climate throughout your career. How does your background help position you to lead the Climate School? 

I realized a long time ago that engineering alone would not be the answer to societal problems. I’m a big believer in engineering and the liberal arts—engineers alone can’t solve these problems; they need the business, the policy, the basic science, the human behavior pieces, the human health pieces. It’s one of the reasons why I chose to go to Tufts University, a liberal arts college with engineering. It’s why I’m finishing up my term as dean of engineering at a liberal arts college with engineering. It’s integral to who I am. I’m hoping that my background can really help us think about how to take the multidisciplinary approach we have at the Climate School to that next level.