Lots of Recent Activity at Mekik Climatology Lab (MCL)

Breaking: Figen Mekik, lead PI of MCL, has moved to the Physics Department at Grand Valley State University. She continues teaching in Geology.

New articles about teaching and learning:

Tips for Successful Asynchronous Teaching: Creating Engaging Content (Part 1),  in Times Higher Education (THE), Campus  on March 17, 2025; THE is a weekly journal with global reach (international readership)

Tips for Successful Asynchronous Teaching: Supporting students (Part 2),  in Times Higher Education (THE), Campus on March 20, 2025.

Advice for College First Years from a Quarter-Century Professor, published in The Teaching Professor on March 10, 2025. The Teaching Professor is a weekly journal with international reach (readership) - pdf of article

Of Sound Mind and Memory: An Unexpected Way to Engage Students in General Education Courses published in The Teaching Professor on February 12, 2024 - pdf of article.

See other selected publications by MCL.

New grant from the National Science Foundation: MCL received a new research grant from the National Science Foundation in the amount of $314,368. The project focuses on ocean/atmospere exchange of carbon on millennial timescales. This is a collaborative project between Figen Mekik (PI) at Grand Valley and Robert Anderson (co-PI) at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. The 3-year project will support 8 undergraduate scholars including their visits to national labs and conferences. See all funding for MCL.

Climate Meme Contest (2025): 175 unique climate science memes have been submitted by undergraduates at Grand Valley State..

News from students scholars at MCL:

Jacob Dunwoody, a geology-chemistry major at GV and MCL scholar, has been accepted to graduate school at Old Dominion University with full stipend and tuition waiver. Congratulations Jacob!!

John Jachalke and Michael Grieb both graduated from MCL. 

We proudly have two new student scholars at MCL. Welcome Christian Cline, Geology major conidering climate science, and Abraham Parsons, geology and biology double major. See their information on the student scholars page. 

Two student scholars from MCL, Hugo Rainey and Jacob Dunwoody, presented their research at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in December 2024. Hugo's work focuses on developing an oceanic aragonite dissolution proxy. Jacob is working on expanding the calibration of the foraminifer-based Mg/Ca paleothermometer. See more details on the MCL student scholars page.

Mekik Climatology Lab (MCL) is the home of active scientific research and education focused on climate science, paleoclimate, paleoceanography, and climate science education. Our website is designed to serve both the GVSU community and the broader climate science education community with resources for educating students, teachers, faculty, and our communities about climate science. MCL's core mission is to generate new knowledge, and to serve as a growing and interactive resource for all things related to climate science.

MCL offers multiple student scholars opportunities to actively engage in funded climate science research during their undergraduate program at GVSU. It also boasts numerous alumni of the lab many of whom have gone on to attend graduate school and found gainful employment in their chosen fields. 

MCL Motto: You don't have to be smart to do science, but the more you do science, the smarter you will become.

How to Become a Student Scholar at MCL: If you wish to apply to become a student scholar at MCL, send mekikf@gvsu.edu an email now with a brief letter of interest and your resume. You must be enrolled at GVSU as an undergrad to apply. Make sure to include your major in your application materials.

Paleoceanography/Paleoclimatology listserv: If you wish to join the listserv, or wish to send out a missive to the PP community, send your request to mekikf@gvsu.edu.

More on this page:

• NEW! Winners announced in Best Climate Meme Contest
• Climatology
• Weird Climate Science
• Ask a Climate Scientist

Best Climate Meme Contest 2023 - Congratulations to our Winning Climate Memers!!!

The Mekik Climatology Lab ran its first annual Climate Meme Contest. The objective of the contest is to develop the best meme elucidating a critical piece of information, correcting a misconception, or promoting a change in attitude about climate science, climate change, or developing resilience toward the adverse effects of climate change. By meme we mean something pithy and meaningful that could be posted on social media.

Eighty seven memes were submitted by undergraduates from across the GVSU campus, and a judging panel of 20 faculty and administrators evaluated the memes. We are very pleased by the work of our stduents and congratulate our winners!!

First place goes to Logan Gluesing

Second place to Nathan Jenkins

And third place to Stephanie Michmurheizen

Climatology

Climatology is the scientific exploration of climate - past, present, and future. It is a synonym of climate science.

Climate Science is an Earth system science with many interacting components including the atmosphere, ocean, Sun, and carbon; to name just a handful.

• The Earth experienced great extremes of climate, both hot and cold, during its vast history. Many of these events are unimaginable by our modern measures and experiences.
• Humans evolved as a species during a cold period in Earth history - not a warm one. 
• So humans and many other organisms find fast-paced warming hard to adapt to.

Weird Climate Science

The Earth experienced multiple episodes of global glaciation (land and sea). These times are called times of Snowball Earth.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide, though fluctuating dramatically, has probably reached its lowest level during modern times but before the Industrial Revolution.

Oxygen is a new gas in the atmosphere - about 2 to 2.5 billion years young that is! For context, the Earth is 3.8 to 4.6 billion years old.

Ocean acidification is also known as the "Other CO2 Problem".

Not eating meat is a personal choice some make to curb anthropogenic climate change, but rice agriculture is a significant source of methane to the atmosphere which is a very potent greenhouse gas.

In fact, methane is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Ask a Climate Scientist

Please email us (mekikf@gvsu.edu) with your questions about climate science or modern and past climate change. You will receive a reply from a climate scientist with answers to your question and links to further information within 48 hours.