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Advancing University Education

student surveying
Photo credit: Ben Horton/Jennifer Walker

C2R2 has significantly benefited the participating students as well as the overall University.

Alumni Success Stories

One of the main goals of C2R2 is to create a diverse cadre of highly qualified coastal climate risk management researchers and practitioners. C2R2 has achieved this goal through as evidenced by the careers and academic success of our alumni.

9 out of 12 C2R2 students who have graduated from Rutgers are currently working in resilience related fields. Alumni of the program are currently employed by private companies (e.g. Princeton Hydro, Michael Baker, EDR, Silman, and Roux Associates), the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, and other academic institutions (e.g. U Penn’s Warton Risk Center).

In addition, our students have gone on to win multiple awards, including those from the Council of University Transportation Centers, as well as fellowships, such as the and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Policy Fellowship.


Evaluation Results:

Survey results collected by an external evaluator indicate that even after participating for 1 year, the overall program has already impacted students’ professional development in meaningful ways including their:

  • ability to integrate theory and practice to identify and test adaptation strategies.
  • understanding of how municipalities work to address real problems in climate risk and adaptation.
  • understanding of how to work with stakeholders to address real problems in climate risk and adaptation.
  • understanding of the language used by various stakeholders.
  • ability to communicate with different stakeholder groups.

Meanwhile, end of program results indicated students feel C2R2 gives them different kinds of competitive advantages over their peers, including:

  • Ability to identify research gaps and stakeholder needs in order to do more relevant research
  • Ability to communicate the usefulness of their research to those who can use it
  • Awareness of different kinds of professional relationships (e.g. scientists/engineers and urban/coastal planners)

A full evaluation report will be posted soon, however, if you have any questions please contact Carrie Ferraro.