YSE Urban Scientist Receives Franklin Institute Award

Five Yale School of the Environment faculty members have been named to the world’s most influential researchers list by Clarivate Analytics, a company that compiles a list of scientists and social scientists whose papers rank in the top 1% of citations.

Included on this year’s list were: Mark Bradford, the E.H. Harriman Professor of Soils and Ecosystem Ecology; Xuhui Lee the Sara Shallenberger Brown Professor of Climate Science; Anthony Leiserowitz, the JoshAni-TomKat Professor of Climate Communication; Peter Raymond, the Oastler Professor of Biogeochemistry; and Karen Seto, the Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science. In total, 49 faculty members from Yale University made the list of 6,868 researchers worldwide.

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Four undergraduate students from New Haven received field training this summer at YSE through the New Haven Promise program. The students assisted on a range of projects focused on biogeochemistry, hydrology, forest health and forest restoration. 

The program, which began in June and ended in August, supports paid internships to help students gain work experience in their respective fields of study. 

Working with research scientist Marlyse Duguid, KeRen Tan ’28 inventoried invasive plant species for the Yale Golf Course and Preserve, examined the impacts of Beech Leaf Disease (BLD) on New Haven’s urban forests, and took height measurements of planted trees in an Urban “Miyawaki Micro Forest” project.

Kaleb Diaz Alvarez, Mark Taylor, and Erica Arias, worked with Professor Peter Raymond and postdoctoral fellow Craig Brinkerhoff on hydrology projects in Connecticut and Massachusetts, exploring the role of river wetlands connectivity on downstream water quality. They learned to “read a river,” annotate images of rivers across the U.S. and helped train AI models. 

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A new nationally representative survey conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC) and CVoter International finds that nearly nine in ten people in India say they have personally experienced global warming, and large majorities support stronger government action to address it.

“India is already experiencing climate impacts, from record heatwaves to severe floods to stronger storms,”  Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the YPCCC, said.

The report, Climate Change in the Indian Mind, Spring 2025, shows that 96% of Indians believe global warming is happening, 90% are worried, including 58% who are “very worried," and 78% say the government should be doing more. Public support for policies is also strong, with overwhelming majorities backing renewable energy training programs, public education campaigns, and funding for women’s groups and Indigenous communities.

This new research builds on YPCCC’s ongoing work, including its India Climate Opinion Maps, which provide state- and district-level insights into public climate change beliefs, attitudes, and policy support. The full report is available on YPCCC’s website.

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