At this year’s By Degrees Climate Summit, we’re thrilled to bring together a group of experts who will share more about their lived experience and insights on how we can better understand and tackle the challenges of climate change in a rapidly evolving world.
We look forward to seeing you at St. Anselm College on Friday, May 2nd for a day of inspiring conversations and actionable insights.
Register here for this free event
Here’s a closer look at the speakers who will help guide our conversations:
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Jola Ajibade
Dr. Jola Ajibade is an Associate Professor and scholar-activist in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Emory University. With a focus on how climate disasters, adaptation, and mitigation projects are transforming marginalized communities, Dr. Ajibade’s research explores innovative and equitable solutions to climate challenges. Her work includes topics like managed retreat, floating cities, urban resilience planning, and energy transition-induced displacements. As an urban political ecologist, Dr. Ajibade is dedicated to identifying innovative, effective, and equitable approaches and policy solutions to these challenges by integrating environmental justice, antiracist lenses, feminist decolonial praxis, and care ethics into her work.
Use this form to send in your questions for the By Degrees Climate Summit panelists!
Panel Moderator: NHPR’s Mara Hoplamazian
"My mission is to bring listeners directly to the people and places experiencing and responding to climate change in New Hampshire. I aim to use sounds, scenes, and clear, simple explanations of complex science and history to tell stories about how Granite Staters are managing ecological and social transitions that come with climate change. I also report on how people in positions of power are responding to our warmer, wetter state, and explain the forces limiting and driving mitigation and adaptation." - Mara Hoplamazian, NHPR reporter.
Panelists:
Eric Orff – Wildlife Biologist and Author
Eric Orff is a Certified Wildlife Biologist with 50 years of experience in New Hampshire. He began his career in the 1970s as the state’s first black bear biologist with the NH Fish and Game Department, where he spent 31 years working with bear, moose, deer, and waterfowl. After retiring, he served nearly 15 years as a field biologist and consultant for the National Wildlife Federation and was appointed to the NH Fish and Game Commission in 2008. A lifelong conservationist, Eric has been involved with the NH Wildlife Federation since 1964 and now serves as its Vice President.
In 2024, he published What's Wild: A Half Century of Wisdom from the Woods and Rivers of New England, blending humor, insight, and firsthand stories from the field. Known for his advocacy and educational outreach, Eric continues to be a passionate voice for wildlife and climate awareness.
Semra Aytur – Professor of Health Management & Policy at the University of New Hampshire
Before joining UNH, Professor Semra Aytur completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular epidemiology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on how policy, environment, and systems change can promote healthy behaviors and prevent chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, with a particular emphasis on health disparities. She studies the impact of land use, transportation, and environmental policies on access to health-promoting resources.
Marina Vaz – Environmental Justice Community Advocate, Conservation Law Foundation
Marina Vaz is the Environmental Justice Community Advocate for the Conservation Law Foundation based in Nashua. Prior to starting at CLF, she worked for the City of Manchester as the Mayor’s Community Engagement Manager. She holds a dual BA in Political Science and International Affairs, and an MA in Political Science from the University of New Hampshire. Marina grew up in the Southeast of Brazil prior to immigrating to the United States with her family.
Kaitlynn Liset – Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of New Hampshire
Kaitlynn Liset, MS, RN, CNL, FANHE earned a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Conservation Studies prior to her career in nursing. Her interests in climate and health have afforded the opportunity to transform passion and profession into advocacy through education. Currently she is PhD student in the Natural Resources and Earth Systems Science doctoral program at UNH, was awarded the 2023 UNH Sustainability Champion Award, the 2024 New Hampshire Nurses Association "Champion of Nursing" award, and was a 2022 – 2023 Environmental Health Nurse Fellow with the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. Her interests include projects centered on educating and engaging with healthcare professionals, health and human services students, senior elected officials, and the public regarding climate change, health equity and climate solutions.
Breakout Session Facilitators:
Frank Vazzano– Trail Smarts in the White Mountains
Frank Vazzano is a winter research intern with the Appalachian Mountain Club, Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, and The Mount Washington Observatory. His research project, “White Mountains Climate Almanac” will feature a comprehensive survey of various aspects of past, present and future climate and weather trends in the White Mountains, with a theme for each month alongside averages and extremes tables. He has a background in physical geography and graduated from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs in December 2024. Frank plans to begin his MS program in meteorology at the University of Oklahoma starting August 2025.
Mount Washington Observatory is a nonprofit research and educational institution working to advance understanding of Earth’s weather and climate. Through all of its efforts, Mount Washington Observatory connects the public with the awe and wonder of the natural world, igniting a passion for science, the mountains, and the outdoors. In the spring of 2025, Mount Washington Observatory joined forces with NHPR to provide daily science-based weather reports to folks all across the Granite State.
Wendy Rice – Community Building & Mutual Aid
Wendy Rice, the principal of Vermont Connector, has a profound belief in the power of community and value of service. Her community engagement and desire for meaningful impact began at the early age of nine when she first volunteered at the public library’s afterschool program. Since college, Ms. Rice has volunteered with over 55 organizations in Vermont, the US, and abroad, including as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon, Africa. She is an alumna of Vermont Law School and the Vermont Leadership Institute. She is currently the President of the Green Mountain Peace Corps Volunteer Association.
Lisa Wise & Amanda McQuaid – Participatory Science for Clean Water
Lisa Wise is the Coastal Resilience Specialist with UNH Extension and NH Sea Grant. In this role she supports NH communities to plan and prepare for the impacts of a changing climate. Lisa is an active member of the NH Coastal Adaptation Workgroup (CAW) and is supporting the 2025 update of the NH Coastal Flood Risk Summary. She earned her master’s degree from UNH in Coastal Ecosystem Management in 2015 and recently became a Certified Floodplain Manager.
Amanda McQuaid (PhD ‘19UNH, she/her) is a State Specialist in Water Quality and Ecotoxicology for Cooperative Extension, Director of the Lakes Lay Monitoring Program, (Extension Associate) Professor of Limnology, and Joint Faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of New Hampshire.
After the summit, continue the conversation at To Share Brewing Company, where NHPR’s Taylor Quimby will host a Climate Trivia Throwdown! This will be a fun and relaxed way to test your knowledge and connect with fellow attendees while reflecting on everything you learned throughout the day.
From NHPR, By Degrees is a climate change reporting project that tells stories of the people grappling with the challenges of our changing world, and exploring possible solutions. By Degrees explains the science – and the historical context – of our changing climate and why it’s impacting Granite Staters in unequal ways. We’ll answer your questions, hold decision makers accountable, and explore how our state and region are living through this major transition and responding to it.
