Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Oregon University System will hire one of four climate change experts to run a research center that state lawmakers created last year.

The first of the finalists to interview with OUS officials, is Washington state climatologist, Phil Mote. He’s in Corvallis Tuesday.

The three other finalists hail from Alaska, New Mexico, and North Carolina.

The Oregon Climate Change Research Institute will be housed at Oregon State University, and will have strong ties to the College of Atmospheric Sciences.

Mark Abbott is the dean there. Abbott says knowledge of climate science is the top requirement for the new director.

Mark Abbott: “But more importantly, the ability to work with people who need to make decisions about climate change, and want to know what its impacts might be on their business, or on their government, or on their life, but really can bridge that gap between scientific knowledge, and what can individuals, and organizations, and governments, do.” 

Abbott says the interviews will be done by mid-October, and officials hope to have a new director in place for the brand-new research institute by early next year.

The law that created the new climate center also set Oregon’s targets to reduce greenhouse gases over the next few decades.