For more information or to send comments and suggestions, especially to
suggest a topic or reading material for future discussion, please send email to
cristina@iri.columbia.edu.

Fall/Winter 2003
Winter/Spring 2004
Summer 2004
Fall/Winter 2004
Winter/Spring 2005
Summer 2005
Fall 2005

Potential Topics
Related Websites
Further Readings on Development Issues

Summary of brown bag lunch sessions
1/20/2004
2/24/2004

Schedule for Fall/Winter 2003

date	time	topic and reference material
Tuesday, 28 October	12:30 pm	Famine: 19th and 21st century perspectives Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World, by Mike Davis. Preface/Definitions and Chapter 1 Excerpts are available at the cornerhouse . Interview with Dr. Suresh Babu , regarding 'Capacity Building' as a key to Ending the Drought-Famine cycle
Tuesday, 18 November	12:30 pm	The African Food Security Crisis Human Vulnerability and Food Insecurity: Policy Implications A Forum for Food Security in Africa Theme Paper, by Frank Ellis, 2003. Risk and Vulnerability in Ethiopia, A report for the U.S. Agency for International Development. by Sue Lautze, Yacob Aklilu, Angela Raven-Roberts, Helen Young, Girma Kebede and Jennifer Leaning. Feinstein International Famine Center at Tufts University, June 2003.
Tuesday, 16 December	12:30 pm	Controversy regarding climate variability and land use in the African Sahel Oceanic Forcing of Sahel Rainfall on Interannual to Interdecadal Time Scales, by A. Giannini, R. Saravanan and P. Chang Science, 9 October 2003. Africans go back to the land as plants reclaim the desert, by Fred Pearce Farming is becoming viable again in what were until recently some of the most arid parts of Africa, thanks to a spectacular re-greening of the southern Saharan belt New Scientist, pg. 4, September 21, 2002. The causes of land-use and land-cover change: moving beyond the myths, by E. F. Lambin, et. al Global Environmental Change, vol. 11, pp. 261-269, 2001. Climate and Causation in African History, by James C. McCann The International Journal of African Historical Studies. vol. 32, pp. 261-279, 1999. The African Sahel 25 years after the great drought: assessing progress and moving towards new agendas and approaches. by S. Batterbury and A. Warren Global Environmental Change, vol. 11, pp. 1-8, 2001.

Schedule for Winter/Spring 2004

date	time	topic and reference material
Tuesday, 20 January	12:30 pm	Bridging disciplines: multi-disciplinary projects both in theory and in practice Science for the twenty-first century: from social contract to the scientific core by Gilberto C. Gallopin, et. al International Social Science Journal, pp. 1-11, 2001. Conceptual Models as Tools for Communication Across Disciplines by Marieke Heemskerk, et. al Conservation Ecology, vol. 7, pp. 1-13, 2003. Evolutionary Organizational Models for Interdisciplinary Research and Teaching of Global Environmental Change Stephen H. Schneider Proceedings from workshop on Global Environmental Change Science: Education and Training, pp. 9-32 , 1995. Supplemental: Interdisciplinary Research: Maintaining the Constructive Impulse in a Culture of Criticism by S. T. A. Pickett, et. al Ecosystems, vol. 2, pp. 302-307, 1999.
Tuesday, 24 February	12:30 pm	How engaged are we in interdisciplinary projects at the IRI? Bridging disciplines: multi-disciplinary projects both in theory and in practice by Sabine Marx, Saurabh Dani and Joe Selinger. Micro and macro-level approaches to modelling decision making by M. J. McGregor, M. F. Rola-Rubzen and R. Murray-Prior Agricultural Systems, vol. 69, pp. 63-83, 2001.
Tuesday, 6 April	12:15 pm	IRI Seasonal Forecasts Evaluation of the IRI's "Net Assessment" Seasonal Climate Forecasts 1997-2001 by Lisa Goddard, Tony Barnston and Simon Mason Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, December 2003 pp. 1761-81. Multimodel Ensembling in Seasonal Climate Forecasting and IRI by Tony Barnston, Simon Mason, Lisa Goddard, Dave DeWitt and Steve Zebiak Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, December 2003 pp. 1783-96.
Tuesday, 18 May	12:30 pm	Forecasting malaria epidemics Epidemic Malaria of the Punjab, with a note on a method of predicting epidemic years by S. R. Christophers Paludism, No. 2, 1911, pp. 17-26. The Prediction of Malarial Epidemics by C. A. Gill Indian Journal of Medical Research, 1923, pp. 1136-43. Re-thinking the "human factor" in malaria mortality: The case of Punjab 1868-1940 by S. Zurbrigg Parassitologia, vol. 36,1994, pp. 121-35. Malaria Fact Sheet Lifecycle of the malaria parasite Plasmodium Maps from the Imperial Gazetteer of India: The Indian Empire Punjab

Schedule for Summer 2004

date	time	topic and reference material
21 June	12:30 pm	Hydrologic Flood with special guest Upmanu Lall Papers and powerpoint presentations associated with flood modelling and climate change
WEDNESDAY 30 June	12:30 pm	Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn (ASB) Programme with special guest Tom Tomich ASB Policy Brief: Reducing smoke pollution from tropical fires Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn Programme. Environmental services and land use change in Southeast Asia: from recognition to regulation or reward? By Thomas P. Tomich, David E. Thomas, and Meine van Noordwijk Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn Programme. Website for the organization: Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn (ASB) Programme: innovations to reduce poverty and conserve tropical forests
27 July	12:30 pm	Desert Locusts "Voices from the past: What we can learn from the Rocky Mountain Locust" by Jeffrey A. Lockwood American Entomologist, 2001, pp. 208-215. FAQ on Desert Locust Information Service Site Rain on Sahara's Fringe Is Lovely Weather for Locusts New York Times article IRI Climate Digest on the Desert Locust Situation March 2004 - June 2004 Locusts: Nature.com article 9 July 2004 Desert Locust Information Service BBC Map: Desert Locusts in Africa BBC Report on Desert Locust Plague 5/26/04
31 August	12:30 pm	Drought "Prospects for the Prediction of Meteorological Drought" Chet F. Ropelewski and C.K. Folland, 2000. In Drought: A Global Assessment Vol. 1, (D. A. Wilhite ed.) Routeledge Hazards and Disasters Series, Routeledge Press pp 21-41. This reading is next to the Xerox machine and is available for you to copy and return. Other links that may be of interest: The Palmer Drought Severity Index: Limitations and Assumptions by William M. Alley Journal of Climate and Applied Meteorology, 23 1984, pp. 1100-1109. NOAA's drought information center Palmer Drought Severity Index National Weather Service's Hydrologic Information Center Drought Monitoring National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center Palmer Drought Severity & Crop Moisture Indices US River Basins' history of Palmer Drought Index

Schedule for Fall/Winter 2004

date	time	topic and reference material
14 September	12:30 pm	Desert Locust II We will meet in conference room Monell 205. Special Guest: Pietro Ceccato Desert Locust Information Service Pietro's powerpoint presentation slides Windborne Pests and Diseases: Meteorology of Airborne Organisms, by David Pedgley. Chapter 6: "Swarms" Halsted Press/John Wiley & Sons, 1984.
26 October	12:30 pm	Multidisciplinary research revisited: Reflections on recent experiences at IRI Some Examples: MDG task force report recommendations Pacific Islands Scoping Project Lisa Goddard, Brad Lyon and Maxx Dilley: "El Niņo: Disaster, drought ... and the light at the end of the tunnel" Masters in Climate Science Program Readings: Sustainability Science: The emerging research program Clark and Dickson. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. July 8, 2003 vol. 100, no.14. Knowledge systems for sustainable development Clark, et.al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. July 8, 2003 vol. 100, no.14. Supplemental reading: Interdisciplinary Research: Maintaining the Constructive Impulse in a Culture of Criticism by S. T. A. Pickett, et. al Ecosystems, vol. 2, pp. 302-307, 1999. Editorial: Multiplie Methodologies in Anthropological Research by Ben Orlove Current Anthropology, vol. 44, 2003.
16 November	12:30 pm	The Future of the IRI Climate Digest IRI Climate Digest
7 December	12:30 pm	The Indian Monsoon: Predictability and Impacts Monsoons: Processes, predictability, and the prospects for prediction by P. J. Webster, et. al , J. Geophysical Research vol. 103, pp. 14,451-14,510, 1998. The Indian Monsoon and Its Variability by S. Gadgil, , Annu. Rev. Earth Planet Sci. vol. 31, pp. 429-467, 2003. Prediction of Monsoon Rainfall and River Discharge on 15-30-dat time scales by Webster and Hoyos, , Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. vol. , pp. 2-21, 2004. Climatology of the Indian Monsoon by Andy Robertson, (handout from the brownbag discussion)

Schedule for Winter 2005

date	time	topic and reference material
WEDNESDAY 9 February	12:30 pm	Developing a Cholera Early Warning System Special Guest: Michael Emch Spatial and temporal patterns of diarrheal disease in Matlab, Bangladesh by Michael Emch and Mohammad Ali Environment and Planning A, vol. 33, pp. 339-350, 2001. Cholera across scales: Oceanic links to climate and local estuarine influences by M. Pascual, J. Kinter, A. Dobson and M. Emch. Climate and infectious disease: Use of remote sensing for detection of Vibrio cholerae by indirect measurement by B. Lobitz, L. Beck, A. Huq, B. Wood, G. Fuchs, A. S. G. Farque and R. Colwell Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97(4), pp. 1438-1443.
8 March	12:30 pm	Sustainable Ecosystem Management for Human Well-Being Special Guest: Polly Ericksen Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: Strengthening Capacity to Manage Ecosystems Sustainably for Human Well-Being Summary of the Synthesis Reports of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Southern Africa Assessment Reports

Schedule for Summer 2005

date	time	topic and reference material
WEDNESDAY 8 June	12:30 pm	IRI Website portal What is a Portal? Good examples of portals: http://www.ucar.edu http://www.firstgov.gov http://www.mwpx.com/Default.asp : Note theme changer, What's Hot/New, projects status bar, featured poll, etc Example of a poor portal: http://www.climateark.org/ Example of a Non-portal http://iri.columbia.edu How better-managed content produces benefits such as better search results Good example Poor example
14 June	12:30 pm	Weather Within Climate (WWC) Discussion Brief Introduction to WWC Heavy Daily Precipitation Frequency over the Contiguous United States: Sources of Climatic Variability and Seasonal Predictability A. Gershunov and D. R. Cayan, 2003 Journal of Climate, 16: 2752-2765. An Introduction to Trends in Extreme Weather and Climate Events: Observations, Socioeconomic Impacts, Terrestrial Ecological Impacts and Model Projections G. Meehl, et al., 2000 BAMS, 81: 413-416. Handout for discussion
28 June	12:30 pm	IRI Website Discussion What Is A Controlled Vocabulary? by Karl Fast, Fred Leise and Mike Steckel, 2002. Building a corporate taxonomy: benefits and challenges by Eric Woods, February 2004. Discussion Questions
THURSDAY 7 July	12:30 pm	Demonstration of voice protocol software Special Guest: Leo Ostwald Motivation Overview of how voice over IP works Here are some sites that offer these types of services and products: http://www.skype.com/ http://www.vonnage.com/ http://www.supervoice.com/ yahoo is also in progress of setting up free VOIP services for its IM users
THURSDAY 21 July	12:30 pm	Use of TRMM-PR for Calibrating Overland Passive Microwave Rain Retrieval We will meet in conference room Monell 205. Special Guest: Tufa Dinku Regional Differences in Overland Rainfall Estimation from PR-Calibrated TMI Algorithm by Tufa Dinku and Emmanouil N. Anagnostou Journal of Applied Meteorology Vol. 44 No. 2, pp. 189-205.
25 August	12:30 pm	Predicting Extreme Events Quantifying the risk of extreme seasonal precipitation events in a changing climate by T. N. Palmer and J. Raisanen Nature vol. 415 pp. 512-514, 2002. Increasing risk of great floods in a changing climate by P. C. D. Milly, et al. Nature vol. 415 pp. 514-517, 2002. The Effect of the 1997/98 El Niño on Individual Large-Scale Weather Events by J.J. Barsugli et. al. BAMS vol. 80 pp. 1399-1411, 1999. Changes of Subseasonal Variability Associated with El Niño by G. P. Compo, P. D. Sardeshmukh and C. Penland J. Climate vol. 14 pp. 3356-3374, 2001.
26 August	12:30 pm	Analysis of the Potential of FAPAR in the Study of Agriculture in Central West Africa We will meet in conference room Monell 205. Special Guest: Christine Verstraete Analysis of the Potential of FAPAR in the Study of Agriculture in Central West Africa PowerPoint presentation by Christine Verstraete. Advanced Vegetation Indices Optimized for Up-Coming Sensors: Design, Performance and Applications by N. Gobron, B. Pinty, M. M. Verstraete and J-L Widlowski. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing vol. 38 pp. 2489-2505, 2000.

Schedule for Fall 2005

date	time	topic and reference material
27 September	12:30 pm	Does climate matter or do institutions rule? Summary of readings for this discussion The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation D. Acemoglu, S. Johnson and J.A. Robinson, 2000. Tropics, germs, and crops: how endowments influence economic development W. Easterly and R. Levine. Journal of Monetary Economicsvol. 50 pp. 3-39, 2003. Biogeography and Long-Run Economic Development O. Olsson and D. A. Hibbs, Jr. Working Papers in Economics no. 26 , 2000. Tropical Underdevelopment J. D. Sachs NBER Working Paper Series, 2000.
WEDNESDAY 5 October	12:30 pm	The Reorganization of CLIVAR: Potential opportunities for research at IRI CLIVAR
WEDNESDAY 16 November	12:30 pm	Science and Sustainability Science for Global Sustainability: Toward a New Paradigm W. C. Clark, P. J. Crutzen and H. J. Schellnhuber, Center for International Development at Harvard University, Working Paper 2005.
WEDNESDAY 14 December	12:30 pm	Interpreting Probabilities Please have a look at the following document before you start the readings and jot down your response/impressions/thoughts as you read it: Quiz or Questions for discussion Readings: Chapter from The Lady Tasting Tea by David Salsburg, 2001. (Next to the copy machine in Monell North wing.) Diversity in Interpretations of Probability: Implications for Weather Forecasting R. de Elia and R. Laprise. Mon. Wea. Rev., 133, 2005. Cognitive Illusions, Heuristics and Climate Prediction Neville Nicholls, Bull. Amer. Met. Soc., 80 (7) 1999. Optional reading: What Forecasts (Seem to) mean Baruch Fischhoff, International Journal of Forecasting, pp. 387-403 10 1994.

Sustainable Livelihoods supported by the Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK government

If you know of any reference articles, books, websites that could help flesh out some of the following ideas for a discussion, email cristina@iri.columbia.edu.

A question of scale: How do the geographic and temporal scales of forecasts and development interact?

Millenium Development Goals and the IRI

Gap between "climate change" research and "climate variability" research

Drought and locusts
The drought and locust plagues of the 1870's coincided with negative population growth in North Africa. Parts of Africa and Asia have historically suffered from insect plagues that result in part from extreme weather events.

Climate variability and meningitis

Climate stress and overpopulation

Coping with drought and other extreme events in pre-colonial times

Language and philosophy of development

Climate and public health

The Companion to Development Studies. Vandana Desai and Robert B. Potter, eds.
Oxford University Press, 2002.

Drought & Man Series: Vol. 1 Nature Pleads Not Guilty. Rolando Garcia, ed.
Series is out of print. Check your library and the web.

Interview with Dr. Suresh Babu , a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
'Capacity Building' Key To End Of Drought-Famine Cycle, Says Expert , by Charles Cobb Jr.
May 19, 2003 Financial Times Information, Asia Africa Intelligence Wire - AllAfrica.com - AAGM

Globalization and Its Discontents, by Joseph Stiglitz.
W.W. Norton, 2003.

Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World, by Mike Davis.
Princeton University Press, 2001.
Excerpts are available at the cornerhouse .

The Politics of Natural Disaster: The Case of the Sahel Drought. Michael Glantz, ed. Praeger, 1976.

How the Simple Side of High-Tech Makes the Developing World Better , An interview with Dr. Eva Harris, by Claudia Dreifus.
New York Times article, September 30, 2003.

Any opinions, information or views given in this website or in its links do not represent the views of
Columbia University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory or the IRI.

Last modified: Thu Dec 8 10:09:39 EST 2005