Dean Abramson Offers Vision for Combating Climate Change

Dean Alexis Abramson addresses how a human-centered approach to climate change might result in better solutions. (Photo by Haley Tucker)

Abramson, a mechanical engineer and recognized leader in sustainable energy, told students, faculty, staff, and senior leaders who gathered in Cook Auditorium for the annual symposium that while technology is "absolutely" critical to solving climate change, technology alone will not work. 

Climate impacts human health, global and regional economies, agriculture and food production, and biodiversity—all closely tied to policy, socioeconomics, and issues of equity. This make climate change a far more complex global challenge than most that calls for an entirely different problem-solving approach, Abramson said.

"We need human-centered leaders and innovators who understand and appreciate the human condition, in addition to understanding engineering and science principles," Abramson said. "And this doesn't happen overnight. This requires higher education to fundamentally reimagine the future of engineering education. This requires companies and governments to embrace a more human-centered approach to problem solving."

Human-centered design and design thinking is an approach to problem-solving more commonly used by product designers that integrates empathy and the human perspective in all steps of the problem-solving process. In recent years, Thayer launched the Design Initiative at Dartmouth, co-led by engineering professors in collaboration with an interdisciplinary committee of Dartmouth faculty, to bring human-centered design tools to more faculty and students across Dartmouth.

As an example, Abramson pointed to the work of engineering professor Mary Albert and her ongoing efforts to develop solutions for the people of Qaanaaq, a remote village in Greenland located far north within the Arctic Circle. Qaanaaq, a community built entirely on permafrost, is grappling with rapid sea-level rise due to climate change and the meteoric rise in diesel fuel to heat their home and power their snowmobiles. 

Albert took a different approach than most engineers, by first learning more from the people of Qaanaaq about their needs, their livelihood, community, and culture, in order to design solutions that would fully address their unique challenges.

"Too often engineers jump to what ends up being well an inferior solution before fully understanding the need," she said. "Instead, human-centered design requires empathy at the start, a rigorous definition of the problem. And, it requires patience because of the time needed to ideate, to prototype, to test, and then iterate, iterate, iterate."

Abramson emphasized that any climate solution must "support the basic right to energy," because the poorest and most vulnerable populations will be disproportionately impacted. In addition, she warned for potential blind spots and unintended consequences.

The Wetterhahn Symposium, named in honor of the late Karen E. Wetterhahn, a professor of chemistry, a pioneering educator, and administrator, is the largest Dartmouth-wide event for undergraduate STEM research.

Wetterhahn co-founded the Women in Science Project (WISP) at Dartmouth in 1990 with former Thayer School of Engineering's Associate Dean Carol Muller '77. Dartmouth and Thayer continue to benefit from their legacy, Abramson said. More than 2000 women have taken part in WISP since its inception, with many in leadership roles in science, technology, and other STEM fields. In 2016 and again in 2023, women comprised more than half of Dartmouth's graduating class to earn undergraduate degrees in engineering.

Abramson's own career journey has intersected the liberal arts, academia and research, policy and government, and entrepreneurship. During the Obama Administration, she served as chief scientist and manager of the Emerging Technologies Division at the Department of Energy's Building Technologies Office. She is a co-founder of Edifice Analytics, a virtual energy audit start-up, and serves as technical advisor for various venture firms investing in companies developing solutions to mitigate climate change.