About

The Central Midwest Climate Opportunities and Learning (CO-Learn) team is based at the University of Iowa and is a partnership between Iowa State University, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Nebraska Indian Community College, University of Kansas, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Our work is federally funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and began on September 1, 2023. We are one of the regional NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnership (CAP) teams.

The NOAA CAP Program aims to advance local resilience to weather-related hazards through sustained regional research and community engagement. Co-production of actionable knowledge and relationship building are key components. These should lead to improvements in information, support, and decision-making tools that increase capacity and foster partnerships.

CO-Learn is an interdisciplinary team with expertise in Climatology, Community Engagement, Environmental Monitoring, Collaborative Storytelling, Hydro science, Anthropology, and Engineering. We partner with the Regional Climate Centers, the Climate Adaptation Science Centers, USDA Climate Hubs, and the State Climate offices.

Scientific Team
CO-Learn Partners - Universities of Nebrask, Kansas, Iowa State, Iowa, and Missouri S&T
Community Advisory Board
Landowners

Central Midwest Communities

Communities in the Central Midwest are experiencing intensifying climate-related hazards. Major floods, droughts, heat stress, severe storms, and water quality degradation are becoming the norm.  Climate projections indicate that increasingly frequent combinations of severe heat and drought events will be of particular concern. These events will compromise natural ecosystems, human health, water resources, agriculture, construction, and transportation industries.  

CM CO-Learn brings together community members and researchers to co-produce climate knowledge, build relationships, and support community-led projects that will improve local resilience to weather-related hazards.  Our team is focused on two important communities in our four-state region:  women landowners and sovereign tribal nations.  Both populations practice relational, holistic approaches to stewarding the land that can inform regional efforts for climate adaptation and resilience.

Our work focuses on three main areas:

  • Building a community of learning through deliberate and continued relationship building.
  • Learning from the knowledge and needs of our community and developing tools to present climate-related information to communities. 
  • Training, mentoring, and educating a highly qualified workforce of future professionals and leaders to improve research and education around climate adaptation.