April 22-24, 2024 Washington D.C.
ICR24's mission is to bring together the world's brightest minds to solve the greatest challenge of our time. This year's theme “Solutions For Scaling Change”, captures the urgency and the growing need for innovations at scale to meet the monumental task of addressing climate change. The focus areas of the conference include empowering action for rapid carbon neutrality, investing in climate resilient infrastructure, systems to fortify our future and advancing sustainability solutions for the next generation.

ICR24 Important Dates
- Abstract Submission Deadline
- Monday, December 11, 2023
- Abstract Acceptance Notification
- Monday, January 29, 2024
- Early Bird Registration Deadline
- Friday, February 16, 2024
- Standard Registration Closes
- Monday, April 15, 2024
Technical Program Overview
The summer of 2023 was the hottest on record, according to data from the European Union Climate Change Service, and the year 2023 as a whole marked unimaginable extreme weather events across the globe. In the face of the increasing climate change, the world's greatest innovators are coming together to develop real solutions to help humanity address, mitigate and adapt to climate change for global stability.
ICR24 is your opportunity to join scientists and researchers from academia, industry and government working at the forefront of climate innovation. Together, our goal is to envision and build a better, more sustainable future for generations to come. Whether it's restoring our ecosystems, enabling adaptation of our built infrastructure or dramatically reducing the trajectory of causative factors, our efforts are establishing the groundwork for scalable climate solutions.
Program Themes
ADAPTATION | ||||
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Investing in Climate Resilient Infrastructure | Navigating Climate Risks: Modeling and Risk Assessment | Harnessing Ecosystems & Biodiversity for Climate Resilience | Empowering Resilience with Technology and Design | Prioritizing Resilience: Policy, Collaboration, and Environmental Justice |
MITIGATION | ||||
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Empowering Rapid Carbon Neutrality | Decarbonizing Hard-to-Abate Sectors | Carbon Capture & Storage: From Concept to Implementation | Net-Zero Energy & Conservation Measures | Policy Perspectives on Accelerating Carbon Emission Reduction |
SUSTAINABILITY | ||||
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Next Gen Sustainability & Implementation | Understanding and Addressing the Water Crisis | Protecting, Expanding, & Maintaining Agricultural Sustainability | Strategies for a Successful Sustainable Transition | Translating Climate Science into Effective Policy & Community Acceptance |
ICR24 Sponsorships
ICR Partners
ICR24 is organized and presented by qh88 in partnership with the following National Laboratories and organizations:
National Lab Technical Partners
Policy Partner
Past Keynote Speakers and Panelists
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Tammy Ma, Ph.D.
Lead, Inertial Fusion Energy Initiative, Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryTammy received her B.S. from Caltech, then M.S. and Ph.D. from UC San Diego. She is the recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering (PECASE) and currently sits on the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC), providing advice to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science (DOE-SC) on complex scientific and technological issues related to fusion energy and plasma research. -
Karen Boyd
Senior Manager Carbon Services, TruterraBoyd leads the Carbon Operations team at Truterra, the sustainability business of farmer-owned cooperative Land O’Lakes, where she works to advance regenerative agriculture practices through the company’s carbon program. -
Todd Allen Ph.D
Professor & Chair, University of MichiganDr. Todd Allen is Professor at the University of Michigan and a Senior Fellow at Third Way, a DC base Think Tank, supporting their Clean Energy Portfolio. Prior to joining the University of Michigan, he was the Deputy Director for Science and Technology at the Idaho National Laboratory and a Professor in the Engineering Physics Department at the University of Wisconsin. -
Linnea Avallone
Chief Officer for Research Facilities, National Science FoundationLinnea Avallone is the Chief Officer for Research Facilities at the National Science Foundation, where she has oversight of the agency’s major and mid-scale research infrastructure. Prior to her current role, she served as the program manager of the Lower Atmosphere Observing Facilities in the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences and subsequently as Senior Advisor for Facilities in the Geosciences Directorate. -
John Balbus
Director, Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, OASHDr. Balbus is the Acting Director of the new Office of Climate Change and Health Equity within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. A physician and public health professional with over 25 years of experience working on the health implications of climate change, Dr. Balbus has served as HHS Principal to the U.S. Global Change Research Program and co-chair of the working group on Climate Change and Human Health for the U.S. Global Change Research Program since he joined the federal government in 2009. -
Asmeret Asefaw Berhe
Director, Office of Science, U.S. Department of EnergyDr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe is the Director of the Office of Science for the U.S. Department of Energy. Dr. Berhe was most recently a Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry; the Ted and Jan Falasco Chair in Earth Sciences and Geology; and Associate Dean for Graduate Education at the University of California, Merced. Her research focus lies at the intersection of soil science, global change science, and political ecology with an emphasis on how the soil system regulates the earth’s climate and the dynamic two-way relationship between the natural environment and human communities.
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Elie Bou-Zeid
Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Princeton UniversityElie Bou-Zeid is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University. An expert in atmospheric physics and micrometeorology, Prof. Bou-Zeid serves on the executive board for the Princeton-Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab Cooperative Institute for Modeling the Earth System and is Editor of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences. -
Sweta Chakraborty
CEO of North America, We Don't Have TimeDr. Sweta Chakraborty is a climate behavioral scientist who is regularly interviewed on major, international news media outlets like CNN, the BBC, MSNBC, etc. Sweta is the US President for We Don't Have Time, the world's largest social media and communications company for accelerating climate solutions. She is a partner at Pioneer Public Affairs and is on the steering committee of the Global Commons Alliance. -
Ranveer Chandra
Managing Director, Research for Industry, CTO Agri-Food, Microsoft ResearchRanveer Chandra is the CTO of Agri-Food, Managing Director of Research for Industry, and Head of Networking Research at Microsoft Research in Redmond, WA. Ranveer’s research has shipped in multiple Microsoft products, including XBOX, Azure, Windows, and Visual Studio. He started the FarmBeats project in 2015, which shipped as a Microsoft product in 2019. Bill Gates has featured Ranveer’s FarmBeats work on GatesNotes and was invited to present to the Secretary of Agriculture. -
John Conger
President of Conger Strategies and Solutions, LLCJohn Conger is President of Conger Strategies and Solutions, Director Emeritus of the Center for Climate and Security, Senior Advisor to the Council on Strategic Risks, Senior Advisor to the International Military Council on Climate and Security, and a Senior Advisor at WestExec Advisors. -
Jessica Cross, Ph.D.
Research Oceanographer, NOAADr. Cross is a research scientist that works at the interface between the research and engineering communities to develop new tools to explore how our oceans support sustainable development and contribute to climate risk management. As an oceanographer with NOAA, she leads the agency's Carbon Dioxide Removal Task Force and manages the carbon system observing, research, and development for the Alaska and Pacific Arctic regions. -
Dan Ferber, Ph.D.
Senior Editor, Community & Partnerships Editorial, Springer NatureDan Ferber is the coauthor, with Paul Epstein, M.D., of Changing Planet, Changing Health, the first book on the human health impacts of climate change. He is a senior editor at Springer Nature, where he edits branded and custom content for Nature and Scientific American. Before joining Springer Nature, he was an award-winning journalist focusing on science, health and sustainability. -
Brad Ringeisen
Executive Director, The Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI)Brad Ringeisen is the Executive Director of the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI), founded by Jennifer Doudna in 2014 on the University of California, Berkeley campus. The mission of the IGI is to bridge revolutionary gene editing tool development to affordable and accessible solutions in human health and climate. Brad’s primary role is to guide IGI’s scientific and development strategy. -
Kel Markert
Cloud Geographer, GoogleKel Markert is a Cloud Geographer at Google. His work focuses on enabling users to leverage cloud computing for sustainability solutions and geospatial analyses. He is an expert in Google Earth Engine as well as geospatial processing using cloud technology. Prior to Google, Kel was a research scientist at the NASA SERVIR Science Coordination Office based in Huntsville, AL, USA supporting international organizations in leveraging satellite data and geospatial technology to address climate challenges, particularly for water resources.
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Matteo Pasquali
A. J. Hartsook Professor of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, and Materials Science & NanoEngineering, Rice UniversityMatteo Pasquali is the A. J. Hartsook Professor of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, and Materials Science & NanoEngineering at Rice University. Concurrently, Prof. Pasquali serves as the Director of the Carbon Hub, a Rice-led initiative whose mission is to build a zero emissions future, where clean hydrogen and carbon materials are co-produced sustainably at large scale from hydrocarbons. -
Rebecca Pincus
Director, Polar InstituteDr. Rebecca Pincus is Director of the Polar Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC. Previously, she was on the faculty at the US Naval War College, in the Center for Naval Warfare Studies, where her research focused on Arctic security and geopolitics. She also worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy, as Arctic and Climate Strategy Advisor. In 2015, she was a Fulbright Fellow in Iceland, conducting research on Arctic small states and security. -
Erin Sikorsky
Director, Center for Climate and Security (CCS), the International Military Council on Climate and Security (IMCCS)Erin Sikorsky is Director of the Center for Climate and Security (CCS), and the International Military Council on Climate and Security (IMCCS). Previously, Erin served in the US intelligence community for over a decade, most recently as the Deputy Director of the Strategic Futures Group on the National Intelligence Council (NIC). While on the NIC, she co-authored the quadrennial Global Trends report and led the US intelligence community’s environmental and climate security analysis. She is an expert in strategic foresight and the geopolitical and conflict risks associated with climate change. -
William Solecki, Ph.D.
Professor, City University of New York – Hunter CollegeWilliam Solecki’s research focuses on urban environmental change and transitions generally, and urban climate vulnerability and adaptation specifically. He has served as leader or co-leader of numerous international, national, and local climate impacts projects, panels, and assessments including those of the IPCC, US National Climate Assessment, US National of Academy of Sciences and the New York City on Panel on Climate Change. -
Amanda Staudt
Director, Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (BASC), National Academies of ScienceAmanda Staudt is Senior Director for Climate, Atmospheric, and Polar Sciences at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She provides strategic direction and leadership to climate-related activities that span the National Academies, and manages the day-to-day operations of the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (BASC) and the Polar Research Board (PRB). -
Kevin Nordt
Kevin Nordt, Chief Resource Officer, Grant PUDKevin Nordt, Chief Resource Officer, joined Grant PUD in 2004. He was appointed to the position of Chief Resource Officer in January 2022 after stepping down as General Manager-CEO for health reasons. Nordt had served as Grant’s Chief Executive Officer from June 2016 through December 2021. He has over thirty years of experience in the power industry having served in a variety of engineering, marketing, trading and operations positions. Past regional employment includes positions with Portland General Electric and Energy Northwest. -
Kat Knauer
CTO of the BOTTLE Consortium; Senior Researcher, NRELDr. Kat Knauer is a polymer scientist who has dedicated her scientific career to mitigating plastic waste and its effects on climate. She has a PhD in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Southern Mississippi and completed the BASF PhD Leadership Development Program (LDP) in 2018 before taking a Senior Scientist role in BASF’s Plastics Division. Her research efforts focused on advanced recycling technologies which ultimately led her to leading Materials Innovation R&D at Novoloop, a chemical recycling startup. -
Christine King
Director, Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN)As Director of the Gateway for Acceleration in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative, Christine King facilitates a range of public-private partnerships to help move innovative nuclear energy technologies toward commercialization, while ensuring the continued safe, reliable, and economic operation of the existing nuclear fleet. In addition, GAIN works to ensure that clean energy plans value the opportunity nuclear energy provides to meet decarbonization and sustainability goals. -
Kenya Stump
Executive Director, Office of Energy Policy, Kentucky Energy and Environment CabinetKenya Stump was appointed as the Executive Director of the Kentucky Office of Energy Policy in March of 2020. Prior to that, Kenya served Assistant Director for the Division of Energy Assistance within the Office of Energy Policy. Before her work in energy, Kenya managed the environmental assistance programs at the Cabinet including environmental leadership, brownfields, and compliance assistance with the Division of Compliance Assistance. She also served as environmental scientist and policy advisor for the Director’s Office at the Division for Air Quality. -
Joseph L Wilkins
Assistant Professor, Howard UniversityDr. Joseph L. Wilkins works as an Assistant Professor at Howard University. His research focuses on remote sensing tools and air quality model development. He earned a B.S. in Atmospheric Science and minored in Physics at the University of Louisville, and later completed his M.S. and PhD in Meteorology with a concentration on Air Quality and Pollution at Saint Louis University. Dr. Wilkins is one of the leading researchers in the fire modeling community, and has published manuscripts, spoke at technical conferences, and communicates his research across many governments and academic institutions globally. The overall goal of his research program is to increase BIPOC participation in atmospheric research by creating workforce ready competent programmers and scientist. -
Linda Molnar
Program Director, NSFDr. Linda K. Molnar is a scientist and entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in the life science and chemical industries, integrating her scientific research and engineering background with commercialization for startups, and international, government, and business environments. Currently, Linda is a Program Director for the NSF Convergence Accelerator Program in the new Technology, Innovations, and Partnerships (TIP) Directorate at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The Convergence Accelerator is designed to accelerate the transition of use-inspired convergence research into practice in areas of national importance. -
David Judi
Director, Earth Systems Science, Pacific Northwest National LaboratoryDr. David Judi is the Director of the Earth Systems Science Division (ESSD) in the Energy and Environment Directorate (EED) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). In this role, Dr. Judi leads more than 300 staff who focus on developing scientific basis and understanding of Earth system processes and the development of technologies and engineering solutions to enable energy sustainability, resilience, and security. -
Mike Kuperberg, Ph.D.
Executive Director, U.S. Global Change Research ProgramDr. Mike Kuperberg is on detail from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. At OSTP he is the Executive Director of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). His areas of expertise include environmental toxicology, ecology, and carbon cycling. He also has a keen interest in Arctic research. At USGCRP, Mike is responsible for managing the coordination of research needs and activities of fourteen Federal agencies and the White House in the area of global change. The total Federal investment in this area was $3.4 billion in FY 2021.