Scientists estimate that there are over 7.5 million species of plants and animals that have yet to be discovered and described. But in a world in which extinction may outpace discovery, how can citizen scientists get involved? Join me as I share how residents in Alaska helped me discover and describe a new species of snake worm gnat and learn how you, too, can participate in the scientific process.

Sabine R. Huebner is a professor of ancient history at the University of Basel in Switzerland whose project at Harvard Radcliffe Institute aims to craft a groundbreaking monograph on third-century Roman Egypt, exploring the dynamic interplay of climatic shifts, political upheavals, and socioeconomic transformations during a pivotal era. Drawing on a rich tapestry of sources—including literary works, papyri, numismatics, epigraphy, and a variety of paleoenvironmental proxies—this ambitious study seeks to unveil new insights into the complexities of this transitional period in one of the Roman Empire’s critical regions.

Trained in anthropology and education, Gabrielle Oliveira works at the intersections of migration, education, family, and childhood studies. At Radcliffe, she will write her third book, which will focus on how migrant children conceptualize climate change, land loss, and mobility in schools in Venezuela and Brazil.

A Harvard-China Project Research Seminar with Yu Zhao, Professor, School of Environment, Nanjing University; Alumnus (Postdoctoral Fellow) and Collaborator, Harvard-China Project

Speaker Bio: Dr. Yu Zhao is a Professor in the School of Environment at Nanjing University. His research interests include the quantification and evaluation of air pollutant emissions with multiple measures; analysis of regional and city air quality and its improvement strategy; and assessment of ecological and environmental health effects from energy and climate policies and air pollutant emission controls. He is a former postdoctoral fellow in the Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and additionally held a research assistantship at the International Institute of Applied System and Analysis, Austria. He is the receipient of the Second-class Award of Jiangsu Provincial Science and Technology Prize and the National Outstanding Ph.D Dissertation Award.