Allison M. Chatrchyan
Climate Change Education and Stakeholder Engagement Director, School of Integrative Plant Science
About
Dr. Allison Morrill Chatrchyan is the Climate Change Education & Stakeholder Engagement Director in the School of Integrative Plant Sciences at Cornell University, where she serves as the Stakeholder Engagement, Education & Outreach Lead for the NSF/NIFA-funded AI-Climate Institue. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Environmental and International Environmental Law at the Cornell Law School. As a social scientist, her work focuses on the interactions between social, legal, environmental, and agricultural systems. Dr. Chatrchyan facilitates interdisciplinary research and extension teams and develops resources, tools, and training programs on climate change science, impacts, adaptation, mitigation, and synergies.
Dr. Chatrchyan's research is focused on assessing climate change impacts and adaptation gaps, stakeholder views and actions on climate change, and polycentric climate change governance (including laws, policies, institutions, and non-state actions at multiple levels). She has led the development of the Cornell Climate Smart Farming Program with the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell, and has collaborated on several projects with the USDA NE Climate Hub since 2017. Governor Hochul appointed her to co-chair the Agriculture Chapter of the New York State Climate Impacts Assessment and serves on the UNFCCC Nairobi Work Program Expert Group in Agriculture and Food Security. Dr Chatrchyan led the development of the Cornell Climate Stewards Program, which has trained and stewards educators from 23 counties across the state. Dr. Chatrchyan teaches Environmental Law and Policy and International Environmental Law at the Cornell Law School, and has led the Cornell Delegations to the annual Conference of Parties (COP) of the UNFCCC since COP21 in Paris and has served on the Party Delegation of the Republic of Armenia since COP23.
Before coming to Cornell, Dr. Chatrchyan worked for Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, the University of Maryland, the United Nations Environment Programme in Paris, France, and the Environmental Policy Center in Washington, DC. A native of Hamilton, NY, she received her Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Maryland College Park in International Environmental Politics and her B.A. with Honors from Colby College in Waterville, ME, in Government and Environmental Studies.
Media Highlights
- Cornell Chronicle: AI-CLIMATE institute aims to curb emissions, boost economy
- Foreign Affairs: Going Nuclear on Climate Change? Foreign Affairs Asks the Experts
- Colby Magazine: On Climate, Think Globally and Act Locally
- Foreign Affairs: Is Trump's Paris Withdrawal a Major Climate Setback? Foreign Affairs Asks the Experts
Activities
- UN Climate Change Conference of Parties: Head of Cornell Delegation (COP 21 - COP28)
- NSF: AI-Climate Institute for Climate Smart-Agriculture and Forestry, with Dr. Johannes Lehmann
- USDA NE Climate Hub: Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Fellowship Program, with Dr. Art DeGaetano
- NYSERDA: New York State Climate Impacts Assessment, Co-Chair Agriculture Chapter, with Dr. Deborah Aller
- Cornell Atkinson Center: AVF CO2 Conversion Reactor Project, with Dr. Sadhaf Sobhani
- UN Food & Agriculture Organization: Expert Dialogue on the Sharm-El-Sheikh Joint Work on Agriculture and Food Security
Areas of Expertise
Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation; International Environmental Law; Environmental Law and Policy; Climate-Smart Agriculture; Multi-Level Governance; Climate Change Education; Climate Equity and Justice; Interdisciplinary Stakeholder Engagement; Social Science Methodology
Education
- Doctorate, University of Maryland, 2003
- Master's Degree, University of Maryland, 1999
- Bachelor of Arts, Colby College, 1992
- Aller, D., Chatrchyan, A. M., et al. (2024). Chapter 3: Agriculture. In A. Stevens (Ed.), New York State Climate Impacts Assessment. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1111/nyas.15192 (https://nysclimateimpacts.org/explore-the-assessment/explore-by-sector/agriculture/).
- Allred, S. B., Chatrchyan, A. M. & Tsintsadze, G. (2022). Local municipal capacity for climate change action in New York State: Exploring the urban–rural divide. Review of Policy Research, 00, 1–32.
- Shirvani Dastgerdi, A., Sargolini, M., Allred, S. Chatrchyan, A., Drescher, M., & DeGeer, C. (2022). Climate Change Risk Reduction in Cultural Landscapes: Insights from Cinque Terre and Waterloo. Land Use Policy.
- Yu, C., Margolin, D., Fownes, J., Eiseman, D., Chatrchyan, A., and Allred. S. (2021). "Tweeting about Climate: Which Politicians Speak up and What do They Speak up about?" Social Media and Society. July-September. DOI:
- Eiseman, D., Armstrong, A. & Chatrchyan, A. (2020). Designing an extension Climate Stewards volunteer program: incorporating sense of community, social practice, and self-efficacy theories. Environmental Education Research.
- Lane, D., Murdock, E., Genskow, K., Betz, C., & Chatrchyan, A. (2019). Climate change and dairy in New York and Wisconsin: Risk perceptions, vulnerability, and adaptation among farmers and advisors. Sustainability: Special Issue "Agricultural Production and Global Climate Change: Social, Cultural, and Agroecological Aspects of the Agriculture/Climate Interface."
- Torquebiau, E., Rosenzweig C., Chatrchyan, A., Andrieu, N. & Khosla, R. (2018). Identifying Climate-smart agriculture research needs. Questions de recherche pour l’agriculture climato-intelligente. Cahier Agriculture, 27(2).
- Lane, D., Chatrchyan, A., Tobin D., Thorn, K., Allred, S., & Radhakrishna, R. (2018). Climate change and agriculture in New York and Pennsylvania: risk perceptions, vulnerability, and adaptation among farmers. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems.
- Tobin, D., Radhakrishna, R., Chatrchyan, A., & Allred, S. (2017). Addressing Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture and Natural Resources: Barriers and Priorities for Land-Grant Universities in the Northeastern United States. Weather, Climate, and Society 9(3).
- Chatrchyan, A., Erlebacher, R., Chaopricha, N., Chan, J., Tobin, D., & Allred, S. (2017). United States agricultural stakeholder views and decisions on climate change. WIREs Climate Change 8.
Snapshot of Grants & Sponsored Research Projects
- Shekhar, S., J. Lehmann, C. Gomes, A. Chatrchyan, et al. 2023. University of Minnesota with Cornell University, Colorado State, Purdue, UNC, and DSU. AI and Climate-Smart Ag and Forestry Institute. National Science Foundation/NIFA. Sub-contract from the University of Minnesota (Co-Lead of Education Track).
- Sobhani, S., A. Chatrchyan, T. Hanrath, and R. Yang. 2023. Getting to Neutral: 3D-Printed Chemical Reactors for Carbon Dioxide Conversion. Atkinson Academic Venture Fund Grant Protocol.
- DeGeatano, A. and A. Chatrchyan. 2023-2025. Climate Adaptation Fellowship Program. USDA Forest Service/USDA NE Climate Hub.
- Goeringer, P., D. Kay, and A. Chatrchyan. 2020-2024. Solar Energy Production on Agricultural Land: Risks and Opportunities. USDA-NIFA-AFRI.
- Chatrchyan, A. 2021-2024. Increasing Municipal Participation in the NYS Climate Smart Communities Program through Research and Extension. US Department of Agriculture, Integrated Hatch/Smith-Lever grant.
- DeGeatano, A., and A. Chatrchyan. 2021-2024. Enhancing the Cornell Forage Species Selector Tool and other Online Decision Support Tools. US Department of Agriculture, Integrated Hatch/Smith-Lever grant.
- Chatrchyan, A. 2020-2024. Climate Change: Education Partnership with Cornell University. New York Power Authority (NYPA).
- Chatrchyan, A., and K. Bunting-Howarth. 2021-2022. Cornell Climate Stewards: Training Extension Volunteers to Support NYS Communities. NYSERDA.
- Chatrchyan, A., and M. Hoffmann. 2017-2021. Collaborative work between the Cornell Institute for Climate Smart Solutions and the USDA Northeast Climate Hub. US Forest Service.
- Mahowald, N., A. Chatrchyan, L. Shi, S. Sassler, C. Goodale. 2018-2020. Engaging Cornell students from the Local to the Global Level in Climate Change Science and Policy through the annual UNFCCC Convention of the Parties.
- Chatrchyan, A. 2017-2020. Climate Master Volunteers: Supporting the work of Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation, and Community Resilience at the Local Level. AFRI.
Snapshot of Extension & Outreach Programs
- NSF AI-Climate Institute for Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry, with Johannes Lehmann
- Climate Change & Community Program Work Team, co-chair with Ave Bauder
- Cornell Climate Smart Farming Program, with Art DeGaetano
- Cornell Climate Stewards Program, with Kathy Bunting-Howarth
- USDA NE Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Fellowship Program, with Sara Kelemen
- The National Extension Climate Initiative (NECI), with David Kay
- Cornell Delegation of faculty, staff, and students to the UN Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP)
Teaching Focus
My primary interest is in teaching students to critically examine the science, institutions, actors, and politics involved in environmental law and policy-making from the local to global level. My overall goal is to nurture my students’ passion and increase their skills to address the current environmental and sustainable development issues facing our world by interacting with real-world issues and organizations. My courses are designed to meet key learning objectives, including helping students evaluate and effectively interpret factual claims and theories; integrate quantitative and qualitative data; and understand issues from diverse cultural, legal, political, scientific, and economic perspectives.
Courses for the Cornell Law School
- LAW 4330/5330: Environmental Law & Policy, with Dr. Jeffrey Rachlinski
- LAW 7358: International Environmental Law & Policy
Courses for the Env & Sustainability Program
- ENVS 4443/5443: Global Climate Change Science & Policy: Engaged capstone course, partnered with the UN Climate Change & University Partnership Program; took students to the annual UN Climate Change Conference of Parties (2018-2023)
- ENVS 4444: Climate Smart Communities: Engaged capstone course, partnered with the NYS Office of Climate Change (2020-2023)
Education Programs for Adult Learners
- Cornell Climate Stewards Training Program: https://climatestewards.cornell.edu/
- Cornell Climate Smart Farming Program: http://climatesmartfarming.org/
- NYPA: Sustainable U: Let’s Get Climate Smart Training Program
Contact Information
1008 Bradfield Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
amc256 [at] cornell.edu
Allison in the news
News
While New York’s farmers face more extreme weather events, they are learning to adapt, says a new statewide climate impacts assessment, led and written by two Cornell researchers.
- Soil
- Soil and Crop Sciences Section
- School of Integrative Plant Science
News
Andy Shin ’23, M.P.A. ’25, gained citizenship in November after 12 years in the U.S.; he'll celebrate his first Independence Day as a citizen with fellow student veterans.
- Department of Global Development
- Environment