UCI Student Explores Climate History

Analyzing a 100,000-year-old chunk of glacier from Greenland is just the tip of the iceberg for University of California, Irvine alumni, Rhys-Jasper León, on their journey to understanding global climate change.

Since they were a teenager, León has been captivated by the idea of uncovering secrets hidden deep beneath the Arctic.

"My first exposure to ice core research was watching the PBS documentary, 'Decoding the Weather Machine,' in my high school science class," said León. " This inspired me to pursue science in college and get involved with research."

That documentary inspired León to study Earth science in college, where unknowingly, one of the same scientists featured in it would teach them even more.

"I was working in my first research lab at Oregon State University studying paleoclimatology and I suddenly realized I was working with one of the scientists who was in that documentary," said León.

The full circle moment pushed León to continue researching the science of climates, but this time back in California. During the pandemic, they moved home and enrolled at Irvine Valley College and eventually received the Edison STEM Transfer Scholarship after applying for the opportunity offered through the California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP) - funding that helps underrepresented communities continue their STEM education after transferring to the University of California, Irvine.

Edison International has partnered with CAMP at UCI for 24 years, helping the school create programming that ensures each scholarship recipient is successful beyond their undergraduate degree.

With help from Edison International, León graduated from UCI with a bachelor's degree in Earth system science.

"We are proud to advocate for the diverse communities that we serve and invest in partnerships that support equitable access to STEM education," said Bronwen Begakis, Edison International Corporate Philanthropy advisor. "Edison's goal is to ensure that the opportunities created by the clean energy future are accessible to all members of our community, and programs like CAMP at UCI help students from all backgrounds see themselves as the STEM leaders of tomorrow."

Receiving this scholarship provided León with a variety of new opportunities to explore a passion for understanding variability in the climate - something that would not have been possible without the tuition support.

"As a disabled student, I can't work another job while also being a full-time student,' said León. "This scholarship allowed my time and energy to go into gaining as much research experience as possible. Not only did I have enough experience to go straight from a bachelor's to a PhD program, I graduated debt-free with enough funds for moving costs to pursue my current Ph.D."

After spending two summers in an ice core research lab, León is now analyzing a core that has not been touched since the 1980s as part of their Ph.D. in geological sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Their hope is that this research may hold the key to understanding climate variability.

"Ice cores help us understand how climate changed in the past," said León. "By understanding those changes, we are able to provide better targets for climate models to improve predictions of how climate will change in the future."

For more information on Edison International's commitment to giving back, visit edison.com/community.