Environmental and Climate Change Literacy Projects

Meet the Leadership & Support

  • ASLI SEZEN-BARRIE

    Associate Professor of Education, UC Irvine

  • JENNIFER CAO

    Special Projects Coordinator, ECCLPs

  • RICHARD ARUM

    Professor of Education and Sociology, UC Irvine

More About the Leadership Team

  • Dr. Asli Sezen-Barrie is the Stacey Nicholas Endowed Chair Professor of Environmental and Climate Change Education at UCI’s School of Education and serves as the faculty advisor for the ECCLPs. She formerly was the program director at the National Science Foundation (NSF) within the Division of Research on Learning, where she led the Discovery Research preK-12 program. At NSF, Dr. Sezen-Barrie focused on science teacher education and justice-oriented climate change education, representing her division in interagency and cross-directorate climate change initiatives, including the Wildland Fire Initiative. Recently, Dr. Sezen-Barrie was invited to serve as the Associate Editor for the Climate and Environmental Education section of the prestigious journal Science Education. Additionally, she is the Chief Editor of the forthcoming Handbook of Climate Change Research for Transdisciplinary Science Education (SpringerNature) and the lead author of Data Stories of Climate Change Impacts: Towards Justice-Oriented Education and Action (Harvard Education Press). She earned her Ph.D. in Science Education from Pennsylvania State University.

  • Dr. Richard Arum is a professor of Education, and completed a five-year term in 2021 as dean of the School of Education at UC Irvine. He has served as senior fellow of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and as director of the Education Research Program at the Social Science Research Council. He has a M.Ed. from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Sociology from UC Berkeley.

  • Dr. Jennifer Cao is an advocate for advancing climate and environmental literacy. She has dedicated her educational career to fostering transformative change. She brings with her over a decade of experience in the educational field and has a diverse background in designing and facilitating teacher professional development programs centered in cultural relevance and equity for 21st century science teaching and learning. As the former Associate Director of the UCI Science Project, she enjoys developing partnerships with faculty, school districts, and community-based organizations to ensure that programs and initiatives are accessible and impactful. Through her leadership and dedication, she hopes to inspire educators and students to become change agents in building a more equitable and sustainable future for all.