POTSDAM -- The White House announced Monday that Clarkson University has signed the White House Educators Commitment on Resilient Design, which promotes a “resilience design agenda” across a range of educational programs in order to adapt to impacts of climate change.

According to the Resilient Design Institute, resilience to climate change involves adaptation to regional and localized impacts that are expected with a warming planet: more intense storms, greater precipitation, coastal and valley flooding, longer and more severe droughts in some areas, wildfires, melting permafrost, warmer temperatures, and power outages. "Resilient design" is the intentional design of buildings, landscapes, communities, and regions in response to these vulnerabilities.

"Clarkson’s curriculum, research and collaborative partnerships address the world’s pressing issues in climate resilience and other impacts of climate change,” said Clarkson President Tony Collins. “New York State's North Country is a region where we have first-hand knowledge of the impact that weather can have on infrastructure. Clarkson partners in research that has an impact not only on our neighbors, but also on communities like Potsdam around our state and nation, where climate change could be disruptive to lives and commerce. Clarkson is pleased to support our nation's communities in their resilience planning, an issue critical to their citizens and economy.”

Last November, Collins visited the White House to participate in a conference on climate change, where Clarkson was one of the more than 200 colleges and universities representing 3.3 million students that demonstrated support for strong international climate action by signing the American Campus Act on Climate Pledge.

"Clarkson's excellence in sustainability and resilience closely follows our focus on and commitment to providing an education to our students that really matters,” said Prof. Susan E. Powers, Spence Professor in Sustainable Environmental Systems and Interim Director of Clarkson's Institute for a Sustainable Environment. “Promoting a resilience design agenda across a wide range of educational programs will enable our graduates to really make a difference throughout their careers as we all learn to adapt to the impacts of climate change."