Bronwen Konecky
otherrock.bsky.social
Bronwen Konecky
@otherrock.bsky.social
Assistant Prof, researcher of tropical climate/paleoclimate, stable isotopes, biomarkers, models, mud. Runs on geoscience & music (the 'other kind of rock'). More geoscience and less music these days, but here's hoping. she/her
We're hiring! I'm recruiting a Postdoctoral Research Associate in climate & paleoclimate modeling of the tropical Americas. Come obsess over the tropical rain belt with me! :) Please share w/folks who may be interested. Ad here: wustl.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...
Postdoctoral Research Associate - Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences
Position Summary The Climate and Paleoclimate Lab in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences at WashU in St. Louis seeks a Postdoctoral Research Associate in tropical climate/pa...
wustl.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
October 29, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Congratulations to the new class of Packard Fellows!
We’re thrilled to announce the 2025 class of Packard Fellows for Science and Engineering — 20 innovative early-career scientists who will each receive $875,000 over five years to pursue their research.

Meet the 2025 Packard Fellows ⬇
www.packard.org/2025fellows
October 15, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Bronwen Konecky
Honestly, this 8.8-mag quake and tsunami seems a fabulous demonstration of the capabilities that the US, Japan, and others have marshalled to protect their citizens.

This doesn't just exist. It has to be built and maintained.
July 30, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Reposted by Bronwen Konecky
“More than 140 employees of the National Science Foundation have signed a letter denouncing what they described as efforts to undermine one of the country’s main science funding agencies. … Out of fear of retaliation, all but one of the employees’ signatures are redacted.”
Amid Fear of Retaliation, N.S.F. Workers Sign Letter of Dissent
www.nytimes.com
July 22, 2025 at 11:14 PM
FYI, #AGU25 will be PC-only (no macs) 🙃
July 18, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by Bronwen Konecky
NOAA is essential to the health, welfare, and safety of all Americans. Dismantling climate.gov makes us all less safe. Here’s an article we wrote about the value of NOAA to the American public: bsky.app/profile/cost...
Our final updates have been posted to the Climate.gov website, and this will be our final post to our social media channels.
June 28, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Reposted by Bronwen Konecky
Sad to see that leadership didn’t approve of my suggested post language (assuming since this is what is posted) that I submitted on my last day in May as the social media manager.

Allow me share some of our team’s kind words here instead:
June 27, 2025 at 9:54 PM
and many of these swaths of the USA are not prone to wildfires locally, so folks do not have a habit in place of checking the AQI (which is second nature in, e.g., the west)
June 4, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Reposted by Bronwen Konecky
If you burn down a forest, you don't miss out on lumber for just that season. You have to replant all the trees, nurture them, and wait for them to grow.

The science and research budget cuts happening now are wanton, senseless arson. Recovery, if it ever happens, will take generations.
June 3, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Bronwen Konecky
One of the most fascinating interviews I've ever done. Seriously. On the eve of #hurricane season, #tornadoes moving across the South and Canadian #wildfire smoke descending on the upper Midwest, there is no more important time to focus on #climate impact on #finance #economy. @climate.noaa.gov
JPMorgan hired NOAA's chief scientist to advise clients on navigating climate change
Last year, JPMorgan hired Sarah Kapnick as the bank's chief climate scientist. She's now advising clients on how climate change will impact their investments.
www.cnbc.com
May 31, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Reposted by Bronwen Konecky
How bad will it be? Catastrophic.

Proposed cuts to #NSF, #NIH, and #NASA will set the US R&D landscape back 25 yrs+, cause economic and job loss now, and undermine innovations to come.

But, this is the WH's *proposed* budget.

Speak up now before it is too late.

(inflation adjusted $-s below)
May 31, 2025 at 2:50 AM
2 weeks ago, an EF3 tornado tore through my neighborhood and others in STL city. Relief efforts are almost entirely grassroots, which on the one hand is beautiful, and on the other hand is so depressing. Houses' roofs and brick walls are torn wide open like dollhouses and yet, no one is coming.
May 30, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by Bronwen Konecky
The marathon livestream of weather & climate scientists talking about their research, and its importance, continues. Drop in anytime through the weekend for learning opportunities. I just heard a discussion about what everyone's favorite cloud is! #wx wcstreamathon.netlify.app
The Weather & Climate Livestream
Join us starting May 28th, as meteorologists and climate scientists from across the US share their research and answer your questions.
wcstreamathon.netlify.app
May 30, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Bronwen Konecky
There’s so much happening right now, I thought I’d put together a running thread on the dismantling of #climate and research and knowledge infrastructure in the United States 🧵
May 7, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Reposted by Bronwen Konecky
BREAKING from @science.org: The Trump admin is seeking to kill nearly all climate research at NOAA, its climate science agency.

Its near-final budget proposal would end all NOAA research labs, academic institutes, and regional climate centers. And it wants to fully end the NOAA Research division.
Trump seeks to end climate research at premier U.S. climate agency
White House aims to end NOAA’s research office; NASA also targeted
www.science.org
April 11, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Bronwen Konecky
The rationale for this cancellation is climate denial.

There is no dressing it up, there is no tiptoeing around it.

Yet climate change doesn’t care if we believe it. It will destroy our homes, multiply insurance rates, wreak economic havoc and more — regardless of our opinions or voting record.
April 9, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Paleo folks: Does anyone know if NOAA/NCEI's Paleoclimatology database is part of NOAA's Amazon Web Services contract? Does the US paleo community need to start archiving datasets at Pangaea now too? FAIR data principles don't really work if the website can disappear with little notice.
April 7, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Bronwen Konecky
I worry all the competitive rhetoric over the years has brainwashed everyone to think that there is stable global demand for science and if the jobs aren’t here they will move somewhere else. No, there will just be less science.
March 27, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Happy omega day to those who celebrate.

The March equinox is our reference point for the ever-changing position of perihelion relative to the solstices.

Seasons, stars, time itself, they’re always changing. So find yourself a good reference point.

A little mindfulness from #paleoclimatology 🤓
March 20, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Bronwen Konecky
"[T]he entire system felt rigged, designed to make it nearly impossible for anyone to get out.

The reality became clear: Ice detention isn’t just a bureaucratic nightmare. It’s a business. These facilities are privately owned and run for profit."

This story is beyond insane ...
I’m the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped
I was stuck in a freezing cell without explanation despite eventually having lawyers and media attention. Yet, compared with others, I was lucky
www.theguardian.com
March 20, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Hey #StLouis, the air quality outside is extremely dangerous. Stay indoors. It’s WILD that we got 1,000,000 tornado alerts last night but have gotten NO alerts about the wildfire smoke & dust borne by that same weather system! Did the air quality alert folks at #NOAA / #NWS get fired or something?
March 16, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Reposted by Bronwen Konecky
AGU has joined a lawsuit challenging the firing of probationary employees at federal agencies.

These actions weaken science, harm public health & the environment, and threaten national security. 🧵 #StandWithScience
March 5, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Reposted by Bronwen Konecky
It's happening again. Stillwater (MN) Area Public Schools are restricting access to my book "Call Me Max," citing bogus concerns about "the age and maturity of the intended audience." You can read my full letter to them here: www.kylelukoff.com/blog-1/2025/.... I'll also post the highlights below.
March 6, 2025 at 3:48 PM