Stephanie Arcusa
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Mail code: 2701Campus: Tempe
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Stephanie Arcusa is a climate and earth physical scientist focusing on climate mitigation and carbon accounting. She has experience collecting large datasets from the natural world and using statistical methods and earth system modeling to make sense of the data. Arcusa holds a Ph.D. in climate and environmental change from Northern Arizona University, a master’s degree in climate science from the University of Bern, Switzerland, and a bachelor’s degree in earth sciences from University College Cork, Ireland.
Her areas of specialization include earth system measurement, paleoclimate reconstruction, climate action planning, fairness in the climate and energy transition, negative emission technologies, carbon accounting, supporting early career researchers, and the certification of carbon sequestration. More specifically, she designs and studies socio-economic and technological frameworks that support negative carbon emissions and a circular carbon economy. She also explores the development of carbon accounting standards from the lens of scientific principles to support a global carbon management system. Arcusa has published on these topics in journals like Climate Policy, The Holocene, Geophysical Research Letters, Earth System Science Data, and Science.
As a paleoclimatologist, Arcusa reconstructs environmental change (e.g., wildfire, floods, dust …) as it responds to climatic changes (e.g., temperature, precipitation…) through time. Combining data and model simulation, her studies have revealed yet another fingerprint of human activities on the climate and the environment. Her work now consists of developing ways to halt the progression of climate change. Arcusa has led or been part of various projects that further emission reduction at the local, city, and higher education levels.
- Postdoctoral scholar, Arizona State University 2021-2023
- PhD Earth Science and Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University 2016-2020
- Exchange semester, Cornell University 2018
- MSc Climate Science, University of Bern, Switzerland 2014-2016
- 2009-2014 - BSc Earth Science - University College Cork, Ireland
- Exchange summer, Plymouth University, UK 2012
- Exchange year, University of Massachusetts Amherst 2011-2012
Climate Change, Carbon Management and Accounting, New Carbon Economy, Climate Mitigation, Paleoclimatology, Paleolimnology, Dust-Drought Nexus, Climate and Wildfires.
- Certification of carbon sequestration and carbon accounting
- Transitioning economies to carbon neutrality
- Circular carbon economy
- Dust-drought nexus
- Carbon Systems Management Research Group (https://csm-rg.weebly.com/)
McKay, N.P., Kaufman, D.S., Arcusa, S.H., Kolus, H.R., Edge, D.C., Erb, M.P., Hancock, C.L., Routson, C.C., Żarczyński, M., Marshall, L.P. and Roberts, G.K., 2024. The 4.2 ka event is not remarkable in the context of Holocene climate variability. Nature Communications, 15(1), p.6555. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-50886-w
Lackner, K.S., Arcusa, S.H., Azarabadi, H., Sriramprasad, V. and Page, R., 2023. Carbon accounting without life cycle analysis. Energy & Environmental Science, 16(11), pp.4968-4982. https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2023/ee/d3ee01138k
Arcusa, S.H. and S. Sprenkle-Hyppolite, 2022. Snapshot of the Carbon Dioxide Removal certification and standards ecosystem (2021–2022). Climate Policy, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2022.2094308
Arcusa, S.H., McKay, N.P., Wiman, C., Patterson, S, Munoz, S.E., and M. Aquino-Lopez, 2022. A Bayesian approach to integrating radiometric dating and varve measurements in intermittently indistinct sediment. Geochronology, 4, 409–433, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-409-2022
Routson, C. C., Kaufman, D. S., McKay, N. P., Erb, M. P., Arcusa, S. H., Brown, K. J., ... & Cumming, B. F., 2021. A multiproxy database of western North American Holocene paleoclimate records. Earth System Science Data, 13(4), 1613-1632.
Arcusa, S. H., McKay, N. P., Carrillo, C. M., & Ault, T. R., 2020. Dust-Drought Nexus in the Southwestern United States: A Proxy-Model Comparison Approach. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 35(12), e2020PA004046.
Arcusa, S.H., Schneider, T., Mosquera, P.V., Vogel, H., Kaufman, D., Szidat, S. and Grosjean M., 2020. Late Holocene tephrostratigraphy from Cajas National Park southern Ecuador. Andean Geology, 47(3). http://www.andeangeology.cl/index.php/revista1/article/view/V47n3-3301.
Arcusa, S.H., McKay, N.P., Routson, C.C. and Munoz, S.E., 2019. Dust-drought interactions over the last 15,000 years: A network of lake sediment records from the San Juan Mountains, Colorado. The Holocene, 30(4), 559-574. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0959683619875192.
Broadman, E., Thurston, L.L., Schiefer, E., McKay, N.P., Fortin, D., Geck, J., Loso, M.G., Nolan, M., Arcusa, S.H., Benson, C.W. and Ellerbroek, R.A., 2019. An Arctic watershed observatory at Lake Peters, Alaska: weather–glacier–river–lake system data for 2015–2018. Earth System Science Data, 11(4). https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/11/1957/2019/.
Routson, C.C., Arcusa, S.H., McKay, N.P. and Overpeck, J.T., 2019. A 4,500‐Year‐Long Record of Southern Rocky Mountain Dust Deposition. Geophysical Research Letters, 46(14), pp.8281-8288. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2019GL083255.
- Researching decarbonization policy, like the Carbon Takeback Obligation.
- Intermountain West Energy Sustainability and Transitions (https://iwest.org/)
- Analyzing workforce development, Direct Air Capture, and the certification of decarbonizing technologies in the context of transitioning to carbon neutrality
- Kaiteki Institute (https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/kaiteki/research/climate-chan…)
- Analyzing the framing of climate change as a waste management challenge
- Advancing the certification of carbon removal (https://www.carbonremovalpartnership.net/action-plan/verification-stand…)
- Analyzing various facets of certification including permanence, measurements, and responsibility.
- Analyzing policy options that would support carbon removal.
- Creating a framework for the development of standards for the certification of carbon removal.
Courses
2025 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| TGM 312 | Big Data in the Global Economy |
| CAS 598 | Special Topics |
| CAS 598 | Special Topics |
| CAS 493 | Honors Thesis |
2024 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| TGM 312 | Big Data in the Global Economy |
| CAS 492 | Honors Directed Study |
2024 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| TGM 312 | Big Data in the Global Economy |
| CAS 598 | Special Topics |
| CAS 598 | Special Topics |
2023 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| TGM 312 | Big Data in the Global Economy |
- NAU Presidential Fellowship, 2016-2020.
- European Union Erasmus Scholarship, 2013.
- UMass Amherst William L. Markey Scholarship, 2011.
- NAU Sustainability Leadership Award 1st, 04/20.
- NAU School of Earth and Sustainability 3MRP 2nd place, 04/20.
- NAU Bedwell Earth Physics research award, 04/19.
- Graduate Climate Conference travel award, 11/18.
- NAU School of Earth and Sustainability 3MRP 1st place, 04/18.
- NAU Henry Hooper Student research award, 04/18.
- NAU Bedwell Earth Physics research award, 04/18.
- PAGES Dust Impact on the Environment and Climate travel award, 01/18.
- NAU Graduate Student Governmental travel award, 12/17.
- University of Bern Oeschger Center poster competition 1st place, 2014.
- University College Cork Devoy Prize for top-ranking undergraduate project, 2014.
- National Science Policy Network
- American Geophysical Union
- College of Global Futures Curriculum and Instruction Committee, Arizona State University, 2024 - present
- Vice President of External Affairs, Graduate Student Government, Northern Arizona University, 2019-2020
- Co-President, Climate Science Student Council, University of Bern, 2015-2016