David Gorelick | Finding Your Research Interests

The Sustainable Carolina Podcast

In this episode, we sit down with David Gorelick, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center on Financial Risk in Environmental Systems (CoFiRES). Gorelick and Abigail Brewer (podcast host) begin by reflecting on their time studying abroad together on the Galápagos Islands as undergraduate students.
They discuss Gorelick's academic journey, and how, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't leave Chapel Hill. Then, they dig into a 2022 CoFiRES study that used supercomputers to model water demands and risks in the Research Triangle.
The study's findings can be applied to any place where water providers are allocating supplies to communities. This is especially important in terms of utilizing sustainable management strategies in the face of a changing climate.
About Center on Financial Risk in Environmental Systems (CoFiRES)
The Center on Financial Risk in Environmental Systems (CoFiRES) is jointly housed in the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering at UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health and UNC’s Institute for the Environment. The Center, led by Greg Characklis, focuses on understanding the links between financial losses and drought, hurricanes and other extreme environmental events.
About the Center for Galápagos Studies
Built on Darwin’s foundations, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Universidad San Francisco de Quito formed a strategic partnership in 2006 to address the challenges facing the Galápagos Islands. Today, the Center for Galápagos Studies coordinates Galápagos programs at the main Chapel Hill campus and all Carolina activities in the Galápagos archipelago itself. The Center also administrates the joint UNC/USFQ Galapagos Science Center, a state-of-the-art research center located on San Cristobal Island.
Launched in fall 2020, Sustainable Carolina is the University’s comprehensive initiative to advance and amplify all sustainability activities, including reducing the University’s environmental footprint through three goals: net zero water usage, zero waste to landfills and net zero greenhouse gas emissions. Led by Chief Sustainability Officer Michael Piehler, Sustainable Carolina will advance these goals through collaborative partnerships across operations, academics, and research.