SW CASC Deputy Director to Pursue Detail with Department of Defense

On Monday, August 14, SW CASC Deputy Director, Dr. Carolyn Enquist, began a one year detail as the USGS Climate Adaptation and Resilience Liaison to the Department of Defense. In this capacity, she will serve as the National Innovation Landscape Program (NILP) Lead for the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area. Carolyn will continue to work with partners in the Southwest as the NILP Southwest Portfolio Manager, initially working with the Department of the Navy. “This opportunity will allow me to further build the kind of partnerships, at both national and regional levels, that will facilitate transformative adaptation," Carolyn said. "Working with a partner like DoD will truly enhance and accelerate this process.” 

Carolyn has served as the Deputy Director of the SW CASC over the past nine years, with stints as the Federal Director (Acting) of the South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (SC CASC) between 2018-2019 and the Federal Director (Acting) of the Southwest CASC since March 2022. She founded the inaugural Southwest Adaptation Forum (SWAF) in 2018 and has led two additional iterations of the gathering through 2022, where the interests of Tribal partners are at the front and center of the program. Carolyn led the SW CASC’s development of an overarching strategic framework based on principles of equity and inclusion, designed to support user-driven and solution-oriented, actionable research that addresses priority climate adaptation needs. 

Over the past several decades, Carolyn has worked to build, strengthen and maintain partnerships with natural and cultural resource managers, policy makers, Native Nations, and researchers across the Southwest and beyond to ensure the co-development and translation of science for effective decision-making, particularly in the context of climate adaptation and community-based resilience. Her previous employers include The National Park Service, the Forest Service, the USA National Phenology Network, the Wildlife Society, and Nature Conservancy chapters in Arizona and New Mexico.

The SW CASC congratulates her on her new job detail and wishes her well on her latest endeavor!