Rachel Valletta

“As a child, I thought a ‘genius’ was someone with an immense mastery of facts, but these days I understand the term to mean much, much more. To me, a genius is one who can effectively block out the cacophony of everyday life and live according to their own guiding impulses.”

Rachel Valletta has abundant energy and enthusiasm for what lies at the intersection of human interaction with natural systems. A lifelong earth science geek, an interest in geomorphology and geochemistry brought her to the University of Pennsylvania, where she served as a Benjamin Franklin Fellow and gained a Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Science and researched energy policy with the Pennsylvania Environmental Council. As an Environmental Scientist with The Franklin Institute, Rachel aims to demystify science…and scientists themselves. A conviction that the best science comes from a multitude of diverse voices makes Rachel open in showing queer pride, and committed to outreach and inclusion efforts within academic, professional, and social communities. She has served in LGBTQ student organizations at the University of Pennsylvania, on advisory boards within the Geological Society of America and directed the Climate and Urban Systems Partnership, a four-city educational initiative that developed best practices to engage city residents effectively in climate change and resiliency education.

Research expeditions have taken Rachel to remote field sites such as the Arctic and Antarctic and led her to document changing glacial systems and long-term climate trends reaching as far back as 17 million years ago. At home, Rachel conveys the immediacy and threat of climate change, explains why it’s personally relevant, and what we can do about it.

What did you consider to be genius as a child? 

“As a child, I thought a "genius" was simply someone with an immense mastery of facts, but these days I understand the term to mean much, much more. To me, a genius is one who can effectively block out the cacophony of everyday life and live according to their own guiding impulses.”

who are your local heroes?

“Jerome Shabazz (Overbrook Environmental Center); Gabriella Paez (Esperanza); Amber Hikes (formerly Executive Director of Philadelphia's Office of LGBT Affairs; now ACLU)”

Biography:

Rachel Valletta is a queer scientist with expertise in climate change, polar science, and science communication. “I believe that access to science education is a fundamental human right, and that the best science comes from a multitude of diverse voices. In my role as Environmental Scientist with The Franklin Institute, I strive to demystify science—its process, findings, and ramifications—and scientists themselves.”

Rachel Valletta’s primary focus is climate change education and communication, a theme compelled by my own scientific training. “I have had the opportunity to travel to remote, harsh field sites like Svalbard, Norway and the Dry Valleys, Antarctica. It is in these places that I observed the impacts of climate change firsthand, playing out rapidly on a compressed timescale. Here at home, it’s challenging to communicate the immediacy and the threat of climate change in the absence of melting glaciers--a barrier made only more challenging to overcome by a severely politicized landscape, the rampant prevalence of misinformation, and the success of disinformation campaigns from monied interests. I work to help Philadelphians understand local climate change impacts, why they are personally relevant, and what we can do about them.”

Rachel earned a PhD in Earth and Environmental Science from the University of Pennsylvania and researched energy policy with the Pennsylvania Environmental Council.