Leadership transition at the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture (YCNCC)

Dear Colleagues,

I write to share news of an upcoming leadership transition at the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture (YCNCC). After four years of dedicated service as YCNCC’s inaugural co-director, Liza Comita plans to step down from her role at the conclusion of her term on June 30, 2025. I am pleased to announce that Pete Raymond, Oastler Professor of Biogeochemistry at Yale School of the Environment (YSE), will succeed Liza as co-director, working alongside Dave Bercovici, the center’s other co-director. 

Liza and Dave have brought together researchers from Yale and beyond to tackle our most pressing environmental challenges. Under Liza and Dave’s leadership, YCNCC scientists have advanced knowledge and innovation in natural carbon capture, working to enhance storage capacity in forests, increase capture potential in rocks and oceans, and convert CO₂ into useful materials and fuels. Liza has stewarded an incredible range of research and investment, and her commitment to YCNCC has laid the foundation for its continued success. 

Effective July 1, 2025, Pete will help guide the center’s research and strategic initiatives, advancing YCNCC’s mission to develop natural solutions to reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere and mitigating climate change. Pete is a leading expert in aquatic biogeochemistry, with a research focus on how carbon moves through freshwater and coastal ecosystems. His work has deepened our understanding of greenhouse gas exchanges between inland waters and the atmosphere, the metabolism of aquatic ecosystems, and the effects of storms and droughts on aquatic ecology. He has also used radiocarbon analysis to investigate the age and transformation of carbon in water systems, providing critical insights into global carbon cycles.

A distinguished scholar in earth and climate science, Pete has spent the last two decades of his career at YSE and currently serves as the senior associate dean of research and director of doctoral studies. Pete brings extensive experience in fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and research. He is currently the lead principal investigator on a Department of Energy grant on natural climate solutions and leads the inland water component of the Global Methane Budget. He also has led YSE’s climate initiative and served on numerous university committees, including the Core Facilities Task Force and the University Instrumentation Committee, among others. 

Widely recognized for his contributions to the field, Pete is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and American Geophysical Union, a member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering and a past editor-in-chief of the American Geophysical Union’s journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles. In addition, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research in Sweden.

With his depth of expertise and demonstrated leadership, Pete will be instrumental in progressing YCNCC’s critical work to understand and develop natural carbon sequestration systems. Please join me in welcoming Pete to his new role.

Finally, please also join me in thanking Liza for her contributions as founding co-director of YCNCC. I wish Liza the very best as she returns to focus on her research at YSE.

Sincerely,

Michael Crair
Vice Provost for Research
William Ziegler III Professor of Neuroscience and Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science