Amber Pairis, 38, of La Jolla, has been appointed assistant secretary for climate change at the California Natural Resources Agency. Pairis has been climate change advisor at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife since 2008. She was a science and research liaison at the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies from 2006 to 2008 and a conservation biology curriculum developer at the Antioch New England Institute from 2002 to 2004.