Empowering Solutions for a Sustainable Future

The Institute of the Environment (IoE) at UConn brings together the expertise and passion of scientists and scholars across the University to address some of the most pressing challenges and grandest opportunities society faces in the 21st century.

The resources and expertise of the Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering, the Office of Sustainability, the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, and the Natural Resources Conservation Academy support the IoE’s integrated mission of research, education, and engagement. The IoE works to advance foundational understanding and develop innovative solutions to pressing environmental challenges, to prepare the next generation as adept and agile members of a 21st century workforce, and to inform and engage the public about what are arguably the existential issues of our time.

Solving environmental problems related to climate change, sustainability, food security, pollution, and species extinction requires an interdisciplinary approach that leverages expertise from diverse disciplines across the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. It requires consideration of multiple angles, from biophysical to cultural, and from legal to health perspectives.

A Living Building

Join us on an exciting and innovative philanthropic opportunity as we raise funds to construct a distinctive “Living Building” to house the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History and partners at the Institute of the Environment.

Securing a Sustainable Environmental Future Symposium

Video recordings from the October 2023 Cross College Symposium on Securing a Sustainable Environmental Future are now available here.

     

Environment in the News

People walking in the woods
Study Surveys CT’s Forest Owners Ahead of Funding for Sustainable Initiatives

‘It’s an effort on the part of the woodland owner to give some thought to the future’

Pacific salmon in the water
The Bright and Dark Sides of Pacific Salmon Biotransport

‘We usually study them separately in the context of transport by animals, but nutrients and contaminants go hand-in-hand’

A beautiful picture of an healty coral reef
A Peculiar Algae with Significant Potential

Weird aspects of a big, cactus-shaped algae could be useful for things like coral reef conservation and regenerative biology while teaching us about how organisms coped with past climatic changes