By integrating advanced technology, scientific innovation, and insights from our extensive network of partners, UConn’s Institute of the Environment and Energy generates knowledge that drives better decision-making for people, health, energy, food, and water. Viewed through the lens of sustainability, artificial intelligence, and climate change, these insights equip industry, agencies, and communities with the tools to anticipate risk, seize opportunities, and create a thriving, sustainable future.

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Climate

Advancing a safer, more stable future by developing knowledge products and tools that inform preparedness and responses to trends and extreme weather events. Our applied research supports efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and helps partners anticipate and adapt to heat waves, floods, sea level rise, shifting ecosystem composition and function, productivity changes, supply chain disruptions, and wildfires.
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Sustainability

At the intersection of science, innovation, and community impact, IoEE champions sustainability across the board. We take a systems approach that prioritizes resilience, adaptability, response, and recovery, with solutions that serve people and the planet. From advancing clean energy technologies and sustainable food systems, to harnessing AI for climate-smart decision-making, we empower all kinds of diverse communities to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
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Artificial Intelligence

Advancing core AI research in machine learning, reasoning, and integrative systems, IoEE also tackles the critical socio-technological challenges posed by AI such as privacy, cybersecurity, and sustainability. Through applications in health, defense, energy, systems science, and transportation, we are committed to developing responsible, resilient technologies that serve society.
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Community

Collaborating with community members, leaders, stakeholders, policy makers and tech professionals to build and maintain healthy, resilient, and sustainable communities and ecosystems; and supporting innovative, community-led and need-informed translational-research initiatives to solve complex problems associated with the green energy transition, climate risk and disaster preparedness, environmental quality, socioeconomic sustainability, and community health and wellbeing, while also informing policy efforts to ensure the benefits of research are distributed equitably and effectively on local, regional, and national scales.
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Health

Generating cross-disciplinary scientific knowledge that identifies and assesses health risks linked to climate change, pollution, and emerging contaminants such as PFAS. We support integrated planning and cross-sector collaboration that prioritize long-term well-being, public safety, and health equity.
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Energy

Informing efforts to advance sustainable, electrified, and zero-carbon systems while addressing grid reliability and long-term energy planning needs. We provide research and analysis to support decisions toward a secure, affordable, and modern energy future.
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Ecosystems

The relationships between land use, water cycles, biodiversity, and pollution together shape ecosystem function and resilience. From wetland restoration and watershed biogeochemistry to emerging contaminants and habitat change, our research combines field studies, modeling, and policy-relevant science to inform sustainable practices to support decisions by  communities, agencies, and industries and safeguard natural systems while adapting to shifting environmental conditions.
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Food Systems

Providing analysis and solutions for science-based, community-driven, and sustainable food systems that address food security, agricultural production, nutrition, affordability, food access, and food assistance. Our focus is on integrated outcomes in health, livelihoods, and environment through collaborative solutions.

Working Groups

Learn more about the 2026-2027 IoEE Working Groups. Membership for all working groups is open to all interested IoEE-affiliated faculty members.

Establishing a Northeast Fire Risk Collaborative (NE-FRC)

Group Lead: Michael Hren, Professor (Earth Sciences) & Director of CESE

This working group will lay the foundation to building the Northeast Fire Risk Collaborative (NE-FRC): a compact, interdisciplinary faculty team that converts UConn's existing strengths — spanning molecular biogeochemistry, atmospheric and fire-weather modeling, climate science, remote sensing, forest ecology, hydrology, grid engineering, risk communication, environmental health and justice, and policy — into a durable pipeline of shovel-ready, externally fundable projects. The scope of this team deliberately extends beyond wildfire alone to the full landscape of Northeast/Eastern fire and environmental risk: wildfire and prescribed fire, smoke exposure (outdoor and indoor), drought and tree mortality, wildland-urban interface (WUI) growth, power-grid ignition and resilience, post-fire hydrology/soil/slope stability, public health, fire prevention and safety literacy, community planning, and environmental justice. This breadth is what lets NE-FRC link academic research to industry (energy/utilities), insurance, and health-system partners.

Symbiotic Data Center (SDC) Infrastructure: Towards a Resilient Resource-Ecology Community Nexus

Group Lead: Baikun Li, Professor (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

U.S. global leadership in frontier artificial intelligence, a national priority underscored by initiatives like the Genesis Mission, critically depends on expanding data center infrastructure. The U.S. hosts ~5,000 operational data centers with ~2,000 planned or under construction. However, scaling high-density computing (>100 kW/rack) triggers an unprecedented resource crisis: 325 580 TWh annual power, 38–73 billion gallons water consumption, and >40% energy rejected as low-grade waste heat (35°C–65°C). Addressing this crisis is hindered by three gaps: 1) Dynamic Mismatches. Static annual metrics (e.g., water-use efficiency (WUE)) obscure sub-second power pulses and transient thermal spikes. 2) Linear Resource Sinks. Data centers operate as isolated sinks rather than circular hubs for water reclamation, mineral recovery from thermal brines, and district heating; 3) Fragmented Governance. Regulatory frameworks overlook cumulative community burdens, including continuous low-frequency (40–100 Hz) cooling noise, aquifer depletion, shifted grid costs, and public health consequences.

Integrated Waste Solutions: Engineering, Economics and Policy for Circular Bioeconomy

Group Lead: Julia Valla, Professor (Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering)

The WG’s objective is to build a neutral UConn platform that integrates engineering, economics, communication, and policy to help Connecticut (CT) municipalities and regional partners identify technically feasible, economically viable, environmentally sound, and implementable waste-management solutions, while generating the data, partnerships, and pilot results needed for major external research funding.

E-Extension for International Agricultural Development

Group Lead: Margaret Walsh, Research Professor & Director of Research Development (Institute of the Environment and Energy)

Through its Innovation Labs, Feed the Future (FtF) engages U.S. universities to create, convene, and concentrate expertise on critical challenges that can measurably advance global food security while supporting other federal goals for international engagement. The IoEE FtF working group will work with international partners to integrate soil and agronomic data, climate and weather information, market intelligence, and local knowledge into an e-extension decision support platform to improve agricultural production and food system decision making in regions where agriculture is central to livelihoods, food security, and economic development.  Beyond FtF, this effort can support domestic applications, as well emergency preparedness and response.

Water, Energy, Food, and Societal Security in an Era of Diverging Extremes

Group Lead: Guiling Wang, Professor (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

The goal of the WEFS WG is to develop a collaborative innovation hub that will help communities to better plan, prepare, mitigate, adapt, and recover when compound extremes strike, charting a path towards a more secure future in the water, energy, and agricultural sectors. We propose to achieve this goal through advances in 1) identifying stakeholder needs for information and tolerance for uncertainty, 2) understanding and predicting physical hazards with sufficient lead time, 3) assessing sector specific impacts, and 4) communicating the predictions and potential solutions with stakeholders to enable information uptake and adaptation decision-making with actionable lead time.

Research Highlights