Our Units
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 overall mission of research, education, and engagement.
Center for Environmental Sciences & Engineering
The Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering (CESE) engages in cutting-edge, interdisplinary research to solve complex and emerging environmental challenges. CESE leads and catalyzes research among its 12 core faculty and more than 150 affiliate faculty members from numerous departments within the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the School of Engineering, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, among others. CESE supports multidisciplinary research that bridges the basic and applied sciences, providing technical expertise and laboratory infrastructure. Activities supported by CESE strengthen the scientific understanding of complex and evolving natural systems, monitor environmental quality, inform sound stewardship, and enlighten policy. Taken together, such activities provide guidance for long-term sustainability.
Office of Sustainability
The Office of Sustainability (OS) leads, collaborates, advises, and advocates for sustainable goals and actions across the University of Connecticut campuses. The OS staff and student interns work with senior administrators, students, faculty, and staff to set and achieve strategic sustainability goals in the areas of climate action and resilience, energy and buildings, waste reduction and diversion, water resources, food and dining, grounds, purchasing, transportation, open space and natural resource stewardship, and the intersection of these issues with environmental and social justice. The OS develops outreach and engagement programs that use experiential learning to raise awareness and improve performance around sustainable practices and behaviors.
Connecticut State Museum of Natural History
The Connecticut State Museum of Natural History (CSMNH) explores how natural history shapes the lives of people and how in turn, people shape the environment. Through public events and exhibits hosted at UConn and throughout Connecticut, the CSMNH shares UConn’s world-class scholarship directly with students and the public, striving to give people of all ages new types of learning experiences and interpret the scholarship generated by faculty and staff members, as well as by students, in ways that make it relevant and useful to the lives of everyone. By engaging collaboratively across the many disciplines at the University, the CSMNH inspires creative and novel perspectives about the relationship of humans with the natural world.
Natural Resources Conservation Academy
The Natural Resources Conservation Academy (NRCA) represents a consortium of scholars and educators from the College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources, the College of Education, Center for Land Use Education and Research, and the Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering. The mission of the NRCA is to engage diverse teen and adult participants in natural resources conservation through place-based, experiential outdoor education, and to facilitate community action through collaborative partnerships that contribute to local environmental solutions. Signature programs include the Conservation Ambassador Program, the Conservation Training Partnership, and the Teacher Professional Learning Initiative.
