The University will create a campuswide institute focused on environmental research, education and engagement. The UNC Institute for the Environment, formed through expansion of the existing Carolina Environmental Program, adds new degree programs, research sites and outreach initiatives across North Carolina. The institute will be launched April 12.

The institute will become a major resource for North Carolina when it needs help solving problems in areas such as community design, energy and environment, and health and environmental policy, said Douglas Crawford-Brown, director of the Carolina Environmental Program and head of the new institute.

“The additional resources invested in the new institute will allow us to conduct the fundamental research needed to inform these
issues, and to create the institutional infrastructure by which we can engage with the state and bring that research forward to help the people of North Carolina,” he said.

The institute’s four initiatives include:

  Adding to existing sustainable energy, environment and economic development programs;

  Creating a center examining landscape change and human health;

  Establishing a center for sustainable community design; and

  Broadening UNC’s environmental public service and engagement programs, offering aid to public schools, local and state governments and environmental and community groups throughout North Carolina.

“As our society grapples with environmentally related issues such as sustainable community design, natural resource allocation and global warming, it is critical for the University community to be involved in new and different ways,” said Chancellor James Moeser. “The institute extends our traditional mission of education, research and service by engaging with others on these issues.”

The institute’s creation is funded by a multi-year, $8 million commitment from the University and by $3 million in gifts from private donors. Results of those commitments include:

  The Cherokee Distinguished Professorship in Sustainable Community Design;

  The Michael S. Meldman Distinguished Professorship in Conservation;

  Support from Progress Energy for the institute’s programs in sustainable energy, environment and economic development; and

  A gift from Tim Toben of Chapel Hill, vice chair of the institute’s Board of Visitors.

“Today, we face complex environmental challenges that will require strong, inspired and carefully planned responses,” said Bernadette Gray-Little, executive vice chancellor and provost. “By facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration, the institute will help to engage the campus in research and teaching, leading to a deeper understanding of the environment and strategies to address environmental problems.”

The institute will maintain the current program’s focus on environmental modeling for policy development its environmental field site network and, in cooperation with the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Public Health, administration of UNC’s bachelor’s degree programs in environmental science, environmental studies and environmental health science.

The institute will also continue the Carolina Environmental Program’s Carbon Reduction Program (CRed), which led UNC and the Town of Chapel Hill to adopt ambitious targets for reducing emissions of gases, such as carbon dioxide, that contribute to global warming. Other programs that will be associated with the new institute include research that assists the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with air pollution standards and work with the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources to help North Carolina municipalities achieve sustainable community designs.