Research

Energy

Through the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES), the university encourages and coordinates university-wide and external collaborative research in the areas of global renewable energy and sustainability. A key goal is to foster institutional, regional and international research on the development and production of biofuels from plant and microbial systems and the exploration of sustainable alternative energy and environmental systems and practices. Research at the center also focuses on the region's important coal resources and efforts to mitigate carbon dioxide accumulation, improve combustion processes and reduce emissions.

The McDonnell Academy Global Energy and Environment Partnership (MAGEEP) is a Washington University-led consortium of 25 international universities and corporate partners with collaborative research programs in energy, the environment and sustainability. Among the fields with collaborative investigations currently underway are:

• the applications of aerosol science to combustion, energy, nanotechnology, environmental atmospheric systems and an expanding list of other disciplines.
• water resources and aquatic processes including the exploration of membrane processes for treating wastewater and the need for decentralized infrastructure to reclaim wastewater.
• emerging solar energy, bio-energy and clean coal technologies.

The Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization is dedicated to addressing the scientific and technological challenges of ensuring that coal can be used in a clean and sustainable manner. The consortium's mission is to be a resource to industry for the advancement of technologies that foster clean utilization of coal by creating an international partnership between universities, industries, foundations and government organizations. The consortium is under the umbrella of the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES). International collaborations are fostered through the McDonnell Academy Global Energy & Environment Partnership (MAGEEP).

Environment

Environmental science concerns itself broadly with the specifics of and interactions among all living and non-living things that occur naturally on earth. It is these physical, chemical and biological components that sustainability seeks to conserve — vegetation; biodiversity and habitat; natural resources; air, water and climate; oceans and the systems that link them. Washington University faculty members and students pursue a broad range of projects designed to contribute to the creation of new knowledge about the environment. A few examples:

• The Evolution, Ecology and Population Biology Program in the Division of Biology & Biomedical Sciences combines population genetics, phylogenetic and ecological perspectives to study the origins and maintenance of biodiversity. It combines field studies with molecular genetics and mathematical theory to understand evolutionary history and environmental biology. For more information, please visit http://wubio.wustl.edu/EEPB
• The McDonnell Academy Global Energy and Environment Partnership is a consortium of 25 universities and corporate partners working in energy, environmental and sustainability research, education and operations. It pursues research in the areas of aerosols and air quality; aquatic processes and water quality; and solar, bio-energy and clean coal technologies.
• The International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) encourages collaborative research into biofuels and other alternative energy applications. The focus is research on biofuels from plant and microbial systems and the exploration of sustainable alternative energy and environmental systems and practices.
• The Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering (EECE) focuses on education and research in environmental engineering science, energy systems and chemical engineering. The department’s 16 tenured faculty members instruct more than 100 undergraduate students and 70 doctoral students in the application of rigorous science to environmental issues and the latest intellectual and technological approaches to sustainability. Together, they pursue creative resolutions to the planet’s environmental problems. Among the department’s many active research programs are explorations of bio-energy production, air quality and particle emission control, and water and wastewater treatment.

Ecosystems

The size of the human footprint on the planet continues to grow, making it increasingly important to recognize the interactions between humans and the ecosystems in which they live.

Tyson Research Center
Washington University's Tyson Research Center is a 2,000-acre field station located 20 miles from the Danforth Campus. Tyson's mission is to provide a living landscape for environmental research and education as a component of I-CARES. Initiatives at Tyson include the development of a landscape-scale experimental venue for studies on ecosystem sustainability and restoration. Major research projects include studies on conservation of biodiversity for ecosystem services, control and impacts of invasive species, and wetland restoration and mitigation. For more information, please visit http://www.tyson.wustl.edu/

Planning & Design

As the global consciousness shifts toward ecological awareness, demand rises for structures and urban centers that reflect that imperative. Faculty at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts have been leaders in teaching sustainable design and researching the future of sustainability. Recent research projects include:

• Project New Orleans, a proposal for rebuilding New Orleans with a focus on making neighborhoods self-sustainable and vibrant
• Zero-Energy, High-Performance Building Standards, a series of case studies directed at sustainable and net-zero energy campus building design funded through I-CARES
• the Alberti Program, which introduces architecture, design and environmental awareness to grade school children from across St. Louis.

Human Health

Researchers at the School of Medicine and on the Danforth Campus work together to explore the connection between public health, the environment and sustainability, identifying environmental factors in problems like asthma, lead exposure and cancer. By developing the public health curriculum with the addition of a Master’s in Public Health program in the Brown School of Social Work and the long-term goal of recruiting School of Medicine faculty involved in environmental health research, the university pursues progress in the field of environmental health.

Food Systems

As the world’s population grows, new technology is being developed to produce more food using fewer resources. Across the university, researchers work to understand the factors that shaped agricultural technology in the past and to develop technology that will revolutionize it in the future.

Department of Anthropology
Research focuses on the social and political aspects of agricultural systems, population increase, and agricultural biotechnology. Specifically, research on paleoethnobotany seeks to understand the cultural and ecological dynamics of past foodways, strategies for procuring, producing and otherwise managing plant resources, and what plants meant to past peoples in the hope of better understanding our own use of food. For more information, please visit http://archaeology.artsci.wustl.edu/

Law & Social Policy

Environmental Law
As parties at all levels of government and society work to facilitate sustainability, environmental law provides an expanding framework to manage and guide those efforts. This field brings together interdisciplinary teams from the university’s schools to offer legal and technical assistance on environmental and community health problems. Additional interests include air and water quality, lead poisoning, environmental justice, habitat destruction and wetlands preservation. For more information, please visit http://law.wustl.edu/Academics/pages.aspx?id=180#environmentallaw

Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic
The Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic provides pro bono legal and technical services to environmental and community organizations in the greater St. Louis area, simultaneously offering an educational experience for students from across the university. Student attorneys (second- and third-year law students) and student consultants (graduate students and upper-level undergraduates in engineering, environmental studies, medicine, social work, and business) work together under faculty supervision to assist individuals and organizations that otherwise could not afford such services. For more information, please visit http://law.wustl.edu/intenv/pages.aspx?id=422

Environmental Clearinghouse
The Environmental Clearinghouse (EC) aims to enable effective public participation in crucial environmental decisions by connecting public interest groups with legal and technical experts. For more information, please visit http://ec.wustl.edu/

Social Work
The George Warren Brown School of Social Work’s six research centers focus on developing evidence-based practices and infusing that methodology into the curriculum. Though each research center has an individual focus, they are united by the common goals of providing access to social services, improving the quality of those services and addressing social and economic justice. For more information, please visit http://gwbweb.wustl.edu/research/Pages/ResearchCenters.aspx

Sustainability and natural resource use in rural communities
This research projects seeks to understand how natural and human systems are coupled, dynamic and mutually-affecting, particularly concerning the sustainability of local ecology and environments that are important to the livelihood strategies of rural villages in India. Working with villagers, the project aims to understand and implement sustainable environmental practices by local communities. (Please check back soon for more information.)

Stove Technologies to Address Energy and Environmental Problems
Biomass, used by over 2 billion people in the developing world as the primary source of household energy, is associated with human health problems. It also contributes to deforestation and represents a large commitment of a household’s time and labor. This study aims to answer the question of how improved cooking technologies can meet the needs of rural households, be energy efficient and still yield reductions in harmful emissions. (Please check back soon for more information.)

Environmental Education and Research Working Group Report

The Environmental Education and Research Working Group (EERWG) was formed and tasked by the chancellor in summer 2005 to discuss and develop a plan for future activities related to the environment at Washington University in St. Louis. EERWG consisted of 17 faculty members and staff across various schools and units of the University. Download PDF of the group's report.