The Center for the Environment is an interdisciplinary hub of environmental research that is committed to generating transformative solutions to our deepest societal challenges including: climate change, air pollution, access to clean water, food insecurity, biodiversity loss and infectious diseases.
By the numbers
95
Center scholars
7
Proposals/Grants supported
500+
Activity participants
115
Journal articles published
Jan-June 2024
The Center’s mission
The center serves as a cross-cutting collaboration hub, encouraging partners, faculty and students to advance research projects in areas including biodiversity, environmental justice, planetary health, environmental solutions, and climate change. Here’s a closer look at who we are, what we do, and why it matters for our community, our region and our world.
Featured research & stories
Water Innovation Symposium highlights advances in water research
Annual event fosters connections between faculty, students and industry professionals.
NASA’s Europa Clipper prepares for launch
WashU’s McKinnon has been involved with mission to Jupiter’s moon for more than 40 years.
Climate change is super-charging St. Louis wildflowers
A study supported by the Living Earth Collaborative found that local flowers are blooming up to several weeks longer than in past decades.
The WashU ecosystem
Within the WashU ecosystem of environmental research, education, and practice, the Center for the Environment serves as a connector. Much like a biodiversity corridor, we work to create space where our partners within the ecosystem and across distinct disciplines come together to address our world’s biggest environmental challenges.
In the news
Trump seeks to boost presidential bid in Hurricane Helene’s wake, analysts say
Andrew Reeves, a professor at WashU in St. Louis who has studied how natural disasters affect U.S. politics, adds his thoughts.
Hurricane Helene scrambles politics in 3 battleground states
The 500-milelong path of destruction cut by Hurricane Helene has scrambled the politics of three battleground states that could determine control of the White House and Senate. Steven Smith, a political science professor at WashU, chimes in.
Physicians and public health professionals are watching Missouri’s single human case of bird flu closely
Dr. Steven Lawrence, a Washington University Infectious Diseases Physician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, gives his thoughts.