College Creates Environment and Natural Resources Institute

In an innovative move aimed at strengthening cooperation and collaboration between agricultural
and environmental research, education, and outreach, the College of Agricultural Sciences has created a new Environment and Natural Resources Institute.

“A major goal of the institute is to increase the visibility, stature, and impact of environmental research, education, and outreach done by the college in Pennsylvania and beyond,” says Robert Steele, dean of the college. “The institute will enhance the effectiveness of our environmental work, and it will promote greater cooperation and collaboration among scientists both within our college and across colleges at Penn State.”

William Easterling, director of the Penn State Institutes of the Environment, believes the new initiative by the College of Agricultural Sciences will allow for more effective involvement of agriculture and forest resources faculty in large intercollege research, teaching, and outreach efforts. “Agriculture and forestry are two of the most important uses of the environment, figuring prominently in many research areas, such as environmental health, water resources, renewable energy, biogeochemical cycles, and biodiversity and ecosystems,” he says. “This new institute will provide an important cog in the Penn State Institutes of the Environment.”

The new institute will be directed by James Shortle, Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Environmental Economics, who expects the initiative to emphasize the diversity of the college. “We want to promote the notion that the college can unite our well-known strengths in agriculture with cutting-edge capacity on environmental issues,” he says. “We have impressive
expertise in forest resources, water resources, ecology, climate change, pollution control, and a wide range of environmental topics. Creation of the institute will mean greater integration across the disciplines and a much more exciting and vibrant science community. The institute also will help us bring the expertise of our colleagues in other colleges into our work, and help us to bring our expertise into their work.

“There is a need to bring science-based environmental policy to state and local agencies and to the citizens of the Commonwealth,” Shortle continues. “The Environment and Natural Resources Institute will create a mechanism for delivering that kind of information.”

For more information, visit the ENRI Web site.