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Mission
The mission of IESP is to advance multidisciplinary research and scholarship within the environmental and health sciences, engineering, economics, and the social sciences among UIC's faculty and students, to prepare the next generation of environmental scientists and decisionmakers, and to transmit workable solutions for environmental problems to the public sector. IESP's core theme is to advance understanding of the relationship between human-caused environmental impacts and environmental health. This mission is built upon a four-tiered foundation:
- Advance knowledge on environmental science and policy through scholarly research.
- Facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration among scholars to develop new paradigms of inquiry that address and define environmental research priorities.
- Gather together multidisciplinary teams of scholars and counterparts in the public and private sectors to devise workable solutions for today's complex environmental challenges.
- Prepare the next generation of environmental scholars, scientists, and decisionmakers through cross-disciplinary education to gain an understanding of the interrelated roles that science, technology, economics, and government policy play in environmental issues.
Some of IESP’s recent activities in fulfillment of this mission include:
- Attracting new faculty members to UIC through joint appointments with cognate academic departments, and providing seed funding for joint faculty research. Topics of research projects range widely, from the effectiveness of replacing conventional motor vehicles with alternative fuel vehicles in local government, to the health effects of exposure to industrial chemicals, to the environmental impacts of bio-based production. (See “Current Research” page).
- Partnering with the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum/Chicago Academy of Sciences on a project in which IESP has assisted in the development of new programming concepts for the museum based on life-cycle thinking and provided opportunities for Chicago Public School teachers from disadvantaged schools to enrich their environmental science curricula. As part of the Nature, Math and Science Partnership program, funded by the Illinois State Board of Education through the U.S. Department of Education’s Math and Science Partnership Initiative, UIC faculty affiliated with IESP have taught graduate-level science and environmental courses to about 20 Chicago Public School teachers of grades 4 through 8 in disadvantaged areas, with the goal of assisting them in moving towards “highly qualified” teaching status and/or endorsement in science. The museum recognized IESP’s efforts in 2005 with an Educational Environmental Leader award.
- Fostering a highly innovative interdisciplinary atmosphere among faculty through IESP’s scholar and clusters program, as embodied by the IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship) program funded by the National Science Foundation. The first IGERT grant awarded to IESP was for the Environmental Manufacturing Management (EvMM) program, a doctoral program that has an overall goal of exploring innovative solutions to industrial environmental problems, making use of the tools of systems analysis, product and process redesign, risk analysis and life-cycle assessment in the furtherance of the emerging concepts of environmental sustainability. The program is interdisciplinary and seeks to develop, foster and enhance cross-disciplinary research and educational activities at the forefront of environmental management. Participation of external sponsors for student residencies, ranging from U.S.EPA to companies like Xerox and Alcoa, has been essential for the program. Seven UIC students have graduated from the EvMM program. Graduates now hold positions that include Assistant Professor Environmental Engineering at Clemson University, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at Purdue university, Assistant Professor of Finance, Economic and Quantitative Methods at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Chemical Engineering Researcher at Cargill, Production Engineers at Xerox Corporation, and Senior Research Economist at UIC’s Energy Resources Center, among others.
A new IGERT grant, for the LEAP (Landscape, Ecological & Anthropogenic Processes) program, seeks to integrate a variety of scientific fields with relevant economic and social science disciplines to prepare students for careers in environmental science, policy and conservation practice. The program also includes collaborative research and a team-based capstone project; internships with Chicago-area partner organizations; and seminars and workshops. LEAP fellowships provide a stipend and tuition for two years, and research and travel funds for four years. Seven UIC students are currently enrolled in LEAP.
- Providing up to three doctoral fellowships each academic year. The fellowship competition includes any interdisciplinary environmental research theme that is congruent with the mission and goals of the Institute, with topical areas having included, for example, the development of commensurable metrics for assessing sustainability, novel technologies for limiting waste emissions during manufacturing, and analysis of environmental policies based on extended product or producer responsibility. Criteria for selection of fellows include the extent to which the research plan draws upon and synthesizes knowledge from several disciplinary areas, and the likelihood that the research will lead to new themes in environmental scholarship. The program is a significant aspect of the way in which IESP partners with others on campus.
- Sponsoring seminars, conferences and campus events, such as Earth Day activities, that promote learning and discussion of environmental research and issues.