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
113
Center scholars
29
Proposals/Grants supported
500+
Activity participants
228
Journal articles published
in 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
For healthier people and a healthier planet
Working in partnership with communities, WashU launches a new initiative to improve nutrition and health locally, nationally and globally.
The heaviness of water
As the western U.S. faces decreasing water supplies, WashU alumni are helping negotiate how this precious resource will be managed and shared in years to come.
WashU Experts: How to stay safe from ticks and mosquitoes in the Midwest
Before venturing out into the woods, a nearby park or even your backyard, keep an eye out for mosquitoes and ticks, which can be vectors, or carriers, for pathogens that can cause disease.
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
Gravois Park neighbors win key round in quest to seize St. Alexius
The neighborhood association says the shuttered hospital is a nuisance and want a judge to force them to clean it up.
St. Louis photographer’s work to appear in new Netflix documentary on Katrina
Stan Strembicki spent 15 years documenting the storm’s aftermath in New Orleans.
Our ape ancestors’ taste for fermenting fruit may have paved a boozy evolutionary path
Eating fallen fruit—or “scrumping”—plays a bigger part in many apes’ diets than scientists realized
Connect with us
Upcoming Events
