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
Global biodiversity begins at home with the Living Earth Collaborative
Combining the forces of WashU, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Saint Louis Zoo, the Living Earth Collaborative works to protect the plants and animals of the world — for their sake and ours.
Electrochemical method supports nitrogen circular economy
Imagine a world where industrial waste isn’t just reduced, it’s turned into something useful.
Sustainable solutions
WashU EnviroCorps members combine environmental stewardship, social impact
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
Invasive longhorned tick discovery in St. Louis County encourages tick investigations across region
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tickborne diseases are on the rise. That means if you’re outdoors, you need to take precautions.
Cats may have been domesticated much later than we thought — with earlier felines being eaten or made into clothes
Two studies of ancient felines find that cats were likely domesticated in Egypt or other regions in North Africa — and moved into Europe with humans much later than previously believed.
Is Sauget air pollution harming people? CDC suggests a deeper EPA probe
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has completed an investigation into whether air pollution in Sauget is harming people, with a particular focus on the emissions from a hazardous waste incinerator there.
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