Release date: Oct. 7, 2002
Contact: Nancy Seideman, Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0640 or nseidem@emory.edu

Department of Environmental Studies

Lance Gunderson, Chairman

Emory’s environmental studies department was founded in 1999 to meet the demand for an interdisciplinary program devoted to the study of environmental issues. Since then, environmental studies has experienced tremendous growth, with 100 undergraduate majors, up from a dozen its first year. The department also participates in the graduate program in population biology, ecology and evolution.

The environmental studies program is grounded in the sciences, focusing on an integrative and interdisciplinary study of the earth’s physical, chemical and biological systems, and how these systems interact with human and social ones, says environmental studies chairman Lance Gunderson. Pushing students to think critically and creatively is an important factor of the program.

"Our highest aspiration is to foster the imagination and creativity that our students will need to attack and deal with environmental issues," Gunderson says. The opening of the new Mathematics and Science Center gives the department its first permanent home, as well as ample lab and classroom space. "The building finally brings us all together and provides us with much-needed space for teaching and research, which will serve us well as a recruitment tool to attract students and faculty to our program," he says. The department has hired several faculty members who bring to the program a diverse mix of specialties in earth sciences, ecology and social human sciences. Faculty research specialties include:

• Environmental sustainability, policy and management;

• Community management of natural resources;

• Geology and earth sciences;

• Population dynamics and spread of disease in wildlife; and

• Entomology and ornithology.

The department also played a role in the development of the facility’s environmentally friendly features, with faculty member John Wegner serving on the building planning committee. Certain aspects of the building allow it to serve as an environmental lab, such as an outdoor teaching space that features a solar-powered meteorological station where students can monitor campus weather patterns and the urban heat dome effect of the building.

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