Interdisciplinary Research Centers and Initiatives
Receive Funding Awards from EESI
Seven interdisciplinary research initiatives committed to advancing scientific understanding of the earth system and the unprecedented challenges facing the planet’s environmental health will receive funding support from the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute (EESI) in 2008-09.
Included in the seven is the new Initiative for Climate Risk Management to be directed by Klaus Keller. This Initiative builds on Penn State’s research expertise in climate change by focusing on climate-risk management. Researchers plan to develop and apply a new Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) to address the uncertainty in climate risk-management strategies. Such uncertainty can range from potential climate threshold responses to future ethical-value judgments. The new model also will be used to create CO 2 emissions scenarios.
In addition, several existing centers also will receive funding and, in some cases, staff support from EESI. These are:
- Center for Environmental Informatics (CEI) led by Doug Miller;
- Center for Energy and Environmental Risk (CEER) led by Andy Kleit;
- Penn State Ice and Climate Research Center (PSICE) led by Sridhar Anandakrishnan and Richard Alley;
- Earth System Science Center (ESSC) led by Michael Mann;
- Center for Environmental Chemistry and Geochemistry (CECG) led by Anne Thompson;
- Cooperative Wetlands Center (CWC) led by Rob Brooks.
The funding awards were decided as the result of the EESI Center Competition. Held in May, the competition included “Proposal Presentations” by center directors in which they detailed their initiatives, goals and objectives.
In addition to these centers, directors of two EESI-affiliated research centers not seeking funds also made presentations at the competition. These are the Center for Environmental Kinetics Analysis (CEKA), led by Susan Brantley and Jim Kubicki, and the Center for Public Policy Research in the Environment, Energy and Community, led by Amy Glasmeier.
Faculty-directed, EESI centers are leaders in interdisciplinary and collaborative research in environmental science and draw members from across colleges. Researchers involved with the centers have interdisciplinary interests and expertise, are committed to developing and promoting new modeling tools and are engaged in exploring fundamental processes.
The next competition for centers and initiatives within EESI is planned for 2011.