Director's Message: Telling our stories |
We need to better communicate the value of our work. That recurring theme arose from the fifteen events of Environmental Research and Creativity Week. Julie Zimmerman, the Environmental Research Symposium keynote speaker, stated is as two imperatives: Tell better stories and have better stories to tell.
Too often, we take for granted that the value of our work will be appreciated by society. At WashU we know the importance of collaborating across disciplinary boundaries to advance research that addresses society's biggest environmental challenges.
We need to do a better job communicating how this research is leading to solutions, and we need to make the case for how basic research creates the foundation on which solutions can be advanced. We must also find better ways to communicate the value of the scientific and creative processes through which we seek to understand the world around us.
The Center for the Environment wants to support our faculty, staff, and students in sharpening their skills for communicating the importance and value of their environmental work. We are developing more ways to help tell these critical stories and we would love to hear from you if you have a creative idea to share.
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Dan Giammar
Director, Center for the Environment
Walter E. Browne Professor of Environmental Engineering
Assistant Vice Provost
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Environmental Research and Creativity Week |
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Thank you to everyone who made Environmental Research and Creativity Week a success! We are grateful for the community of partners who hosted, cohosted, and promoted this week of events. Over the course of five days and 15 events, the Center partnered with 11 different university teams and showcased the work of 48 WashU researchers. Altogether, more than 850 people engaged in the week’s programming.
Amidst the uncertainty and challenges of today’s world, the work of addressing our gravest environmental and societal challenges requires community and thoughtful partnership. This week was our attempt to nurture, support, and celebrate this vibrant community and deepen these partnerships, read more about this week.
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Graduate Student Environmental Collaboration Lunch |
The center is hosting a graduate student research-sharing lunch from noon to 1 p.m. on Friday, March 21. The lunch will feature the following presentations:
Health effects of combustion-generated aerosols, by Shubham Sharma, PhD candidate in Center for Aerosol Science and Engineering
HonduHerp: Biodiversity Conservation in Honduras, by Tazman Ezra, PhD candidate in Evolution, Ecology and Population Biology
Please RSVP if you plan to attend. The lunch open to graduate students from any WashU program or discipline.
If you would like to be added to the center's grad student email list, please sign-up.
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Recultivating Indigenous Sovereignty and Stewardship
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Join community and campus partners Friday, March 28 for a series of panels structured to advance Indigenous approaches to land and food systems. These panels aim to foster collaboration and strengthen relationships among Native seed keepers, tribal organizations, and Indigenous-led initiatives.
Indigenous Health & Food Sovereignty
9:00-11:30am | Brown Lounge, Brown hall
Exploring how access to traditional foods and self-determined food systems supports Native well-being; emphasizing the connections between diet, culture, and health.
Land Stewardship and Environmental Justice
1:30-2:45pm | Brown Lounge, Brown hall
Highlighting Indigenous-led efforts to protect, restore, and advocate for land and water; emphasizing the deep relationship between environmental health and Indigenous sovereignty.
Seed Rematriation and Cultivation
4:00-5:00pm | McMillan, G052
Focusing on the return of ancestral seeds to Indigenous communities and the cultural, ecological, and agricultural practices that sustain them for future generations.
This gathering serves as a strategic continuation of the Indigenous STL Working Group’s efforts to build and sustain meaningful connections with Indigenous communities tied to the St. Louis region. Learn more and register.
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Earth, Environmental, & Planetary Sciences
The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market
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Join EEPS and the College of Arts & Sciences for the William C. Ferguson Science Lecture at 4 p.m., April 2 in the Clark-Fox Forum. Naomi Oreskes is the Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University and will give the lecture.
Oreskes’ lecture will explore how a century-long propaganda campaign transformed America's view on government and markets. This shift has had significant impacts on American society, including a housing crisis, the opioid scourge, climate destruction, and a baleful response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
4 p.m.: Lecture and Q&A
5 p.m.: Reception
Learn more and sign up.
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Environmental justice and advocacy:
Rob Bilott Assembly Series and film screening
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WU Cinema Presents: Dark Waters
April 3 | 8 PM - 10:15 PM | Brown 100
Join WU Cinema for a screening of Dark Waters, a film based on Bilott's work. Starring Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway, this legal thriller follows Bilott's investigation and the court battle that defined his career.
The screening is sponsored by the Center for the Environment.
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St. Louis County's new tick is a 'serious threat,' officials say
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WashU undergraduate researcher Sam Ko collected and identified the tick in the county, learn more.
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| Can Electro-Agriculture Revolutionize the Way We Grow Food? |
A new technology is pushing the boundaries of farming by using electricity to grow crops without photosynthesis, learn more.
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WashU honored as top workplace for commuters
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A national organization recently named WashU among its 2025 Best Workplaces for Commuters, read more.
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| WashU-led astrophysics mission lands its spot on space station
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An experiment led by researchers at WashU is one step closer to space, learn more.
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Upcoming WashU environmental events |
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The benefits of being a Center Scholar include the opportunity to mentor students in the summer undergraduate research program, connect with potential collaborators, and receive research support from the center.
Explore the program’s benefits and expectations.
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This program is open to WashU:
-Tenured and tenure-track faculty
-Research faculty
-Full-time teaching faculty
-Professors of practice
-Permanent research staff
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| Applicants should be engaged in research or teaching related to the Center's focal areas:
-Biodiversity
-Environmental justice
-Environmental solutions
-Planetary health
-Earth systems and climate change
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| | Washington University in St. Louis
One Brookings Dr.
MSC 1095-207-1160
St. Louis, MO 63130
environment@wustl.edu
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