The University of Michigan offers a wide range of non-departmental opportunities for collaborative and interdisciplinary research, education, and advocacy of environmental sustainability. To enhance and promote the University’s efforts in these critical areas, centers, institutes, and initiatives link internal as well as external stakeholders – dialogue and collaboration with corporations, NGOs, public policy leaders, and other research institutions.
Listed below is a sampling of centers, institutes, and initiatives at the University working on a multitude and variety of environmental sustainability issues. The list is representative but not all-inclusive. We encourage you to check back regularly as the list evolves over time and new activities and programs are added.
Centers:
Center for Sustainable Systems (CSS)
CSS develops life cycle based models and sustainability metrics to evaluate the performance and to guide the continuous improvement of industrial systems for meeting societal needs.
Center for the Study of Complex Systems (CSCS)
Interdisciplinary analysis using mathematical modeling to study environments that exhibit: heterogeneous makeup, dynamic change, feedback, and hierarchy organization.
Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP)
Conducts research on state and/or local issues of importance to policy makers. These might include, for example, education and local public finance; economic development, environmental protection, and land use.
Center for Advancing Research & Solutions for Society (CARSS)
CARSS is an innovative forum involving academic experts, business leaders, the media and policy makers from around the world seeking new knowledge and potential solutions for society’s most pressing problems.
Center for Biologic Nanotechnology
Study of nanomaterials and bio-inspired nanostructures for biological and medical applications.
Center for Risk Science and Communication (CRSC)
Promoting informed decision-making about health risks through analytical methods and effective communication.
Population Studies Center
Conducts interdisciplinary research in the areas of health, disability, and mortality; human capital, labor and wealth; aging; population dynamics; and regional studies.
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Institutes:
The William Davidson Institute (WDI)
The WDI provides a forum for business leaders and public policy makers to discuss issues affecting business enterprise and public policies in transition and emerging market economies. The objective of the Institute's educational and research programs is to develop knowledge and expertise that helps improve the effectiveness of firms and social welfare in these economies.
Frederick A. and Barbara M. Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise
The Erb Institute creates and disseminates leading-edge knowledge in the area of global sustainable enterprise. This field explores how organizations throughout the world can achieve long-term success through the harmonization of economic, environmental and social interests.
Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research (CILER)
CILER’s research focuses on climate and large-lake dynamics, coastal and near-shore processes, large-lake ecosystem structure and function, remote sensing of large-lake and coastal ocean dynamics, and marine environmental engineering.
Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute (MMPEI)
The newly reorganized MMPEI will not only be devoted to atomic energy but broadened to include research on the development of energy policies promoting world peace, the responsible use of the environment, and economic prosperity. Interdisciplinary research and education will include perspectives from the natural and social sciences, engineering, medicine, and the arts and humanities.
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Research Programs:
Michigan Sea Grant
The Michigan Sea Grant is a joint program of University of Michigan and Michigan State University. The program funds research and education relating to Great Lakes resource management, specifically in the areas of coastal communities and economies, fisheries, aquatic habitat, and aquatic invasive species.
Spatial Land Use Change and Ecological Effects at the Urban Rural Interface
Studies individual decision making that drives land use and policies and aims to develop, evaluate, and apply agent-based models of land-use and land-cover change processes and assess their interactions with ecosystem structure and function.
Biosphere Atmosphere Research & Training Program (BART)
BART is a multidisciplinary doctoral training program at the interface of biospheric and atmospheric sciences.
Sustainable Concrete Infrastructure Materials and Systems
This project studies sustainable concrete infrastructure materials and systems in order to develop an integrated life cycle design framework that is based on environmental, societal, and economic indicators.
The Antilium Project
The Antilium Project focuses on building bridges to create a more human-centered approach to design by integrating engineering into the design decision-making process as well as adapting engineering tools for use in other disciplines. These disciplines include architecture, art and design, business, industrial and operational engineering, mathematics, mechanical engineering, and psychology.
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Initiatives:
Urban and Regional Research Collaborative (URRC)
URRC is a forum for collaboration between Urban and Regional Planning Faculty, as well as faculty from other disciplines. Research topics include environmental justice, global cities, transportation and land use policy, and environmental planning.
Ecosystem Management Initiative (EMI)
EMI promotes sustainable natural resource management through ecosystem-based teaching, research, and outreach in order to address the myriad challenges that arise from fragmented landscapes and diverse management strategies.
Environmental Justice Initiative
Researches and develops environmental justice strategies and promotes community advocacy in support of communities that struggle with environmental justice issues.
Minority Environmental Leadership Development Initiative (MELDI)
MELDI aims to enhance the leadership and career development opportunities available to minority students and minority environmental professionals.
Leadership Initiative Minority Female Environmental Faculty (LIMFEF)
LIMFEF aims to enhance the presence and stature of minority female faculty in American academic institutions.
UM-Global Health Research and Training Initiative (UM-GHRT)
The University of Michigan Global Health Research and Training Initiative (UM-GHRT) is a university-wide framework to strengthen and expand opportunities for innovative multidisciplinary global health research and scholarship.
International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI)
The IFRI program examines how governance arrangements shape forest outcomes by understanding the role of formal and informal institutions in enhancing livelihoods and adaptive capacity of peoples, conserving biodiversity, and promoting great sustainability in carbon sequestration. IFRI is composed of partner Collaborating Research Centers (CRCs) in North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
Arts on Earth
Arts on Earth's major commitment is to stimulate and support interdisciplinary collaborations involving the arts. Arts on Earth envisions a university that, by treating creative process as an indispensable mode of learning, actively supports students, faculty and staff in the rigorous cultivation of their full human capacity. As the home of top-ranked professional arts schools as well as of outstanding research across the spectrum of scientific and scholarly disciplines, the University of Michigan brings an unusual set of strengths to this ambitious experiment.
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