Global Environmental Change
The Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach emphasizes research, education and outreach dealing with the challenges of global environmental change, including anthropogenic interference on the climate system, land use change, water use, and more. CEREO’s Affiliate faculty expertise spans a wide variety of topics including the atmospheric sciences, water resources, energy resources, soil science, subsurface science, bio-geochemical cycling, carbon sequestration, social/political impacts and prioritization, maintenance of biodiversity, and the evolution of infectious diseases. Faculty experts at WSU also build understanding of the temporal responses, both paleo and evolutionary. CEREO is especially interested in encouraging research on the complex interactions between human and natural systems.
Sustainability and the Environment
The Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach coordinates efforts by faculty with a wide range of expertise involving environmental quality, sustainability, and economic development. CEREO draws on faculty with interest in environmental justice, environmental entrepreneurship, and sustainable agriculture as well as urban design and public health. The Center is committed to the support of research on interrelationships between culture, society and the environment. CEREO’s mission includes environmental education and outreach, as well as understanding the challenges of ecological literacy and environmental citizenship. Overall focus areas are: sustainability of the physical environment, sustainability of the biological environment, sustainability of the built environment, and global pandemics caused by evolving pathogens and high population densities.
Resilience of Environmental Systems
The Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach’s third area of emphasis harnesses the creativity and expertise of both faculty and counterparts in Native American Tribes, government, non-governmental entities and industry in developing new and/or improved decision-making to ensure resilience of integrated food, energy and water systems, both domestically and internationally. CEREO draws on faculty and collaborators who are actively involved in a variety of food, energy, and water-related disciplines at various locations throughout the Columbia River Basin and the Americas promoting community-engagement for use-inspired research, education and outreach.
