Our Approach to Environment and Sustainability
Students from Ecological Methods (EVS 310) learning about measuring trees at Letchworth Teaching Forest. Photo courtesy Danielle Dolan.
We are proud to work together within the UB system to examine environmental and social impacts as one coupled system. Our mission is to help solve the most complex socioecological problems that face humankind today. These range from global climate change and biodiversity loss, to population and consumption growth, to how we discuss and reach decisions regarding the complex human-natural systems that will control the Earth’s future. Our students engage in real-world and transdisciplinary research.
Our Students
Our program attracts a wide array of students with a diversity of backgrounds from around the nation and the world. We prepare our students to become researchers and practitioners at the interface of the human and natural world. Students will succeed in today's career market by having the critical thinking skills and experience required to put often opposing theories into practice. Many students end up working in non-profit and non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), governmental and policy setting bodies, and private companies such as environmental consulting groups.
Our Faculty
Our professors are representative of the university as a whole, and have backgrounds that include expertise in the natural and social sciences and humanities. Many of our faculty also have appointments in other departments within the College of Arts and Sciences including faculty members from Anthropology, Biological Sciences, Communication, Geography, Geology, and Media Studies, in addition to current leaders in the Environmental and Sustainability Sciences.
Our Impact
The Department of Environment and Sustainability provides an interdisciplinary home within the College of Arts and Sciences for the development of innovative and integrative approaches to environmental teaching, research and outreach. The department develops synergies with, and strengthens our reputation in the regional and national arenas, and energizes UB’s commitment to the multidisciplinary research, collaboration, and outreach.