The Columbia Earth Institute

by Michael J. Passow Earth Sciences Correspondent

How can the existing knowledge about Earth be expanded? How should we educate leaders and citizens about our planet? Can we spark human, societal, and technological innovations to benefit our globe? Where will leadership to find answers to these and other questions come from? Columbia University is making its commitment through creation of the Columbia Earth Institute. The Institute will take a collaborative approach to focus on complex issues and problems, and create the opportunity to make a difference on a global scale.

As evidence of its commitment, Columbia President George Rupp has arranged to dedicate $300 million in capital assets and more than $50 million in new research and educational support in an attempt to achieve the Institute's goals:

Providing the expertise behind the Institute are the following Columbia-affiliated research centers:

The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the Center for Climate Systems Research will provide leadership expertise into study of physical systems. Lamont-Doherty, located on a 115-acre estate in Palisades, just north of New York City, now has more than 200 scientists, 300 technical and support staff, and many of the brightest graduate students delving into a broad range of research problems. They can draw on some of the most innovative sensing and analytical equipment, as well as one of the greatest archives of rocks, deep-sea cores, and seismic records, and other collections.

The Center for Climate Systems Research, part of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, will focus on global change, seeking to predict shifts in the atmosphere and climate, and better understand the complex atmosphere-hydrosphere-biosphere interactions.

The Biosphere 2 Center and the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation will study biological systems. Several years ago, Columbia took control of the Biosphere complex built in the Arizona desert, after many problems emerged with the original experimental design. Today, the 3-1/2 acre complex contains six eco-system facilities where scientists and students from around the world try to model existing Earth processes and predict what may happen in the future. Located between Phoenix and Tucson, Biosphere 2 also has a conference center that hosts many corporate meetings in a unique setting which provides an environmental overtones.

The Center for Environmental Research and Conservation is a cooperative effort of Columbia, the American Museum of Natural History, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Wildlife Preservation Trust, and the New York Botanical Garden. The three goals of this collaboration are research, education, and mid-career training.

Columbia's Earth Engineering Center, the Earth Policy Center, and Rockefeller University's Laboratory of Populations will bring focus to the study of "Human Systems." The Earth Engineering Center brings together engineers, seismologists, economists, and others studying natural resources from the location and extraction of these resources to economics to sustainable engineering. The Earth Policy Center connects social and physical scientists to study how public policy decisions can be better informed by scientific knowledge. The Laboratory of Populations examines such questions as aging and mortality, population dynamics, and related theories.

The International Research Institute is a new consortium that unites Lamont-Doherty, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in attempts to generate the knowledge necessary to forecast climate changes months or even years in advance. Such knowledge will better assist policy makers in devising strategies for agriculture, public health, and natural disaster responses.

The Program on Information and Resources examines global financial markets, global environmental risks, and sustainable cost-benefit analyses. Their core beliefs are responses to the rapid pace of innovation in information technology, and changing patterns of production, employment, and consumption in the world economy. The Program is also working together with the Smithsonian Institutions and UNESCO's Man and Biosphere program in the Institute for Biosphere and Society. The goals of this partnership include developing methods of valuing, managing, and financing the biosphere to promote global economic and social progress which preserving ecosystem integrity.

For many years, environmentalists have deplored the lack of accurate knowledge often exhibited by decision makers, nationally and internationally. Because of Columbia's existing reputation and connections, the Earth Institute has the potential to achieve its desired position of global prominence quickly. Through such synergistic efforts, not only can scientific understanding expand, but also economic benefits result, unwanted results be mitigated, and governments have better information to compact effects of droughts, flooding, and epidemics.

These activities are led by Dr. Peter Eisenberger, Vice Provost for the Earth Institute and Director of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. For more information, check out their website: www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu For more information about other Lamont-Doherty research projects, see: www.ldeo.columbia.edu.

Home          Fall 97          Full Screen

The TEACHERS CLEARINGHOUSE FOR SCIENCE AND SOCIETY EDUCATION