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 (AP) - The University of Minnesota plans to create
an Institute on the Environment to conduct applied research on
major environmental problems and coordinate all of the university's
environmental work.

      The proposal, which was unveiled Friday at public meetings in
Duluth and the Twin Cities, was first put forward by University
President Robert Bruininks.

      The institute will be located on the Minneapolis campus, but will
be a virtual roof over all environmental research across the
system, said Deb Swackhamer, environmental health professor and
researcher who is co-chairwoman of the new institute's advisory
council.

      The institute, expected to open in 2007, will have a director,
support staff and about 30 endowed chairs from various sciences,
Swackhamer said.

      "We want to have our best researchers involved, but also bring
in stakeholders from outside the university and experts across
other disciplines, to solve global environmental problems that are
getting increasingly more complicated," Swackhamer said.

      "We want to take issues like climate change and tackle what
they're going to mean to Minnesota wetlands, for example, and what
the global implications are affecting Minnesota."

      Supporters hope even greater discoveries can be made by bringing
together what have been disparate researchers, fields and projects,
Swackhamer said.

      The institute also will act as a clearinghouse for existing
environmental work done by the various schools and research
facilities within the university system, including the Natural
Resources Research Institute, Large Lakes Observatory and Minnesota
Sea Grant in Duluth.

      "We have some of the world's best researchers and some of the
most important environmental work being done across the system. But
the sum of all the parts aren't as great as they could be,"
Swackhamer said.

      It also will provide a place where people inside and outside the
university can instantly access the full range of environmental
research being done.

      "We're envisioning a place where people who do all kinds of
research, from economic to environmental to engineering, can come
together to solve big problems," said Lucinda Johnson, an NRRI
researcher who serves on the advisory council. "These are people
doing great work now but not necessarily talking to each other."

      How the institute will be funded and its budget haven't been
determined, Swackhamer said. However, it will be part of the
university's request to the 2007 Minnesota Legislature.

      The advisory council is taking public comments and will adjust the plan before presenting it to the provost and Board of
Regents in coming weeks.

      The plan is to include input from several colleges within the
university system, not just environmental sciences, said Jerry
Niemi, director of the NRRI's Center for Water and the Environment.

      "I'm very excited about this proposal because it confirms the
university takes the environment seriously, that it's making it a
top priority -- which is something we've been doing here for the past
20 years," Niemi said.

      "It's also very exciting because it's going to bring people in
to solve problems who aren't just doing research, but social
scientists and political scientists and economists," Niemi said.
"This is the direction we have to go if we are going to truly
solve our most pressing environmental issues."
      
      

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The University of Minnesota plans to create
an Institute on the Environment, to conduct applied research on
major environmental problems and coordinate all of the university's
environmental work.


U of M plans environmental research institute

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