On Friday, January 12, Provost Thomas Sullivan and Professor and Interim Director Deborah Swackhamer named 15 University of Minnesota faculty as founding fellows of the University's new Institute on the Environment.

"Established in 2006, the Institute on the Environment will coordinate the university's breadth and depth of environmental resources to make it easier for researchers to share knowledge with each other and the public. The institute will bring the university's wide-ranging environmental experts closer together, helping to trigger even greater discoveries and further enhance the university's reputation as an environmental leader."

Professor Stephen Polasky, Department of Applied Economics and Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior was selected. Polasky's research focuses on ecological and environmental economics, biodiversity conservation and endangered species policy.

For more information see the University of Minnesota UMN News release.