About ESPP

Welcome to the Environmental Science and Policy Program, an umbrella for research and graduate education at Michigan State University.

Goals
ESPP was established in 2003 in order to:

  • Build graduate education programs that are innovative, interdisciplinary and campus wide;
  • Facilitate interdisciplinary environmental research at MSU and, in particular, link MSU research with national and global research priorities; and
  • Make MSU's areas of excellence better connected with and more visible in national and global efforts.
ESPP faculty Arvai

Actions
Our activities over the past five years include:

  • Establishing a Doctoral Specialization in Environmental Science and Policy. The specialization offers a sequence of four courses designed to show how different disciplines conceptualize environmental issues and how scientific information can be brought to bear on environmental decision-making and environmental policy. In addition, an Environmental Policy Graduate Specialization, for Master's students, will soon be in place.
  • Initiating the Environmental Research Initiative (ERI) to strengthen interdisciplinary faculty collaborative networks. The ERI funded 12 teams in emerging and critical areas of environmental research.
  • Instituting ongoing Doctoral Fellowships to recruit top interdisciplinary students to MSU.
  • Providing a framework for hiring faculty in areas of interest to the cross-campus environmental community. We have hired five new faculty and are conducting multiple searches.
  • Creating environment.msu.edu to serve as an evolving hub for communications and resources related to environmental work at MSU. The website includes a faculty expertise database and information about funding opportunities, campus events, and MSU courses. It also features Michigan's ECHO, which gives access to all major Michigan newspaper stories on the environment.
Fisheries and wildlife foresics lab

Structure
ESPP is structured to be flexible and inclusive. A relatively small staff administers programs. Any faculty member at MSU can affiliate with ESPP, and any graduate student can take classes. ESPP's Program Advisory Board, composed of faculty, helps set priorities. ESPP is also advised and funded by the Deans of the Colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and Engineering and the Graduate School; the Director of the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station; the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies; and the Provost.

wildlife research

Your involvement
ESPP welcomes you. If you are a student interested in interdisciplinary work, you may be interested in taking ESPP classes or in finding out about the array of environment-related departments and courses at MSU. Please sign up for our list-serv to share news and ideas (email espp@msu.edu). If you're a faculty member, affiliating is easy; we just need a note saying you want to join, a CV for our files and statement of your interests for the website (email tdietz@msu.edu). And if you're outside MSU, we'll gladly connect you to on-campus expertise and research (email mayaef@msu.edu).

Researcher crossing river

Welcome!
The ESPP staff

 

Additional informaton about ESPP

 

 

Last Updated: July 7, 2008
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MSU is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity employer.

Environmental Science & Policy Michigan State University