22 Apr Environmental sustainability is the next focus of RISE
RISE-EARTH will strengthen the university’s ability to address complex problems and opportunities related to the environment, translating discoveries into tangible benefits at home in Wisconsin and beyond. Photo: Jeff Miller
At the kick-off celebration for Earth Fest at the University of Wisconsin–Madison on Friday, April 19, Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin announced the next area of focus under the Wisconsin Research, Innovation and Scholarly Excellence (RISE) Initiative: RISE-EARTH.
The Wisconsin RISE Initiative, which Mnookin first announced in February, is designed to help address significant, complex challenges of particular importance to Wisconsin and the world, through accelerated and strategic faculty hiring, research and infrastructure enhancement, interdisciplinary collaboration and increased student opportunities. RISE-AI (artificial intelligence) was the first area announced under the new initiative.
Now, RISE-EARTH, the latest RISE effort, will strengthen the university’s ability to address complex problems and opportunities related to the environment, translating discoveries into tangible benefits at home in Wisconsin and beyond.
RISE-EARTH, which stands for Environment: Adaptation, Resilience, Technology, Humanity, will center on two themes. The first is to reimagine economic and environmental systems to, for example, find innovative ways to revitalize communities with new modes of transportation or renew agricultural lands to reduce erosion and enhance biodiversity. The other will be aimed at building sustainable energy and technical systems — for instance, developing new clean energy technologies and ways to capture and store carbon.