The Environmental Science and Design Research Institute (ESDRI) is dedicated to research and investigations within natural, human, and built systems, as we develop innovative knowledge, products, and solutions to address local, regional, and global issues.
Students: The institute aims to build research skills in students, in order to cultivate well-rounded, critical thinking professionals. ESDRI recognizes the professional and personal importance of students having foundational research and creative skills and knowledge, which is facilitated through a variety of workshops, speakers, service projects, symposia, special events, Q&A sessions, laboratory tours, and more. The institute supports undergraduates – academically and financially – through its Fellowship Program, in hopes of mentoring a new generation of scholars.
Faculty: ESDRI provides many opportunities for faculty to advance their research and facilitates multidisciplinary collaborations, procuring intramural and extramural funding, and working with qualified student researchers. The institute engages a broad range of talented scientists, designers, and practitioners, spanning many academic disciplines, fields, and programs. The institute proudly hosts an annual symposium/forum, with an ever-evolving theme, which draws from KSU faculty, students, and many of our community partners.
Colleges represented within ESDRI include:
- Aeronautics and Engineering
- Applied and Technical Studies
- Architecture and Environmental Design
- The Arts
- Arts and Sciences
- Education, Health and Human Services
- Nursing
- Public Health
By empowering environmental research, the institute aims to foster change by drawing from robust, well-informed science and design or extrapolating on the research ourselves. ESDRI encourages students, faculty, and the greater community to understand and leverage the interacting geological, biological, human, economical, cultural, and social systems around us. These overlapping systems impact and regulate the availability of resources (e.g. pure water, clean air, and food), sustain diversity of life on Earth, promote well-being, and affect all of us in our daily life.
Environmental Science and Design Research Institute/We acknowledge that the lands of 鶹Ƶ were the previous homes of people who were removed from this area without their consent by the colonial practices of the United States government. Before removal, these groups created networks that extended from Wyoming to the Florida Coast and Appalachia and to the northern reaches of Lake Superior. These societies included people of the Shawnee, Seneca-Cayuga, Delaware, Wyandots, Ottawa and Miami. We honor their lives – past, present, and future – and strive to move beyond remembrance toward reflection and responsibility, through honest accounts of the past and the development of cultural knowledge and community.
Cities are starting to come to life, literally, thanks to the implementation of vegetation through living architecture.
Recent funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) has given interdisciplinary researchers the opportunity to help drive our understanding of patterns in nature when bringing together big data sources collected in different ways.
鶹Ƶ has recently received a flurry of grants totaling more than $3 million in funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), which will support research and innovation in a wide range of fields within the College of Arts and Sciences.
From the iconic outfits made famous by Michael Jackson to the hit television show “What Not to Wear,” the fashion industry continues to emerge as an impactful influencer in many areas of societal behavior.
One of 鶹Ƶ’s newest faculty members in the Department of Geology has already made her mark with the recent publication of her and her colleagues’ work to better understand the effects of global warming as it relates to the arctic ocean. Allyson Tessin, assistant professor, specializes in biochemistry, oceanography and sedimentary geology. She is currently studying the relationship between the chemistry of the ocean and climate change.
Three faculty members in 鶹Ƶ's Department of Biological Sciences recently co-authored a 384-page hardcover book, “Problem Plants of Ohio,” published by the 鶹Ƶ Press.
Since March, COVID-19 has become a widespread topic of conversation. Finding ways to explain what this virus is, how one can treat it and how to slow the spread of the virus are just a few commonly asked questions with few clear answers. Xiaozhen Mou, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, and her research team recently received funding for their hard work as part of Ohio’s statewide collective effort to discover traces of COVID-19 virus particles in wastewater.
It would not be surprising if you have a social media app open right now; however, you may not be getting the enjoyment out of it that you think you are. In a recent publication in Computers in Human Behavior, two 鶹Ƶ professors examined the relationship between social media usage and boredom. Students may be surprised by the results and parents might be excited by them.
Climate change can now be measured on a global scale using multiple weather variables, according to new research published by Cameron C. Lee, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Geography at 鶹Ƶ.