About IBES
IBES is Brown University’s hub for research and education advancing solutions to today’s climate and environmental challenges.
About IBES
IBES is Brown University’s hub for research and education advancing solutions to today’s climate and environmental challenges.
Empowering people, driving solutions for a sustainable world.
As the hub for climate and environmental research and education at Brown, the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES) brings together people from across the University and beyond to understand and address some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. IBES connects knowledge and ideas with real-world problems — and works to turn them into meaningful solutions.
At the heart of this work is a community of faculty, students, staff, alumni, and partners who bring different perspectives and expertise to this work. IBES serves students across Brown, while also offering the undergraduate concentration in Environmental Sciences and Studies (ENVS) and creating opportunities for students to learn, conduct research, gain hands-on experience, and explore careers related to climate and the environment.
IBES’ work falls into three main areas: education, research, and real-world impact.
IBES educates and prepares students to become the next generation of environmental leaders; supports research that deepens understanding of climate and environmental challenges and helps identify solutions; and puts knowledge into action through partnerships and engagement with communities, policymakers, and organizations beyond Brown.
Academia is full of disciplinary silos, so it's rare to come to a place where there's a focus on what unites us, not what divides us. That generosity of spirit lends a sense of excitement and possibility to IBES.
IBES by the Numbers
140 +
undergraduate concentrators
29
core faculty members
from 10 academic departments
$ 6 million
sponsored research per year
200 +
affiliated faculty, postdocs, and graduate students
across 30+ units
500 +
IBES Alumni & Friends Network members
Plans & Progress
A legacy of environmental leadership
As one of the first universities to offer an interdisciplinary environmental studies program (1978), Brown has launched generations of transformative leaders who trace their success to IBES' undergraduate program. The predecessor to IBES, the Center for Environmental Studies, cultivated a culture of learning-by-doing that saw students developing policy at local and state levels, transforming campus through initiatives like Brown Is Green, and carrying out the hands-on construction to convert a Carriage House into the Urban Environmental Laboratory—a historic building turned sustainable showcase.
In 1980, a group of about 50 students, led by professor Harold Ward, set out to create the future beating heart of environmental studies at Brown, the Urban Environmental Laboratory (UEL).
The group spent three years converting the 1885 Lucian Sharpe Carriage House at 135 Angell Street into a unique dormitory, greenhouse, classroom, laboratory and lounge where all were welcome.
UEL residents grew food in a solar greenhouse, lived eco-friendly lifestyles and supervised a campus recycling program.
Professor emeritus Harold Ward on the UEL’s “bee deck.”
Students later converted the parking lot into a garden, creating 24 plots that were open to anyone in the community. Gardeners from Brown and Providence came together, swapping tips and throwing potlucks using the food they'd grown.
Environmental Sciences and Studies (ENVS) alumni gather outside the completed UEL during their Reunion Weekend.
Today, the UEL continues to welcome students as a place to study, connect with peers and faculty, and find community in the heart of campus.
85 Waterman Street, formerly known as the Hunter Lab, serves as the main academic home of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society.
In 2014, President Christina H. Paxson created the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society to foster thriving, interdisciplinary education and research in climate, sustainability, and the environment. The Institute has since grown tremendously, and now boasts more than two dozen faculty appointed across several different academic departments, serving close to 100+ concentrators and over 1,000 other Brown students every year. A large network of IBES Alumni and Friends plays a key role in the student experience through guest lectures, mentoring, hosting internships, and networking for job training and placement.