What does it take to turn a class assignment into a story? Last fall, Brown students in IBES' Science Journalism course investigated environmental issues shaping communities across Providence and saw their work appear in ecoRI News.
Institute at Brown for Environment and Society
Impact
IBES research doesn’t stay in the lab—it’s out in the world, driving real solutions to today’s biggest environmental challenges.
Impact
IBES research doesn’t stay in the lab—it’s out in the world, driving real solutions to today’s biggest environmental challenges.
* About the banner photo: Brown undergrad Luke Fromm collects an eDNA water sample to detect muskrat presence. This NASA-funded research, which launched with an IBES Seed Grant in 2021, uses a range of new technologies to uncover what's driving biodiversity loss and guide conservation solutions.
Practical solutions for a changing planet
Through interdisciplinary and applied research, hands-on education, and engagement with policymakers, IBES connects the dots between science, policy, and society.
Below is a short sampling of impactful work led by IBES faculty and students:
- The Breathe Providence project maps neighborhood air quality to inform policies that reduce pollution and improve public health.
- In the course Solving the Climate and the Carbon Challenge, students work in teams to develop actionable carbon reduction plans, competing to create the most effective strategies by the end of the semester.
- As chair of the Research Board at the World Meteorological Organization, Professor Amanda Lynch shapes global climate strategies, advancing greenhouse gas monitoring and early warning systems.
- Exploring the risks of climate change on human health—and what we can do to adapt—is the focus of research led by Professor Rachel Baker.
- Serving on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), social scientist Timmons Roberts helped inform global climate action strategies.
- The weekly Possibly podcast delivers 250+ climate insights, breaking down complex environmental challenges into actionable solutions for listeners nationwide.
Dozens of joint and affiliate faculty make IBES a collaborative hub
With 30 core faculty members bridging several academic departments, and over 200 faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate affiliates representing over 30 academic units on campus, IBES is a hub of collaboration in a world where disciplinary silos are the norm.
Catalyst Research Awards
Core and affiliate faculty members create tangible impact with the help of IBES' Catalyst Research Award: an annual award that supports exploratory, engaged research that crosses disciplinary boundaries and goes beyond academia.
IBES is meeting the moment with real-world impact
Recent developments in applied research, hands-on student training, and community engagement
A dual-degree student in Environmental Sciences and Studies and the Rhode Island School of Design’s Illustration Department, Ho studies the gut microbiomes of wild sloths in Costa Rica to map normal variation and test how species, habitat, and rehabilitation status shape these microbial communities.
This summer, the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES) welcomed its first group of students into a new program designed to expand access to faculty-mentored research opportunities in climate and the environment.
After witnessing pollution in Southern California’s coastal waters as a high school student, Ispendjian founded Saving the Sea. Today, the national nonprofit is helping students translate environmental research into policy and action.
June 25, 2026
News from SPH
Climate change could reshape flu seasons across the Americas, study finds
Researchers find that weather and climate patterns can help predict the timing and severity of flu outbreaks across diverse regions, and that flu spreads more easily in very dry and very humid air.
Dual concentrator Liza Marcus ’26 is unraveling the complex chemistry of nitrogen oxides and ozone in the atmosphere — work that could improve air quality predictions and inform environmental policy.
Support the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES)
Help IBES answer the call to address today's complex environmental and societal challenges.