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.

Assistant Professor Patel is the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society’s first faculty member to be jointly appointed in the Department of Economics.

IBES' 2026 Commencement Forum brought students, alumni, families, and community members together at the Watson School of International and Public Affairs and online for a conversation on the future of ocean science, climate resilience, plastics, and environmental policy.

Commencement Weekend offered a chance to celebrate the accomplishments of the Class of 2026 and the relationships and sense of purpose that connect the IBES community across generations.

Supported by IBES faculty and alumni mentors, a team of Brown undergraduates advanced to the finals of the Turner MIINT Competition and placed third overall against dozens of graduate teams from around the world.

Allan Just, an associate professor in IBES and the School of Public Health, was interviewed about how extreme heat and poor air quality work synergistically to harm human health.

On this episode of the School of Public Health's podcast, Meredith Niles, professor of environment and society & behavioral and social sciences, explores how climate-friendly agriculture is actually a quiet powerhouse for public health.

IBES Director Kim Cobb sat for an interview about this year's El Niño event. 

Elizabeth Rush, an IBES faculty affiliate in the Department of English, was interviewed for the new WTIU/PBS documentary, "Gene Stratton-Porter: Music of the Wild."

James Kellner — an IBES and biology professor and chief scientist for Perennial, the leading provider of measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification for soil carbon programs — is among the authors of this new study.

IBES Advisory Council member Emily McAteer, CEO and co-founder of Odyssey, joined energy entrepreneur Jigar Shah to discuss how weak, unreliable grids combined with plummeting solar and battery costs make distributed solar the cheapest option in many emerging markets.

Professor James Kellner is among the authors of this paper.

IBES and Epidemiology Assistant Professor Rachel Baker contributed to this paper, led by graduate affiliate Aleksandra Stamper.

IBES Professors Daniel Ibarra and Laurence C. Smith, postdoc Gavin Piccione, and graduate affiliates Sebastian Muñoz and Sarah Esenther are among the authors of this modeling paper.