The Center for Environmental Research (CER) at Pratt Institute is a new interdisciplinary center for applied research and practice. It focuses broadly on environmental research in areas intersecting with social, physical, and biological science, data and technology, artificial intelligence, STEM/STEAM education, and civic engagement through institutional collaborations and external partnerships.
The CER is an ecosystem that promotes and encourages dynamic, cross-disciplinary research and strengthens connections among faculty initiatives that align with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through affiliated research units known as “hubs” within the CER, research projects, partner engagements, and educational experiences at Pratt further connect local impacts to global frameworks guided by the UN Academic Impact (UNAI) principles.
Environmental Research at the CER
A space for envisioning our connected futures, the CER at Pratt advances the methods, materials, and practices of research, reimagining and refashioning ways of living at the nexus of the environment and our human experience. Environmental research at Pratt is grounded in an expanded understanding of the environment as a relationship between nature, society, people, and place. At the same time, there is a demonstrated need to recognize the contributions that technology can provide for innovative solutions to pressing problems.
With these as core principles in mind, the CER fosters work that engages with resilience at multiple scales, ethical practice across temporal and spatial factors, and linkages between natural environment, community, and the self. From the hyperlocal environment of the body, to complex, interrelated urban environments, to the emerging promises and drawbacks of AI within the digital environment, to the globally connected environment of ocean waters, CER houses innovative forms of inquiry that advances thinking, challenges conventions, and reaches new discoveries.
Sustainable Development Goals and UNAI
As a partner to the UN Academic Impact (UNAI) initiative, Pratt has committed to support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a global blueprint and call to action for achieving a more sustainable future for all. The CER is a core element of this commitment.
Hubs within the CER demonstrate faculty initiatives related to SDGs and UNAI Principles, including innovations in urban design, creative solutions for tracking human responses to emerging challenges in human/non-human/natural environments, developing materials that support resiliency, writing gold-standard sustainability curricula, and more.
The CER affiliates in this section are aligned with multiple SDGs and reflect Pratt faculty areas of expertise and external engagement in areas relevant to the CER’s focus. These are not exhaustive of current CER Hubs or Affiliated Units.
Benefits of the CER
The CER generates opportunities between and beyond the Hubs for faculty and students to engage with global framework concepts and each other. Opportunities and resources may include:
- A network of students and faculty engaged in interdisciplinary environmental and SDG-related research.
- Space for faculty collaboration and project development.
- Support for developing civic engagement and community, industry, and global partnerships.
- Opportunities to showcase and share faculty and student research and engagement work.
- Increased external reach through CER opportunities for outreach/marketing/publication.
- A context for incorporating SDGs and UNAI Principles into multifaceted faculty work.
- Opportunities for students to have interdisciplinary, engaged educational experiences in an awareness of global contexts and global needs.
- Opportunities for students to learn ways their future work can connect to SDG impacts.
- A base for fostering collaboration across the Institute and beyond.
Contact
For inquiries, please contact us at research-partnership@pratt.edu.