EarthLab launches first-ever Innovation Grants

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EarthLab at the University of Washington envisions a world where nature and people thrive. To that end, EarthLab has launched an Innovation Grants program to provide funding for projects that are risky, new ideas with a high potential for impact and the ability to motivate change.

Through this program, EarthLab hopes to increase capacity across the UW for innovations in the application of transdisciplinary scholarship, deepen engagement with diverse community partners (e.g., practitioners, policy makers, tribes, community groups outside of UW), and fund research projects that address problems from multiple perspectives, ultimately generating knowledge that is both usable and used.

This is the pilot year for Innovation Grants. During this first year, EarthLab will invest in first-mile challenges—the envisioning, development or piloting of new projects. First-mile funding supports convening and building teams in novel, sometimes high-risk, high-reward directions that may take a variety of forms. This funding gives teams the chance to test a concept, scope out a project, or take the first steps in developing a team poised to tackle a large, collaborative project. EarthLab encourages proposals from all disciplines at the UW, even those that are not traditionally connected to sponsored research.

If you are UW faculty or an employee with PI status, and wish to pursue work in the co-definition of transdisciplinary research, scholarship and creative activity related to our most pressing environmental challenges, you are encouraged to apply. Deadline is January 30, 2019.

 

Ann Bostrom elected to Board of Directors for the American Association for the Advancement of Science

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Ann Bostrom, Weyerhaeuser Endowed Professor in Environmental Policy and EarthLab Executive Steering Committee member.
Evans School / University of Washington
Ann Bostrom, Weyerhaeuser Endowed Professor in Environmental Policy and EarthLab Executive Steering Committee member.

Ann Bostrom, Weyerhaeuser Endowed Professor in Environmental Policy at the UW Evans School of Public Policy and Governance and member of the EarthLab Executive Steering Committee, was elected to the board of directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Her term starts in February 2019.

Congratulations, Ann!

EarthLab initiative connects the UW to community members and practitioners

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Norwegian townTen years ago, the UW formed the College of the Environment. Across the UW, many researchers were already engaged in environmental studies, but were often isolated from each other by departmental niches. The College of the Environment strove to change this and developed a home for environmental science.

“It wasn’t enough to not only just bring all the Earth systems pieces together under the College of the Environment,” Harriet Bullitt Endowed Executive Director of EarthLab Ben Packard said. “The idea was to also be able [to] connect this capacity, to connect it outside the university and apply the amazing scholarship and research that happens here with people who can use that information to work on these environmental challenges. That institute is now EarthLab.”

Conversations with Sally Jewell: Federal Government and Environmental Policy

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Environmental Conversations feature prominent environmental leaders and practitioners who share their perspective on real world environmental policymaking. In collaboration with the EarthLab, the Center for Environmental Politics will host three such conversations with Sally Jewell, drawing on her experience in the government, the for-profit and the non-profit sector. The first conversation will focus on federal government and environmental policy.

Sally Jewell served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior under President Barack Obama. Before serving as Interior Secretary, Jewell was President and CEO of REI. She is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the University of Washington College of the Environment.

This initiative will be known as Doug and Maggie Walker Environmental Conversations to honor the tremendous impact both Doug and Maggie have had on practical aspects of environmental policy locally, regionally and nationally.

Join us Tuesday, October 30, 4:00-6:00 in the Allen Library‘s Petersen Room

Former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell brings leadership to UW community, new EarthLab initiative

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Sally Jewell, chair of EarthLab’s advisory council.

Sally Jewell has walked the halls of the White House and cared for a fifth of all U.S. land. She has practiced diplomacy at boardroom tables and leadership at one of the nation’s most successful outdoor retail companies. She has climbed Mount Rainier seven times.

Now, Jewell brings a lifetime of experience in business, nonprofits, government and the outdoors to the University of Washington, where one of her tasks is to help shape the future of EarthLab, a new university-wide institute that seeks to connect scholars with community partners to solve our most difficult environmental problems.

Jewell, U.S. Secretary of the Interior under President Barack Obama and former CEO of REI, has returned to her alma mater to work as a distinguished fellow with the College of the Environment and to serve in a volunteer capacity as chair of the advisory council for EarthLab.

Introducing EarthLab

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Harriet Bullitt Endowed Executive Director Ben Packard and Advisory Council Chair Sally Jewell introduce you to UW EarthLab. EarthLab is a new institute that stands at the intersection of science and humanity, focusing where society’s needs are greatest and true impact can be made.

Learn more about the role EarthLab plays as a boundary-spanning organization at the University of Washington.

 

Center for Creative Conservation transitions to EarthLab

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Since its establishment, the Center for Creative Conservation has been a member of UW EarthLab along with others, like the Climate Impacts Group and the Washington Ocean Acidification Center. Now the Center and EarthLab are joining forces in a deeper way, with the Center becoming an integral part of EarthLab. Read about the changes below in a letter from Josh Lawler, Faculty Director for EarthLab and Ben Packard, Harriet Bullitt Endowed Executive Director of EarthLab.

The success of the Center for Creative Conservation has demonstrated that trans-disciplinary engagement can have significant impact on the co-creation of knowledge. The notion that we can bring together groups to incubate ideas that reach far across disciplines and engage practitioners, artists, educators, community group leaders and others in deep and sustained conversation is timely and has been well received.

Since its establishment, the Center has been a member of UW EarthLab—a new environmental institute housing other groups such as the Climate Impacts Group, the Center for Health and the Global Environment, and the Washington Ocean Acidification Center. EarthLab’s inaugural Executive Director, Ben Packard, has been working over the past year to clarify the vision, priorities and strategic outcomes for EarthLab. As this vision has taken shape, it has become clear that the activities of the Center are a key element of EarthLab. Rather than duplicating the efforts of C3 at the EarthLab level, we have decided to integrate the Center for Creative Conservation into EarthLab.

We are joining forces in a deeper way, with C3 becoming an integral part of EarthLab. We are sad to be retiring the C3 name and website, but excited that the work we are doing in partnership with you will continue and indeed be more fully supported as part of EarthLab’s core work. We are thrilled at the opportunity this presents for our continued growth, our ability to reach new audiences and partners, and to realize an even broader impact in our world through collaborative and innovative approaches to complex environmental challenges.

In early October, EarthLab will update its website and there you will be able to find the Center’s activities, both past and present. Going forward, all future activities we conduct will be EarthLab core activities. Sara will continue her work under the new title of Social Science Lead at EarthLab and Josh will shift over to become the Faculty Director of EarthLab, working closely with the Executive Director.

If you have any questions about this change and what lies ahead, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Over the last six months, EarthLab has worked to establish a bold set of outcomes and is planning a comprehensive awareness raising campaign in the fall. In addition, there will be a grant program to engage a broader group of faculty and community partners in applied research. We believe now is the time to bring this work together and to support a broader set of programs to greater impact.

UW welcomes first EarthLab executive director

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Ben Packard, Harriet Bullitt Endowed Executive Director of EarthLab.

The University of Washington is pleased to welcome Ben Packard as the Harriet Bullitt Endowed Executive Director of EarthLab. EarthLab is the UW-wide initiative that harnesses the power of collaboration to tackle thorny environmental challenges including climate change, ocean health, natural hazards and healthy ecosystems. Key to EarthLab’s success will be building relationships between the University and public, private and nonprofit sectors.

“I am excited about the ambition of EarthLab to be a catalyzing force outside of the UW, the openness to create a new model for change and the willingness to build something different on the strong foundation of work already happening at the UW,” says Packard, who most recently served as global managing director of corporate engagement at The Nature Conservancy. “It’s an incredible opportunity.”

As the inaugural executive director, Packard will be responsible for determining the early success and impact of EarthLab, working strategically within and beyond the University to promote new learning and action to address environmental challenges. He will help build the relationships that enable EarthLab to bring the exceptional research and science at the University to bear on a range of environmental matters.

Before his tenure at The Nature Conservancy, Packard led the internationally recognized environmental sustainability efforts at Starbucks. His experience has allowed him to work across sectors, building new and often unexpected partnerships that lead to unique strategies for problem-solving. Packard has a track record of using innovative approaches to address complex environmental challenges and offer robust solutions.

“I was immediately thrilled to see Ben put his name forward,” says Lisa Graumlich, dean and Mary Laird Wood Professor at the College of the Environment. “When I think about the traits that will make the EarthLab director successful, they are numerous and not always found in the same person. Ben is that rare example of someone who can take his passion and build the right bridges to unlock innovative thinking around environmental solutions. He is just the person to launch this effort.”

Packard looks forward to joining with UW faculty, staff and students to come up with systemic solutions that demand deeper collaboration across sectors and disciplines than we even know today. Beyond that, he is eager to lead an endeavor that has not been tried before.

“I am very excited about what the UW can do to drive change in how we interact with our environment and build something that has lasting impact. The academic sector has a lot to offer in this realm,” Packard says.

 

 

 

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