CEREO Initiatives (R - E - O)

To cover the diverse range of environmental activities on WSU campuses, there are three primary initiative areas of CEREO: Research, Education, and Outreach.

The RESEARCH branch:

facilitates high quality environmental research and collaboration across the WSU system.

The EDUCATION branch:

facilitates coordination of educational activities across the WSU system including curricula and research.

The OUTREACH branch:

promotes productive relationships and coordination of opportunities for active collaboration with relevant outside agencies and organizations.

Environmental Portal

A resource for campus-wide environmental
research, education & outreach

Research

In order to achieve the goals of the Center, the Research Committee (whose co-chairs are Brian Lamb and Dave Evans) is actively engaged planning for the following activities:

holding regularly scheduled colloquia of broad interest to the university-wide environmental community;
holding regularly scheduled workshops where students and faculty present and discuss specific research projects and proposals to obtain feedback, guidance and promote interaction among investigators;
facilitating access to facilities and laboratories by Center members, and, over time, promoting the formation of new laboratories. (Core laboratories have been very successful at WSU in enhancing research infrastructure and preventing duplication of effort);
enhancing extramural funding opportunities by identifying available funding and assisting in grant preparation, and by facilitating interdisciplinary collaborations among investigators.

Education

In order to achieve the goals of the Center, the Education Committee (whose co-chairs are Rick Gill and Lynda Paznokas) is actively engaged planning for the following activities:

providing a focal point for coordination of environmental education across the WSU system to enhance environmental instruction while avoiding course duplication and provide a conduit for concentration of resources;
providing a focal and incubation point for student interest in environmental activities at WSU;
providing a common WSU system-wide informational resource for new students searching for an environmental home.

Outreach

In order to achieve the goals of the Center, the Outreach Committee (whose coordinator is Emmett Fiske) is actively engaged in planning for the following activities:

providing a common informational resource for stakeholders and private organizations and public agencies seeking expertise, information, and collaboration on environmental issued addressed from WSU;
designing and developing conferences, institutes and workshops to engage stakeholders and their issues;
organizing and sponsoring yearly retreats for Center faculty and students to promote interactions and collaborations and identify new research and engagement opportunities within WSU and the outside community.

The Outreach Committee, for example, recently facilitated a conversation between WSU Extension administrators and the Executive Committee to raise awareness among CEREO's members regarding opportunities for WSU in the Puget Sound region. A specific opportunity relates to climate change. King County government is extremely interested in what WSU has to offer with respect to helping county government plan its response to climate change over the coming decades. As a result of this initial discussion, there is strong likelihood that a WSU global warming / climate team will soon be established to (1) inventory what resources could be pulled together within the WSU system to address both the adaptation side (climate change) as well as the "driver" (global warming); and then (2) re-frame and effectively market what WSU could do (based upon such information).