The Institute for a Sustainable Environment is the center for innovative, interdisciplinary research at the nexus of ecological, economic, and social sustainability. As the university’s oldest sustainability institute, the ISE is a thriving center for collaborative research, technical assistance, and policy education. In service to its mission to develop research to create sustainable communities, the ISE works with regions and communities in the Pacific Northwest and around the world.

The Institute produces information to help resolve complex problems and enable people to sustain the economies and environmental systems that support their communities. Faculty in the Institute focus on a wide variety of issues including natural resource management, land use, climate change, rural development, transportation, alternative energy, natural hazards, and environmental education.