In May 2017, IU announced the Prepared for Environmental Change Grand Challenge initiative, involving research and implementation partnerships with corporations, nonprofits, and local and state government to promote resilient ecosystems, livable communities, and healthy people in the state of Indiana and beyond.
This month at its first research symposium, the Prepared for Environmental Change Grand Challenge initiative presented reports on projects started during fiscal year 2018 and preliminary updates on a second round of projects initiated during the same fiscal year. These projects feature collaborative teams of faculty members and community organizations whose work addresses the initiative's primary goals:
- Accurate predictions about coming changes in weather patterns as well as subsequent impacts on water, plants and animals, and disease risk change.
- New ways of measuring public risk perception, communicating implications of environmental change and motivating citizen preparedness.
- Innovative strategies for conserving wildlife and natural resources, and designing greener, more disaster-resilient human communities.
- Strategies for governments and businesses to invest productively in agriculture, industry, infrastructure and public health in the face of large-scale environmental change.
