Project Description and Goals: The Center for Environmental Research and Conservation is a new research and training center focusing on natural science, physical science, and social science aspects of global habitat management. The Center represents a consortium of New York City environment organizations and draws from their expertise in order to educate students, train mid-career professionals here and abroad, and conduct research in the science of biodiversity conservation. Various Columbia departments, schools, and institutes participate in courses of study, including Anthropology, Biology, Barnard College, SIPA, the Harriman Institute, the Business School, the Rosenthal Center for Alternative/Complementary Medicine, the School of Public Health, and the Law School. Independent consortium institutions include the American Museum of Natural History, the Wildlife Conservation Society/Bronx Zoo, The New York Botanical Garden, and the Wildlife Preservation Trust International. Through cooperative programs with these external institutions, the Center has developed new curricula for graduate and undergraduate training in biodiversity and supports faculty development. The mid-career training institute works with wildlife management professionals from around the world to improve their understanding of conservation issues; at the same time, the program is establishing links between Columbia researchers and foreign universities and governments.

Status and Accomplishments

FY 1994: CERC design and fundraising efforts were the focus. Fundraising efforts yielded a $6 million gift from the Kann Rasmussen Foundation, in response to which Columbia added $3 million in matching funds. Using these funds CERC launched implementation of a five-year plan for education and policy development beginning in September 1994. A strategic review of potential Federal and private funding sources also began in FY 1994.

FY 1995: Drawing on strengths at Columbia and its affiliated institutions, CERC is building new research programs at Columbia through a small grants program. Together with funds from the Kann Rasmussen grant, these funds are distributed competitively. They support pilot studies, initial program implementation and course development. The first round of research grants was distributed this spring with awards for the following projects: Cryptosporidium and New York’s Water Supply; Ethnobotanical studies in the Urban Environment of Therapies for Women’s Health Problems; Integrating Field Research and Public Education: Conservation of the Fauna of the Atlantic Coast of the Interior, Sao Paulo, Brazil; The Bamboo-Dominated Forests of Western Amazonia: Integrative Biology; Coral Reef Protection Science and Policy; and Environmental Justice in the International Context.

FY 1996: In June of 1996 CERC inaugurated its new facility in Schermerhorn Hall, providing offices, teaching facilities, a student center, and laboratory/research space, including greenhouse space on the roof. CERC supported 12 small grants during its second round of interdisciplinary implementation and research planning grants. CERC supported nine undergraduate summer interns in conservation science. The Ph.D. program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and the certificate programs in Conservation Biology and Environmental Policy were approved, and four new faculty were hired. CERC sponsored a conference to celebrate the EPA’s 25th Anniversary in December 1995, and the first Environmental Leaders’ Forum, with international conservation leaders was held April-May 1996.

FY 1997: The College major in Environmental Biology was approved, and courses began for graduate and undergraduate students in Fall 1996. Students and faculty have begun conducting conservation research in Madagascar, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Biosphere2. The third round of the small grants program and the summer undergraduate internship program took place, as did the second Environmental Leaders’ Forum. The inaugural dinner in November 1996, with keynote speaker Peter Raven, raised over $70,000 in fellowship funds for visiting fellows; a $100,000 gift from Joseph Ellis established five undergraduate scholarships. The first summer course for high school students, "Current Issues in Conservation Biology," was taught in July 1997, through the Division of Special Programs.

Proposals and Other Fundraising Activities in FY 1997

Funded Proposals: NSF grant jointly with Black Rock Forest Consortium for laboratory construction $200,000; Golden Family Foundation $350,000. NSF - Molecular Systematics, Biogeography, and Conservation Genetics of Asian Anthropoid Primates, $305,561. Private gifts and donations of $350,000, including $100,000 from Joseph Ellis for undergraduate scholarships.

Pending Proposals: NSF - Restoration of Tree Species Diversity to Tropical Secondary Forest Communities in Western Amazonia, $397,939; World Bank - Restoring Species and Habitat Diversity While Enhancing Rural Incomes, $2,125,000; Private Washington D.C. Foundation - Helping Organize the Owners of Small Family-run Saw Mills, $3,920. Over $1,000,000 in private foundation proposals are pending, including ones to the MacArthur Foundation, the Tinker Foundation and the Bay Foundation.

Project Leader: Don J. Melnick, Professor, Department of Anthropology