Pedro Sanchez attributes the roots of his life’s work in soil sciences to the fact that he always liked to “play with dirt.” That boyhood pastime was nurtured by the fact that his family owned a ...

The Earth Institute was established in 1995 to advance our understanding of Earth science and apply that knowledge to decisions made by governments and businesses around the world. A world leader in ...

The Millennium Villages project offers a bold, innovative model for helping rural African communities lift themselves out of extreme poverty. The Millennium Villages themselves are proving that by ...

The following is a list of members of the standing committees of the Earth Institute faculty, all of whom are from the Columbia University community. Clicking on a member's name takes you to a short ...

Mark Cane has never been one to follow the status quo. After studying pure mathematics and what is now known as computer science at Harvard in the 60s, he took a hiatus from academia to work in New ...

Under the stewardship of the Earth Institute faculty, the Earth Institute moves beyond the usual academic boundaries to create a multidisciplinary approach to questions of Earth's sustainability.

Dr. Zebiak is a Senior Research Scientist and is the head of the Climate Services Partnership, which is housed at the IRI. The Climate Services Partnership is an information collaborative platform to ...

More than one billion people--one-sixth of the world's population--live in extreme poverty on less than $1 a day. At the Earth Institute, researchers take a “human needs" approach to developing ...

Vijay Modi is a professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University and an Earth Institute faculty member. He also lead the UN Millennium Project effort on the role of energy and energy ...

Ruth DeFries examines human transformation of the landscape and its consequences for climate, biogeochemical cycling, biodiversity, and other ecosystem services that make our planet habitable. The ...

Landslides kill at least a thousand people each year but because they are often triggered by earthquakes or heavy rains, the danger remains poorly understood. Scientists know less about landslides ...

The Earth Institute Professional Development Program helps students and alumni to achieve their sustainability-related career goals. The program offers skill-building seminars, networking ...