Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Asli Gocmen has studied how communities are planning for a future with autonomous vehicles.

Our Community Environmental Scholars Program helps students link their passion for the environment with a commitment to the community.

Ellen Damschen empowers students to develop critical thinking skills that allow them to succeed in their careers and lives.

The Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies is confronting global environmental challenges through imaginative research that transcends disciplinary boundaries, hands-on education that bridges classrooms and communities, and public programs that foster environmental conversations among people from business, government, academia, and advocacy.

Training Tomorrow's Environmental Leaders

The Nelson Institute values and is committed to a liberal arts and professional education, built on the premise that complex environmental issues can best be understood through familiarity with diverse perspectives, and integration of the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities.

Three students huddled close together taking close-up photos of plants

Undergraduate

Five students wearing life jackets near a lake

Graduate

Find a faculty advisor

Find an environmental job

Research That's Changing the World

Research drives the social and technological innovation needed to confront the challenges of a rapidly changing global environment. The Nelson Institute is a catalyst of imaginative research that combines skills and knowledge from the humanities, engineering, business, and law to the biological, physical, health, and social sciences.

A researcher about to release a weather balloon

Center for Climatic Research

A person looking at vintage papers

Center for Culture, History, and Environment

Grace Bulltail sampled water quality in a federal oil and gas field in Toole County, Montana.

Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment

A faculty researcher and student in a lab attaching a radio-frequency identification tag to a bumblebee

Center for Ecology and the Environment

We Are the Wisconsin Idea

At the Nelson Institute, we strive to create sustainable communities across complex institutional landscapes for enhancing the quality of life and the environment in Wisconsin and the world.

It all starts with people and communities, and we are deeply committed to fostering and sustaining community partnerships in education, research, and service, both locally and internationally.

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Support the Nelson Institute

The Nelson Institute welcomes and is grateful for various forms of support – discretionary funds for our many programs, internships and mentoring opportunities for students, and introductions to new networks that can help advance our reach and build partnerships around Wisconsin and the world.

Make a gift today