Study here.
Change the world.
We’re confronting environmental challenges through transformative research, by bridging classrooms and communities, and forging partnerships locally and globally.
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.
Research for a Better Future
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.
Nelson News and Events
Latest News
Guardian of the Green
November 4, 2025Science Hall: A History
October 9, 2025
Energy Analysis and Policy Looks to Future, Celebrates Legacy
September 30, 2025Tracey Holloway Elected as an American Geophysical Union Fellow
September 24, 2025- Read More News
Upcoming Events
- November
- November 11Producer Perspectives on Land and Resource UtilizationForward in Energy Forum4:30 PM, 1115 Wisconsin Energy Institute
Also offered online - November 13
- November 13Who's Your Neighbor?-Access to the Outdoors EditionA Dialogue between UW-Madison Students and Madison Community Members5:15 PM, Morgridge Center for Public Service (1st Floor of Red Gym)
- November 15Lakeshore Nature Preserve Volunteer OpportunityEcological Restoration Work Party9:00 AM, Picnic Point entrance kiosk, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2000 University Bay Drive, Madison WI 53705
- November 15Ecological Restoration Work PartyArboretum Grady Tract9:00 AM, Meet at Grady Tract parking lot (SE corner Seminole Hwy & W Beltline Frontage Rd), UW–Madison Arboretum
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.