Institute on the Environment selects new resident fellows

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MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (4/8/2010) -- The University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment is pleased to announce its second cohort of resident fellows. The fellows will begin their three-year appointments with the Institute in July 2010.

Each of the Institute’s resident fellows will receive flexible funding to pursue cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research and problem solving and to create new models of teaching and training. The fellowships will also help accelerate professional and leadership development.

“Our emphasis with this program is on creative work: how can we give people the time and space to do truly original research and thinking,” says Jonathan Foley, director of the Institute on the Environment. “The fellowships give both up-and-coming and established leaders the opportunity to work together on finding ‘outside the box’ solutions to the world’s biggest environmental problems.”

Following a rigorous external review and selection process, the Institute has chosen a total of 12 resident fellows from a wide range of disciplines at the University of Minnesota. The fellows will expand on the accomplishments of the 2009 resident fellows, playing a key role in the Institute's world-class research, education and outreach mission.

"These researchers were selected for their creativity and willingness to try new ideas," says Foley. "We're thrilled and honored to welcome such an amazing, eclectic group of thinkers and doers to the Institute."

The 2010 resident fellows include:

Arindam Banerjee
Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering
Institute of Technology

George Heimpel
Associate Professor, Entomology
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences

Marc Hillmyer
Professor, Chemistry
Institute of Technology

Sarah Hobbie
Associate Professor, Ecology, Evolution and Behavior
College of Biological Sciences

Tom Johnson
Regents Professor
Large Lakes Observatory

Nick Jordan
Professor, Agronomy and Plant Genomics
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences

Alexandra Klass
Associate Professor
Law School

Paige Novak
Associate Professor, Civil Engineering
Institute of Technology

C. Ford Runge
Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Applied Economics and Law
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences / Law School

Jonathan Schilling
Assistant Professor, Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences

George Weiblen
Associate Professor, Plant Biology
College of Biological Sciences

Elizabeth Wilson
Assistant Professor
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs