Research Themes
Applied Carbon Science & Management
Solving the climate crisis requires minimizing the carbon impact of human activities on the earth's atmosphere, land and oceans. UArizona faculty work on science, policy and technology solutions to help monitor and manage greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonize the earth system.
Arid Lands & Resources
Our interdisciplinary faculty study ecological, economic and social factors that influence sustainable use of arid and semi-arid lands and resources. UArizona programs integrate multiple disciplines and technologies to analyze changing conditions in arid regions.
Arts & Humanities
The arts and humanities can help catalyze public responses to environmental insecurities and risks, illuminate environmental justice issues, and imagine more sustainable futures. UArizona employs creative approaches and interdisciplinary methods to reframe the human/environment relationship and introduce new ways of addressing environmental problems.
Biodiversity, Conservation & Ecosystems
With an unparalleled network of environmental monitoring stations, wilderness field sites and cyber infrastructure, UArizona pioneers fundamental and use-inspired ecosystem science to save species and conserve the working lands, wild things and wild places of the western U.S. and beyond.
Built Environments
Understanding the intersection of urban and environmental systems is critical to planning and designing the future of our planet. Re-envisioning transportation systems, land uses, urban form, building materials, water and energy systems, governance and civic engagement are all high priorities at UArizona.
Climate Science, Adaptation & Resilience Solutions
UArizona is an international leader in climate science, understanding climate risks, and building scalable solutions to water supply problems, wildfire, urban heat island effects, habitat loss, agricultural production challenges, sea level rise, and threats to defense installations.
Communities, Culture & Engagement
UArizona is home to outstanding faculty involved in multidisciplinary science engagement, translational science, science communications, traditional and local knowledge, and outreach programs that connect to communities across the globe.
Data, Informatics & Modeling
Informatics, artificial intelligence and big data play a crucial role in 21st century environmental research. UArizona is dedicated to developing and applying big data analytics, informatics networks, computer models and remote sensing systems within and across regions, disciplines and research contexts.
Earth Science & Remote Sensing
Earth and planetary sciences are literally the bedrock of scientific work at the University of Arizona, where faculty study a broad array of physical sciences – geology, hydrology, atmospheric science, chemistry, along with use of remote sensing, to probe the secrets of our planet and others.
Energy & Renewable Energy Systems
With about 350 days of sunshine a year, UArizona is uniquely suited to pioneer alternative energy, energy/water systems and energy policy solutions to meet current and future environmental challenges.
Environment & Public Health
A rapidly changing environment brings new health challenges, and UArizona faculty address these issues through interdisciplinary projects, ranging from managing new disease vectors and public health crises, reductions in air quality, water and food contamination, and mental health.
Environmental Economics & Business Systems
UArizona is home to trailblazing thinkers working at the intersections of business, economics and the natural environment to provide expert analyses, models and strategies that inform practical environmental solutions and business opportunities.
Environmental Restoration & Reclamation
UArizona boasts a range of experts who work on mitigating environmental pollution and habitat loss through environmental restoration – including protection and re-creation of critical habitats, reclamation of mining sites, and removal of contaminants from soils, aquifers and wastewater.
Food Systems
As Arizona’s Land Grant University, UArizona has spent more than a century equipping students, local Arizonans and others around the world with the agricultural and resource management tools they need to adapt to the food supply and food security challenges of the future.
Global & International Environmental Solutions
UArizona sets the standard for an international university in the digital age. Global engagement enriches the University of Arizona and positively impacts the world. Our students and faculty work from local to global scales to advance knowledge and build collaborative solutions to environmental problems.
Governance, Environmental Law & Decision-making
Issues of law, policy and governance are a key focus of national and international environmental research at UArizona. Faculty work on diverse topics from an array of disciplinary perspectives that draw insights from the natural and social sciences, information and computer sciences, law and policy, Native American studies, and other fields.
National Security & the Environment
National security and environmental conditions are strongly inter-related. At UArizona, we recognize that climate, environmental change and national defense are inextricably connected: floods, droughts, hurricanes and epidemics affect the security of our country and populations across the globe.
Resilience Engineering
UArizona engineering faculty design next-generation structures, systems and communities that can thrive under stress and recover from extreme events. Resilient design anticipates and prepares for change in social, economic, physical and environmental systems.
Water Resources
Climate change, rising populations, evolving social values, urbanization and changing consumption patterns for water present unprecedented challenges as well as opportunities. UArizona is known as “Number 1” in water resources science and policy across the globe.