The Environmental Science and Design Research Institute (ESDRI) is dedicated to research and investigations within natural, human, and built systems, as we develop innovative knowledge, products, and solutions to address local, regional, and global issues.
Students: The institute aims to build research skills in students, in order to cultivate well-rounded, critical thinking professionals. ESDRI recognizes the professional and personal importance of students having foundational research and creative skills and knowledge, which is facilitated through a variety of workshops, speakers, service projects, symposia, special events, Q&A sessions, laboratory tours, and more. The institute supports undergraduates – academically and financially – through its Fellowship Program, in hopes of mentoring a new generation of scholars.
Faculty: ESDRI provides many opportunities for faculty to advance their research and facilitates multidisciplinary collaborations, procuring intramural and extramural funding, and working with qualified student researchers. The institute engages a broad range of talented scientists, designers, and practitioners, spanning many academic disciplines, fields, and programs. The institute proudly hosts an annual symposium/forum, with an ever-evolving theme, which draws from KSU faculty, students, and many of our community partners.
Colleges represented within ESDRI include:
- Aeronautics and Engineering
- Applied and Technical Studies
- Architecture and Environmental Design
- The Arts
- Arts and Sciences
- Education, Health and Human Services
- Nursing
- Public Health
By empowering environmental research, the institute aims to foster change by drawing from robust, well-informed science and design or extrapolating on the research ourselves. ESDRI encourages students, faculty, and the greater community to understand and leverage the interacting geological, biological, human, economical, cultural, and social systems around us. These overlapping systems impact and regulate the availability of resources (e.g. pure water, clean air, and food), sustain diversity of life on Earth, promote well-being, and affect all of us in our daily life.
Environmental Science and Design Research Institute/We acknowledge that the lands of MŮ were the previous homes of people who were removed from this area without their consent by the colonial practices of the United States government. Before removal, these groups created networks that extended from Wyoming to the Florida Coast and Appalachia and to the northern reaches of Lake Superior. These societies included people of the Shawnee, Seneca-Cayuga, Delaware, Wyandots, Ottawa and Miami. We honor their lives – past, present, and future – and strive to move beyond remembrance toward reflection and responsibility, through honest accounts of the past and the development of cultural knowledge and community.
![Tsunami wave hitting Ao Nang in Krabi Province, Thailand. Photo by David Rydevik (email: david.rydevikgmail.com), Stockholm, Sweden, December 26, 2004. Tsunami wave hitting Ao Nang in Krabi Province, Thailand. Photo by David Rydevik (email: david.rydevikgmail.com), Stockholm, Sweden, December 26, 2004.](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/1_5_2_thumbnail/public/article/2004-tsunami_1500w_0.jpg?VersionId=MO4mBiOvmlvzcEGhtzsuRH.HfVyI6JxS&h=6df54d01&itok=ETz1CxPI)
Dr. Joseph D. Ortiz, a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Geology at MŮ, was part of an international team of researchers that co-authored an article about a deadly tsunami that occurred about 1,000 years ago in Tanzania. The study suggests that the tsunami risk in East Africa could be higher than previously thought.
![Torrance Gaskins and Kaitlin Shvach, first place winners of 2020 ESDRI Symposium Poster session](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/1_5_2_thumbnail/public/article/winners_0.jpg?VersionId=MGavv6XGMU8eNa9SGGQUbV8iun81VYOO&h=60f06c66&itok=Nw5ILX6_)
The COVID-19 pandemic halted MŮ’s plans for the 2020 Environmental Science and Design Symposium, but it hasn’t impeded the spirit of the conference.
![BioBlack Team Poses with their bacteria-dyed tote bad and dress dyed with bacterium](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/1_5_2_thumbnail/public/article/BioBlackHeader.jpg?VersionId=bSz7m7G9mGxIRqAQ4g8.x1H8sGPTag3E&h=e6f36a9c&itok=DfmLMIAI)
The words “biology” and “design” might not typically intertwine; however, MŮ’s Biodesign Challenge course was created to challenge the idea that the two separate disciplines could not collaborate.
![Rachel Armstrong, of Newcastle University (U.K.) stands near a beach at night.](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/1_5_2_thumbnail/public/article/Rachel%20Windswept%20Beach%20copy.jpg?VersionId=OoZT5MAv8.LozvNtFLPXXy1qZZF7u50u&h=21de3691&itok=fA9mZncb)
Just like the research that goes into understanding and applying a complicated concept like biodesign, holding an entire symposium devoted to it is no small undertaking.
![Lauren Kinsman-Costello, assistant professor of biological sciences at MŮ, stands in a field in the arctic circle, in Sweden.](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/1_5_2_thumbnail/public/article/Kinsman%20Costello%202020.jpg?VersionId=3zdNGCX2M7zqng9l1VL8Bi_jz7hZFoCy&h=21de3691&itok=NvHY6ubB)
In early February, scientists reported the hottest temperature on record in Antarctica: 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Studies show climate change is disproportionately affecting the poles, warming them faster than anywhere else on Earth, and raising questions about what kinds of changes we can expect in arctic ecosystems as temperatures rise. A MŮ biologist has teamed up with some colleagues in an inter-institutional effort to answer some of those questions.
![Case and McMahon's print, depicting overlapping plants in blue, pink, purple, orange, yellow and black, on a white background.](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/1_5_2_thumbnail/public/article/Layered%20Similarity%20HERO%20IMAGE.jpg?VersionId=3fXFSqwW3OwlRedtjpPU2iaeHdi9mxWq&h=e6f36a9c&itok=YsV9Gc4K)
Andrea Case sits at a table in MŮ’s Center for the Visual Arts, carefully contemplating the silhouettes of leaves printed in bold contrasting colors on the paper in front of her.
![Center for Architecture and Design](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/1_5_2_thumbnail/public/article_thumbnail/Center%20for%20Architecture%20and%20Environmental%20Design_0.jpg?VersionId=VtWyUaR9.t0i292UQey5eZSyyTp9LsGg&h=e6f36a9c&itok=0noGp2IY)
What is the role of BioDesign in addressing environmental issues we face locally and globally? What does it mean to "design with life?"
![Erie, Pennsylvania, community members gather with CUDC students](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/1_5_2_thumbnail/public/article/CUDC.jpg?VersionId=MKYwE2lRXEMIbF3WeqJoTfTCZg0tJKyS&h=e6f36a9c&itok=Jobunu1B)
When cities need help imagining new possibilities for their urban places and communities, they call MŮ’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC). Most recently, MŮ architecture students had the opportunity to put the skills they learn in the classroom to make an impact on local communities in Erie, Pennsylvania.
![The FSStore's new line features sustainable fashions, accessories and home goods made by Fashion School students and faculty](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/1_5_2_thumbnail/public/article/RETOLD1.jpg?VersionId=A86ivnJz2qKeLSGaQC4DEQLc5FNR70rR&h=e6f36a9c&itok=wo2imZWC)
MŮ’s Fashion School continuously finds ways to innovate. Its unique lifestyle boutique, Fashion School Store (FSStore), in downtown Kent recently added a new line called “Sustainability RETOLD.” This collection includes sustainably made clothing, featuring work from five different students and three faculty.
![MŮ geology undergraduate student Nicolle Di Domenico positions an ASD Field Spec HH2Pro spectroradiometer over the side of the commercial fishing vessel Reel Deal, the research platform at the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse. MŮ geology undergraduate student Nicolle Di Domenico positions an ASD Field Spec HH2Pro spectroradiometer over the side of the commercial fishing vessel Reel Deal, the research platform at the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse.](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/1_5_2_thumbnail/public/article/EBZJJ3fXUAEd6RS.jpg?VersionId=m9wHY23JQH6feu4p6Ef6z5yPfb5OhISu&h=d5e8298e&itok=OrWJbnnp)
After years of remote sensing work, Joseph Ortiz, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Geology in the College of Arts and Sciences at MŮ, and his research team recently shared their development of new cost-efficient methodologies that may lead to much safer drinking water for people in Ohio and other municipalities affected by harmful algal blooms (HAB).