The focus of my work as a scientist and as an educator has been developed from the thought that to change and to change for the better are two entirely different matters. My responsibility, as part of an environmental studies program, is to help create a scholastic climate that ultimately produces scientists dedicated to ethical and sound approaches to environmental concerns. To accomplish this, I feel it is my challenge to expose students to 1) a curriculum that serves both their interests and needs, 2) research that develops their technical experience, and 3) programs that promote community awareness and involvement.

Rarely will environmental problems restrict themselves to a solution from one branch of knowledge. For this reason, I feel no other field of science lends itself more to interdisciplinary study than environmental studies. It is imperative, as part of an environmental studies program, for me to help develop a curriculum that considers social, economic and cultural systems, as well as biophysical systems. With such a curriculum, I believe students will not only be better prepared to identify environmental problems, but will also be more aware of the consequences society and nature will face by their proposed solutions. A thorough curriculum is important in developing the tools required by future scientists to find a sustainable and agreeable balance between the needs and desires of humankind and the finite resources of nature.

As part of an environmental studies program, it is also my duty to develop the technical skills needed by the student to identify, prevent and/or solve environmental problems. This can be achieved by developing research plans that include student input. While exposure to experimental designs, testing procedures and equipment, and data analysis will prepare them for their transition from student to professional, I believe the tools learned by students developing their own research is important to cultivate creative scientific thought.

I also feel it is my obligation, while participating in an environmental studies program, to promote community awareness and involvement. The ultimate goal of environmental scientists should be to move learning beyond the walls of academia to common life. It is extremely important to consider the needs of the community we live in, and to foster the interest of the public in our program. I feel students can be an excellent conduit for this movement of knowledge and environmental interest between the University and the community.

While humankind must simply be resigned to the fact that the world must change, an environmental studies program can be committed to making that change one for the betterment of humankind.