Resilience

The University of Arizona has formed the Arizona Institutes for Resilience: Solutions for the Environment and Society, or AIR, to better understand environmental challenges and to develop solutions that tangibly improve people’s resilience in the wake of environmental shocks, including those due to climate change.

AIR was formed by merging the university’s Institute for Energy Solutions, Water and Energy Sustainable Technology Center and the Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill with programs previously housed in the Institute of the Environment.

Using expertise across campus, the new institute’s work is aimed at preparing people for a low-carbon, environmentally sustainable and socially just world, through a three-pronged approach: research, education and real-world implementation.

“University of Arizona faculty and student researchers affiliated with AIR are doing cutting-edge environmental research, working alongside community partners to give decision-makers the most forward-thinking strategies to combat the climate crisis and other environmental challenges,” says James Buizer, AIR interim director and professor in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment. “AIR is greater than just the units within the institute; it is a conduit to and from environmental enterprises all across campus.”