About Us

CERC's two-part mission is to build environmental leadership and to solve complex problems, in order to stem the loss of biological diversity and achieve environmental sustainability.

CERC is a consortium of five world-renowned scientific institutions: Columbia University, the American Museum of Natural History, the New York Botanical Garden, Wildlife Conservation Society, and Wildlife Trust. CERC is headquartered at Columbia University and is part of Columbia's Earth Institute.

CERC believes the only way to build environmental leadership and solve complex environmental problems is to synthesize research with education and training.

Education and Training

Since its inception in July 1994, CERC's educational efforts have directly reached over 10,000 students, conservation scientists, practitioners, policy makers, grade school teachers, and concerned citizens. CERC helped found the new department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology at Columbia University, establishing new undergraduate and graduate programs. Additionally, CERC developed a professional development and training division, the Morningside Institute. The Morningside Institute currently administers several programs and collaborations including:

• Certificate Program in Conservation Biology for adult professionals interested in learning more about environmental issues
• Teacher Training Institute for K-12 educators
• Summer Ecosystem Experience for Undergraduate students
• Overbrook Conservation Fellowships for Latin American Conservationists

Research

Collectively, the CERC Consortium's research covers the globe with programs in over 60 countries. CERC benefits directly by being part of this extraordinary collective of world-class institutions. In some cases it facilitates the development of research programs between Consortium partners, such as Columbia University and the Wildlife Conservation Society's Translinks project. Some activities are consortium-wide, representing all the institutions, such as the New York Biodiversity Database (NYBD), an online database of conservation and biodiversity research projects in the New York City region.