NEWS

Environmental research, applications group becomes part of UNC

CHAPEL HILL -- The Environmental Modeling Center, formerly at MCNC in Research Triangle Park, has become part of the Carolina Environmental Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

During the next several months, the group will move from MCNC’s Research Triangle Park headquarters to the UNC campus, officials said.

Dr. David McNelis, deputy director and associate director of research programs for the CEP, will oversee the CEP Environmental Modeling Center.

"Bringing the group to UNC keeps this capability together as a team and keeps it in North Carolina," said McNelis. "This is an excellent, production-oriented, self-supporting research and applications group that the state cannot afford to lose."

UNC has subcontracted most of the center’s MCNC research contracts and has hired as new employees center team members supported by those contracts.

The nearly $2.5 million in research and applications contracts and grants held by the CEP Environmental Modeling Center will also provide employment and research experience for UNC students, McNelis added.

The CEP Environmental Modeling Center is a team of scientists, mathematicians and engineers dedicated to expanding the frontiers of environmental computing and to linking advanced scientific modeling and environmental policy analysis. The group’s clients include government, industrial and academic professionals who use its services to generate and understand environmental information.

Clients include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources and other state departments of the environment, the Electric Power Research Institute and the Western Governors’ Association.

Projects conducted by the CEP Environmental Modeling Center include modeling of current and future air quality changes to help create solutions, and development of multimedia software to help envision environmental challenges and their solutions.

"The CEP Environmental Modeling Center will also dramatically increase UNC’s world-renowned capability in air quality research," McNelis said. "It brings 17 research associates to the university, in disciplines such as atmospheric science, environmental engineering and environmental sciences. Seven of them will also be adjunct faculty at UNC and at other institutions such as N.C. State University and may teach and do public service and outreach as well as research."

All of the group’s projects are directly or indirectly related to understanding and improving North Carolina’s environment. One such project is the multiyear N.C. Air Quality Modeling Project. Funded by the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, this project studies how weather and emissions from vehicles, power plants and other sources interact to affect air quality in the state. Project results have helped the department identify key sources contributing to air pollution and develop appropriate control measures to improve North Carolina’s public health.

McNelis expects the CEP Environmental Modeling Center’s work to help strengthen overall environmental research at UNC. "The group is capable of addressing other environmental issues facing North Carolina, the nation and the international community. It plans to coordinate with another world-class UNC capability by moving into water resources modeling. Other such synergies will develop between the group and UNC’s existing research efforts."

The many applications of this group’s work will also strengthen UNC’s expertise in environmental policy, decision-making and planning, he added

The Carolina Environmental Program is a multidisciplinary initiative of UNC dedicated to addressing factors that build an environmentally sustainable society. The program offers majors in environmental science and environmental studies within the College of Arts and Sciences, fosters collaborative research on large-scale environmental problems and provides technical assistance, training and up-to-date information on environmental issues to North Carolina communities.

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Carolina Environmental Program contact: Tony Reevy, (919) 966-9927 or tony_reevy@unc.edu
News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu