Institute for the Environment

The UNC Institute for the Environment fosters and conducts collaborations with faculty, students and staff across the University to solve the world’s environmental challenges, locally and globally.

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Your support makes a difference

Clean air, clean water and sustainable ecosystems are essential to our health. Your support helps academic experts, passionate students and engaged community leaders collaborate to identify, study and solve environmental challenges.

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Prepare future environmental leaders

Support Carolina students as they learn and lead in the sustainability and environment space. Our internships and scholarships offer hands-on, real-world projects designed for real impact.

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Generate critical environmental knowledge

Advance environmental research that addresses the most pressing environmental challenges in North Carolina communities and around the world.

Students sit on tree stumps participating in a field lecture outdoors.

Support environmental quality for everyone

Help the Institute reach and support local leaders with ideas and strategies to enhance environmental decision-making through community engagement.

The Incredible Oyster

Supported in part by the NC Wildlife Habitat Foundation and the Institute for the Environment Director’s Fund, Carolina researchers are exploring how oyster reef design can enhance nitrogen removal.

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Support the Institute for the Environment

Donor support fuels important research, expands opportunities for students and helps ensure we can partner with communities to provide education, resources and solutions to the most important environmental challenges.

See Related Funds

Institute for the Environment - Greatest Needs

This fund provides the UNC Institute for the Environment with the flexibility to deploy resources where they are most needed to support core programs, advance emerging research, and respond to urgent environmental challenges.

IE Director's Fund

Supports the director in expanding strategic partnerships with academic collaborators, advancing innovative research and educational initiatives, and fostering meaningful engagement with local stakeholders on critical environmental challenges.

Center for Public Engagement with Science

Supports a network of field sites through semester-long, immersive experiences in North Carolina and abroad where students live and learn in diverse ecosystems — from mountains to coasts to urban environments while advancing education, research, and community engagement.

UNC Sustainability Fund

Supports Sustainable Carolina, UNC-Chapel Hill’s central hub for advancing sustainability by connecting campus operations, academics, and research, tracking progress, and engaging the community in hands-on efforts to reduce environmental impact and promote long-term well-being.

Your support in action

See Related Stories

A selfie of Chloe with the western North Carolina mountains in fall in the background

Environment, Climate & Sustainability

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Inspiring future scientists

Fieldwork experience in the Highlands leads to doctoral research in the wetlands.

Left: Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Gene Roberts ’54; Right: An 1895 woodblock print by Kobayashi Kiyochika

Access, Affordability & Scholarships

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From riverbanks to labs

Students dive into water studies during environmentally focused internships.

Contact us

Have questions or want to explore how your giving can make the greatest impact? We welcome the opportunity to connect and learn more about what inspires you. Reach out to start a conversation about your philanthropic goals and how you can support our mission.

Regina B. Hill

Director of Development, Institute for the Environment

Builds and stewards relationships with UNC partners to secure philanthropic support that advances the IE’s environmental mission.

regina_hill@unc.edu (919) 843-2323

“The Institute for the Environment fosters collaborations with faculty, students and staff across Carolina to identify and solve environmental challenges for North Carolina and the world. We are deeply grateful for our supporters, whose generosity makes the Institute’s vital work possible.”

Mike Piehler

Director, UNC Institute for the Environment; Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor