Goals

Our goal is to help provide answers to one of the most critical issues
facing humanity, the impact of expanding human populations on natural
resources and the quality of human life. We will use research and
education tools of a highly interdisciplinary nature to accomplish the
following:

- Examine the influences of urban development on biodiversity, water quality, vegetation dynamics, sociology, economics and human health across forested landscapes at regional, national and global scales.

- Develop research techniques that facilitate integrated study of
biological, environmental, and socioeconomic effects of urban
development.

- Develop predictive tools that will permit the anticipation of impacts related to future land development scenarios.