Applied Environmental Research
The Center supports faculty and faculty-student research projects across a breadth of scholarship interests. These projects and initiatives are designed to link academic inquiry with project-based application that address regional environmental and sustainability issues.
The Center provides support for research and scholarship across the spectrum of the college’s environmental academic programming, including:
- Environmental Business and Policy
- Environmental Science
- Social Sustainability
- Environmental Analysis
- Environmental and Natural Systems
- Environmental Operations
We also facilitate and encourage the development of applied research projects that are longer-term, reciprocal relationships with community partners.
Affiliated faculty and other members of the Merrimack community are engaged in a wide range of community partnerships under Merrimack’s Regional Environmental Action Partnership (REAP).
REAP provides a vehicle for Merrimack to meet regional environmental needs by engaging in collaborative and reciprocal planning, research, studies and investigations. The components of REAP are intentional and focused:
- Regional. We recognize that we have limited resources and capacity and want to maximize these assets by maintaining a regional focus, namely northeastern Massachusetts. This facilitates communication, collaboration and logistical considerations. It also provides a clear focus for partnership development.
- Environmental Action. REAP was created to help community partners meet their own environmental objectives. REAP also is a vehicle to bring to bear Merrimack’s quantitative capacity and facilities on regional projects. This includes our capacity for geographic information system mapping.
- Partnership. We believe that partnerships need to be collaborative and reciprocal. We believe in establishing memorandums of understanding prior to the start of each project that identify clear deliverables and timetables. We also recognize the need to review MOUs at regular intervals with our partners. We recognize that we need to provide analysis, data and tangible products in a timely manner and in response to our partner needs and time constraints.
