Message from our executive director

It is my pleasure to present the fifth Annual Report of the Dyson College Institute for Sustainability and the Environment (DCISE). Despite having an abbreviated year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, DCISE continued to act as a dynamic academic center and resource for the College, the University and members of the external community who are concerned about environmental issues.

A major effort of DCISE this past year was presenting the Fourth Summit on Resilience conference, The Future of Meat? The conference was part of a series of meetings aimed at highlighting important issues of sustainability in various arenas, in this case, issues surrounding the production and consumption of meat products vs plant-based meat alternatives. These issues have implications for several areas in addition to nutrition, such as climate change and animal rights, and the discussion helped enlighten participants to this complicated topic. DCISE also focused on investigating the crisis of wildlife population decline through a series of events aimed at educating the Pace and external communities on the main drivers of species loss and actions that could mitigate this loss.

The Department of Environmental Studies and Science has continued to expand its activities through the development of new programs, notably the newly launched Environmental Conservation Certificate, within which 74% of current Pleasantville Environmental Studies and Science students are enrolled, and securing seven paid summer internships this year.