Why establish a Center on water at UIUC?
The UIUC campus already has considerable faculty strength in the area of water-based environmental research, and new initiatives, such as the cluster hire in Water as a Complex Environmental System in the College of Liberals Arts and Sciences, as well as complementary hiring in Civil and Environmental Engineering, are adding new faculty to this already strong institutional base. However, coordination among dispersed faculty is limited and the need exists for a formal unit to facilitate faculty interaction, develop educational programs, promote outreach, and, most importantly, enhance opportunities for obtaining external funding for interdisciplinary water-based environmental research. CWACES provides a formal infrastructure to enhance visibility of the institution as a center of excellence in this field, demonstrate institutional commitment to this type of research and provide the necessary institutional support required for faculty interaction, interdisciplinary coordination, successf
