Researcher Nancy Bush, standing in a chemistry lab and wearing safety goggles and blue coveralls, holds up a clear glass bottle with a pink lid to check the cloudy filtrate inside.

Solutions-Focused Research to Help People and Planet

Whether through in-house research or by supporting the work of world-class faculty and fellows, the Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability is leading the way to a more sustainable and environmentally just future.

Our research programs reach around the globe and across disciplines to create a holistic understanding of our environment. Whatever your field of study, we invite you to join us in solving the complex, interconnected challenges that face our planet today.

Explore research programs

A Boundary-Breaking Perspective on Research

    Research Launchpads

    Our research launchpads help spark innovative investigations of environmental and sustainability challenges along three themes: Earth and Environmental Systems, Applied Environmental Solutions, and Social Transformation.

    Cross-Cutting Initiatives

    Through initiatives that bridge our primary research themes, as well as incorporate education and engagement, we address the multi-faceted nature of major environmental and sustainability issues.

    Currently Funded Projects

    Because the environment and sustainability touch every aspect of our lives and every corner of our planet, we fund research across disciplines: from chemistry and marine biology to engineering, history, economics, and more.

    Support for World-Changing Faculty Research

    Our Faculty Innovation Awards seed original research that accelerates the development of novel solutions to global environmental challenges. USC faculty from all schools and disciplines are eligible to apply.

    Learn more about faculty research funding
    Biological sciences professor Carly Kenkel wears glasses and a navy blue T-shirt bearing the name of her lab, the Cnidarian Evolutionary Ecology, or CEE, Lab. She stands in front of large, clear seawater tank containing young staghorn corals and bathed in a purplish-blue glow.

    Funding to Move Your Ph.D. Forward

    Wrigley Institute graduate fellowships help sustain forward movement on important environmental and sustainability projects at any stage of the Ph.D. journey.

    Learn more about graduate research funding
    graduate student Justin Gaffney smiles as he holds up a clear tube of seawater and flashes a

    A Research Facility Like No Other

    Located just across the San Pedro Channel from Los Angeles, our Catalina Island campus is the crown jewel of our research enterprise. Pristine surroundings, coupled with proximity to one of the nation’s largest cities, make the Wrigley Marine Science Center a unique place to conduct both laboratory and field research.

    Learn more about WMSC
    Two divers wearing hooded wetsuits, scuba tanks, and face masks with snorkels float by a patch of brown kelp as one of them measures it and the other records data on a white slate.
    Tightly packed buildings stretch along Santa Monica Beach in Los Angeles, with the busy Santa Monica Pier and ferris wheel in the foreground
    Solving the Problems of the Urban Ocean

    USC Sea Grant

    Part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Sea Grant College Program, USC Sea Grant is an arm of the Wrigley Institute focused on the urban ocean. This federal-state-university partnership focuses on the unique issues surrounding the intense urbanization and development of  Southern California’s coastline.

    Visit the USC Sea Grant website

    Research News

    In Los Angeles, on Catalina Island, and around the world, our researchers are advancing the field of environmental and sustainability solutions. Get the latest updates on the discoveries they’re making!

    Faculty and students breaking barriers