The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) has awarded a NAFKI Challenge grant to a team including Jessica Hellmann (above) of the Insitute on the Environment and Bonnie Keeler of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. The $500,000, two-year research project, “Institutionalizing Interdisciplinarity," will use sustainability science as the focus of an effort to create and model the infrastructure required to make research across multiple academic areas more common and effective. According to Prof. Hellmann, “Society needs science – and scientists – more than ever, because we need knowledge to confront our greatest societal and environmental challenges. But it takes a special kind of scientist, one who can work side by side with society, to bring about a better future. This project convenes the organizations and leaders who are creating and supporting this new kind of creator and doer. This group can change how science is done, why it is done, and for whom.” The Institute on the Environment (IonE) is a Consortium member, and represents the type of multidisciplinary research at the intersection of science and society the Consortium has pursued and supported since its founding in 2000.