The George Perkins Marsh Institute

The George Perkins Marsh Institute (GPMI) at Clark University is dedicated to research on one of the most fundamental questions confronting humankind:

Scroll What is and ought to be our relationship with nature?Scroll

Named after the noted environmentalist George Perkins Marsh and built on a tradition of basic and applied research on environmental hazards and international development, the Institute fosters team-based research that engages graduate students and research faculty in problem formulation and resolution. It is home to some 63 research faculty, staff, and graduate students, with appointments ranging from the humanities to the social and natural sciences.

The Marsh Institute is organized as a consortium of research centers or units and the Jeanne X. Kasperson Research Library. Studies focus on human-environment relationships across a wide array of themes including: risks and hazards; the human dimensions of global environmental change; resource and environmental policy; industrialization and globalization; homeland security; and the development and application of geographic information science across multiple disciplines.

Notable publications include The Earth as Transformed by Human Action (1990) and Regions at Risk: Comparisons of Threatened Environments (1995). GPMI played a leading role in developing the Core Project on Global Land-Use/Cover Change (LUCC) for the International Geosphere-Bioshpere Programme and the International Human Dimensions Programme, and assists the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) in developing the analytical capacities to address environmental changes in general.

The Institute does not grant degrees, but advanced degrees can be sought through the affiliated programs and departments of Clark University. Support comes from the University, private donations, grants from foundations, and grants and contracts from state and federal agencies. The Institute currently holds some $4.5 million in active grants and contracts.



George Perkins Marsh Institute - Clark University
Visiting address: 16 Claremont Street, Worcester, MA 01610-1477
Mailing address: 950 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01610-1477
Phone: +1.508.751.4622
Fax: +1.508.751.4600