The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center's video: Closing Remarks: Dr Vernon Morris

Wednesday, June 13, 2018 SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS BY DESIGN Vernon Morris Howard University Responding to environmental change, whether instigated by natural or by human factors, in a sustainable and equitable way could be humankind’s most persistent grand challenge. Developing an understanding the complexities of socio-environmental systems that enables prediction necessitates the incorporation of novel model applications, new approaches to data analysis, and different types of trans-disciplinary conversations. These conversations that are challenging and require a commitment to pushing beyond the limitations of our disciplinary comfort zones. They may require new questions regarding “old” topics and often a unique merging of qualitative and quantitative approaches. I will provide a summary of my reflections on the panels, lightning talks posters and discussions associated with the challenges of working across multiple disciplines, across geospatial boundaries, and across spatio-temporal scales that inhibit truly integrative approaches to pressing socio-environmental problems. My aim will be to highlight some of the innovative perspectives from the workshop that span the many disciplines represented at this workshop. I will combine these observations with insights from my work within a research center that has been formed to catalyze these specific types of collaborations.