Frequently Asked Questions

Below you will find the most frequently asked questions and answers regarding the Center for Water as a Complex Environmental System (CWACES). If you have any questions not answered here, please feel free to contact us.


What is the purpose of CWACES?

The purpose of the Center for Water as a Complex Environmental System (CWACES) is to promote and facilitate interdisciplinary scholarship on water in the natural environment at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign through core missions of research, teaching and outreach. A distinguishing characteristic of the Center is its emphasis on the need to effectively couple research in the natural and social sciences to achieve understanding of complex water-related environmental systems and to develop predictive tools for sustainable management of these systems. The Center does not directly address technological issues of water treatment and purification, which are effectively dealt with by the WaterCAMPWS at UIUC. Instead, CWACES complements the WaterCAMPWS by focusing on water as a component of complex environmental systems, encompassing basic scientific aspects of these systems as well as human interaction with, and attempts to manage, these systems. CWACES also complements water-related research by scientists at the Illinois state scientific surveys by connecting this research with water-related research, education and outreach by faculty at UIUC.

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What is the rationale behind CWACES?

The rationale for establishing a Center for Water as a Complex Environmental System at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is based on the importance of water-related environmental research and on the capacity for the U of I to be an international leader in this important research area. Issues related to environmental aspects of water, especially water quality and quantity, are among the most complex, yet pressing natural-resource concerns facing society on a national and international basis in the 21 st century. The Earth’s inhabitants face unprecedented challenges with regard to water quality and quantity over the coming decades due to changes in climate and land use, growing populations, increased consumption of natural resources, uneven geographical distributions of resources, and disparities in access to water resources. Addressing these challenges involves not only increased effort in hydrological research, but increased interdisciplinary research that integrates knowledge of water supply, water quality, sediment dynamics, aquatic ecology, water policy and environmental decision-making. Concern about the need for interdisciplinary approaches to water-related environmental problems is reflected in current and emerging funding trends; several major funding initiatives already exist or will emerge in the near future that either directly support or have the potential to support interdisciplinary water-related environmental research.

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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, successful proposal development and effective research collaborations.

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How is CWACES distinct from the Water Resources Center and the Water CAMPWS?

The University of Illinois has built strength in environmental research pertaining to water issues through several units located on campus. Among these are the Water Resources Center and the Water CAMPWS. The Water Resources Center is federally sponsored to perform research tasks associated with relevant water issues for the state of Illinois. The Water CAMPWS is an NSF Science and Technology Center that focuses on the development of technologies to purify water and to treat waste water through the development of advanced materials with specially designed filtration properties.

CWACES fulfills a complementary role to both of these units by providing an institutional infrastructure for coordination of research, teaching and outreach on water in the environment. CWACES is strategically designed to explore water issues in the context of complex systems at the intersection of natural processes and human activities. Scientific aspects of environmental processes are explored in conjunction with scholarly work about the social aspects of water and water use. By branching out across disciplinary boundaries, CWACES has a much broader context than the scientific research performed by the Water Resources Center and the Water CAMPWS.

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