Building on the existing disciplinary as well as interdisciplinary programs—Earth Systems, the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, and the Goldman Honors Program— Stanford is embarking on a new effort to extend the reach of environmental teaching. A new I-Earth Program (short for Introduction to the Earth) will ensure that Stanford students understand the challenges of environmental sustainability and how to meet them. Tapping into Stanford's wide-ranging expertise in environmental issues, I-Earth offers a number of introductory environmental and earth-resource courses for all undergraduate students. Ultimately, we hope every Stanford undergraduate will take an I-Earth course before graduating.

Since traditional environmental graduate programs often lack training in leadership and management, Stanford is designing new modules to teach these skills to scientists, social scientists, and engineers. These modules, part of our efforts to reinvent graduate education, will be offered to Stanford graduate students and will also be open to those already working in the public and private sectors.

The Woods Institute is home to the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, which teaches communication and leadership skills to academic environmental scientists and facilitates collaboration between them and a broad range of stakeholders. New training programs will provide decision makers with the tools and knowledge to better understand and utilize science in addressing environmental issues. Together, these programs will strengthen the links between research and policy and between scientists and nonscientists, increase the role of science in environmental decision making, and, ultimately, ensure better environmental policies.