Southern Appalachian Environmental Research and Education Center

The Southern Appalachian Environmental Research and Education Center (SAEREC) is an affiliation of researchers at Appalachian State University, their collaborators within the RIEEE, and external collaborators. SAEREC addresses a broad range of environmental research issues facing the Southern Appalachian Mountains, ranging from biodiversity and conservation, ecological restoration, air quality, land use change, environmental health, and regional climate change impacts. In addition, SAEREC has a strong focus on environmental education research and outreach. Research projects are initiated by individual faculty researchers or small collaborative groups, as well as graduate and undergraduate students. Collaborations with faculty at other educational institutions, state agencies, federal government institutions, and private enterprises are also encouraged.

Center Director

Steve Seagle
Department of Biology
Rankin Science West, Room 292
572 Rivers Street
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
seaglesw@appstate.edu
828-262-2681

Mission

The Southern Appalachian Environmental Research and Education Center (SAEREC) will promote interdisciplinary environmental research and educational outreach in the southern Appalachian region. Through these efforts SAEREC will contribute to an increased understanding of the critical challenges facing natural ecosystems in this region due to human activities.

Specific Objectives are to:

Support research in the southern Appalachian mountain region that has both regional and global implications
Understand and solve problems associated with increased human resource demands on ecosystems of the southern Appalachian mountain region
Encourage interdisciplinary collaborations to solve environmental problems in the region
Actively engage and mentor students in environmental research and educational outreach

History

SAEREC was conceived in 2007 by the Chairs of the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Geology, and Geography and Planning with the goal of stimulating synergistic research activities within the sciences at App State. Shortly afterward, rapidly developing interest arose within the university’s administration and faculty for broader research collaboration across campus, and SAEREC became a constituent center of the newly formed Research Institute for Environment, Research and Economics (RIEEE).

The first organized research group within SAEREC was AppalAIR, which is a successful interdisciplinary atmospheric research initiative. Soon following was APPAqua, with the goal of understanding hydrology and water quality in streams of the southern Appalachians. In collaboration with the RIEEE and other affiliated centers, SAEREC continues to organize other research “clusters”, defined as groups of faculty who share particular interests in environmental research and who may work together to develop new research programs that address the mission and goals of SAEREC.

In addition to AppalAir and APPAqua, newer research clusters focus on earth system science, conservation ecology, environmental health and environmental education.