For the Earth and Environment

At the College of Natural Resources, the College of Sciences, and many other labs and research stations spread throughout the state, we work to keep our soil, air and water clean.

#1 Public School

NC State’s College of Natural Resources is the top-ranked place in the southeast U.S. to study natural resources and conservation.

12,331 Miles

North Carolina has 322 miles of ocean shoreline and the nation’s second-largest system of estuaries — which collectively have 12,009 miles of coastline.

18.7M+ Acres

Among our state’s most important natural resources, North Carolina’s forests cover approximately 61% of our total land area.

Electric Cars Can Make Power Grids More Reliable

Electric vehicles can effectively serve as mobile batteries that provide energy to the power grid when not being driven — improving the reliability of the grid. So why have so few places adopted the vehicle-to-grid model? A new study details the barriers.

Keeping North Carolina’s Coastal Communities Healthy

Researchers with the North Carolina Center for Coastal Algae, People and Environment (NC C-CAPE) are collecting water, oyster and blue crab samples to address the growing concern of harmful algal blooms on our coast.

Study of Gut Microbes in Black Bears Finds Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

A new gut microbiome study of bears in eastern North Carolina expands our understanding of microbial ecosystems in omnivores — and also found that bears may play an unexpected role in dispersing antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

Mining Rare Earth Elements with Plants

The U.S. Department of Energy is backing phytomining — using plants to absorb critical minerals from soil — as part of a national effort to boost the domestic mining of rare earth elements. New research from NC State explores phytomining’s potential for removing toxic waste and shows how spectroscopy can help determine optimal harvest times.

Removing pollutants, Securing domestic supply chains

Reviving a Southern Icon: How Science Is Securing the Future of Longleaf Pine

A collaborative research effort is underway to enhance the genetic diversity and adaptability of longleaf pine for future forests.

Cottonseed Oil Could Take the Place of Toxic Chemicals in Textiles and Paper Production

Cotton seeds could be key to replacing the toxic chemicals used to produce wrinkle-free fabrics and water-resistant paper products.

Microcleaners for Microplastics

Researchers have shown that an integrated system leveraging unique materials could be used to capture and remove microplastics from bodies of water.

STEPS Center: Reducing Society’s Reliance on Phosphorus

Bringing together a community of our country’s leading researchers across the physical, life, social and economic sciences, the Science and Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability (STEPS) Center integrates disciplinary contributions to address complex challenges in phosphorus sustainability.

Used globally to fertilize plant crops, the element phosphorus underpins many critical biological processes. Most of that fertilizer comes from non-renewable phosphate deposits — mined outside the U.S.

Once farms use this phosphorus, only 20% makes it into the human diet due to system losses and inefficiencies. The remainder often accumulates in soil and water sources, where it causes negative environmental impacts — such as algal blooms, which can contaminate safe drinking water and harm marine life. STEPS is working to find solutions for phosphorus that rely on new materials, technologies and strategies to control, recover, reuse and manage phosphorus in novel, sustainable ways.

More research from STEPS: