The U.S. Global Change Research Program is undertaking the first National Nature Assessment, or NNA1, and has appointed four MSU researchers to author and lead several chapters.

The NNA1 is a program to identify and take stock of U.S. ecosystems and the benefits they provide to the economy, health, climate, environment justice and national security. NNA1 will also assess how nature could change in the future, and what that means.

The MSU faculty chosen to participate in NNA1 are:

• Steven Gray is an author for the chapter “Nature and its Relationship to Cultural Heritage.” Gray is a professor in the Department of Community Sustainability, and his research is focused on socio-environmental modeling.
• Amber Pearson is an author for the chapter “Nature and Human Health and Well-Being.” She is a health geographer who is an associate professor in the Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health.
• Patricia Soranno is the chapter lead for “Opportunities for America’s Nature.” Soranno is a professor in the Ecology, Evolution and Behavior Program in the College of Natural Sciences.
• Kevin Elliott is an author for the chapter “Opportunities for America’s Nature.” Elliot is a philosopher who studies the role of values in science in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Lyman Briggs College.