Elena Irwin

About Elena 

Elena Irwin is Director and co-founder of the Sustainability Institute and a Distinguished University Professor. A compelling advocate for sustainability, Irwin develops and nurtures interdisciplinary research and curriculum development across natural, physical and social sciences; engineering; public health; planning and policy; and the humanities. Elena is a professor of environmental economics whose research focuses on the economics of land use and development in urban, urbanizing and agricultural regions, including spatial models of land, water and ecosystem services. She has led research totaling over $19 million, with funding from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture and other private and public agencies. She is a member of the U.S. EPA’s Board of Scientific Councilors Committee for Sustainable and Healthy Communities and the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Executive Board. Elena holds an undergraduate degree in history and German from Washington University and a Ph.D. in agricultural and resource economics from the University of Maryland.