About Us

The Institute for Society, Culture and Environment's goals are to increase the quality, quantity and competitiveness of the Virginia Tech research portfolio by supporting innovative, interdisciplinary, and translational research that addresses critical human and societal concerns impacting the lives of people and places. The Institute leverages university funds to increase sponsored research and scholarship with a focus on issues of importance in the social sciences.

ISCE primarily supports faculty activities that have the potential for extramural funding. ISCE makes available financial and technical assistance that supports the development of individual faculty members and interdisciplinary teams. Since 2007, investment of over $5 million dollars has resulted in increased research productivity:

  • 286 faculty members have received support
  • 225+ faculty have received technical assistance
  • 499 proposals have been submitted, totaling $470.8 million
  • 208 awards have been received, totaling $52.4 million
  • 30+ scholarly books and 174+ journal publications
    (June 2019)

ISCE focuses its resources in four thematic areas, each described below.

Global Issues
thematic area
Global trade and economic integration; security & counter-terrorism; health, science & policy; US competitiveness at bilateral, regional & multilateral levels
Health/Human  Development
thematic area
Social/behavioral aspects of development across ages; health of individuals, groups, communities; social determinants of health; disparities; policy
Risk and Resilience
thematic area
Individual/community responses to social issues, natural disasters, security, technology & communication; social complexity, ethics; risk analysis & policy
Community/Built Environment
thematic area
Geographic locations, environments, structures and settings affecting the human condition, policy implementation & evaluation

ISCE supports eight associated centers and one research lab, offers a variety of support programs, such as it signature ISCE Scholars program, and provides capacity building activities and strategies including:

 Learn more about ISCE's goals and objectives in the ISCE Strategic Plan: 2020-2024.

To learn more about ISCE, contact Karen Roberto, the Executive Director, or Yancey Crawford, Project Coordination Specialist, or explore our website.