IIT Announces Wanger Institute for Sustainable Energy Research

Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) today announces the formation of the Wanger Institute for Sustainable Energy Research (WISER) that will be the foundation of a campus-wide energy sustainability effort and create important learning opportunities for students and faculty from across academic disciplines.

By drawing on the strengths IIT has demonstrated in areas such as clean coal technology, renewable energy, and power through IIT Armour College of Engineering, sustainable buildings through IIT College of Architecture, and business and entrepreneurship through the Center for Sustainable Enterprise at IIT Stuart School of Business, WISER will serve as an interdisciplinary research and education center incorporating contributions from all of IIT and beyond. By incorporating architecture, the sciences, psychology, law, business, and design into the research and education structure, WISER will lead the way in confronting the energy challenges facing the world today and in the future.

“Energy challenges will be a dominant problem for many decades,” said Wanger. “We must organize a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, reduce energy use per capita, and stabilize the environment. Hundreds of thousands of trained people will be needed for this task, and IIT can become a leader in sustainable energy.”

Through its research and education activities, and partnerships with other universities, WISER will become an center for sustainable energy research and education. IIT president John Anderson stressed the symbiotic relationship, "Research is a vehicle for education; education furthers research," noting that WISER will not only guide education at IIT, "but will affect how we do things at the university, as well. The university will become a model of sustainability guided by the cross-disciplinary work at WISER."

IIT Max McGraw Professor of Energy, Environment, and Economics, and Armour College of Engineering dean Hamid Arastoopour added, “WISER is a work in progress and its ideas will expand. Currently, there are three areas of basic focus: energy production; energy conservation and efficiency; and power and power distribution. Through the formation of WISER, we will be able to significantly expand our research and educational activities in the areas of energy and sustainability.”

Ralph Wanger is a member of the IIT Board of Trustees and former chief investment officer and president of Wanger Asset Management, which he founded in 1992. He managed the Columbia Acorn Fund from 1970 till his retirement in 2003. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Masters degree from the same university. He resides in Chicago.

Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than 7,300 students in engineering, sciences, architecture, psychology, design, humanities, business and law. IIT’s interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum is designed to advance knowledge through research and scholarship, to cultivate invention improving the human condition, and to prepare students from throughout the world for a life of professional achievement, service to society, and individual fulfillment. Visit www.iit.edu.