Elissa Welch

Background & Expertise

Elissa Welch is the program manager for the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center hosted at the Institute on the Environment. The mission of the MW CASC is to connect actionable, transdisciplinary science to natural and cultural resource managers to help fish, wildlife, water, land and people adapt to a changing climate. In this role, she leads the administrative functions and Consortium award management of the MW CASC, oversees a portfolio of capacity building activities, and serves a liaison across MW CASC Consortium institutions, researchers, graduate students, rightsholders and regional stakeholders to foster collaboration and strategic alignment with MW CASC goals. 

Prior to joining the institute in 2022, Welch served as a project manager for a portfolio of externally-funded projects at the Ohio University Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service related to climate policy, renewable energy, waste resources and STEM education and outreach. Her career in academia, the private sector and the nonprofit sector emphasizes highly collaborative, multidisciplinary processes that lead to synergistic, applied solutions to complex environmental problems. Welch holds a master of public administration from Indiana University-Bloomington’s Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She enjoys gardening, hiking and exploring the greater Midwest with her husband and daughter.