At IonE, people from partner organizations, agencies, and institutions are present in the work from the beginning – helping define questions, contributing expertise and putting findings into practice. Meet some of our current partners and funded collaborators below, from across our research, education and network-building programs.
Where university research meets national water policy
Federal water science draws on the kind of expertise that lives in research institutions – and the University of Minnesota is a named partner in Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology (CIROH) a NOAA-funded national consortium advancing water forecasting and flood prediction across the United States.
Melissa Kenney, IonE’s director of research, leads the University’s engagement, working alongside federal agency staff and consortium partners to translate research into operational decision-making. It’s an example of how IonE's research relationships extend into the institutions that inform national policy – and how sustained, institutional presence in the work is what moves science into the systems that protect communities from water-related hazards.
Research that starts with questions partners are asking
IonE’s Impact Goals program funds research built on substantive partnerships – organizations that help define the question and share in what the work produces, not collaborators brought in after the fact.
One recently funded project led by Uwe Kortshagen of the College of Science and Engineering brings together Big River Farms, Connexus Energy, US Solar and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to develop agrivoltaic systems – dual-use solar and agricultural land – designed to advance Minnesota’s clean energy transition while opening land access pathways for BIPOC and emerging farmers. The project connects clean energy, food systems and environmental justice in a single place-based effort, and is built so that what works can inform practice across Minnesota and beyond.
Explore All Partner-Driven Research Projects
Student researchers, Tribal partners, 15 years of shared work
The Sustainable Land and Water Resources Research Experience for Undergraduates is a community-centered, tribally focused summer research program co-led by Salish Kootenai College and IonE.
Students work in three teams – on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana; in Duluth in collaboration with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa; and at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, at the Polar Geospatial Center and the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory – on research projects developed in collaboration with Tribal governments. The work weaves Indigenous and Western knowledge to advance understanding and support Tribal management decisions. With 15 continuous years, the program is an example of what a durable academic partnership looks like – and what it takes to sustain.
Built by students, shaped by community
Each year, the Environmental Justice Summit is planned and led by a small team from IonE’s Undergraduate Leaders program, guided by community mentors and partners, with support from IonE staff. Students shape the theme, invite speakers and design the experience; community organizations, practitioners and residents bring their knowledge and priorities into that process. Since 2023, the Summit has drawn students, community-based organizations and practitioners from across the Twin Cities to engage environmental justice as a living, cross-sector challenge.
What cities learn when they compare notes across borders
Climate-Smart Municipalities is a binational exchange connecting six cities in Minnesota – Duluth, Elk River, Morris, Rochester, Warren and White Bear Lake – with six municipalities in Germany, around a shared sustainability question: What does it take to move from aspiration to implementation?
Stakeholders from local government, business, the nonprofit sector, academia and the public learn from – and challenge – one another across both countries. The exchange runs in both directions: What’s possible in Saerbeck informs what’s possible in Morris; what Rochester has navigated helps Münster think differently. IonE holds the infrastructure that makes this kind of sustained, peer-driven learning across national contexts possible.
Partner with IonE
Every partnership starts with a conversation – about where goals align and what opportunities we could pursue together.