The Ecology Institute brings together students, postdoctoral researchers, research staff, and faculty across diverse departments and colleges to foster excellence and innovation in ecology-based research and training at Penn State. Using a deliberately interdisciplinary approach to address some of the defining challenges in contemporary ecology, The Ecology Institute represents a unique conglomeration of the diverse skills and perspectives provided by many disciplines (such as geosciences, geography, sociology, ethics, policy, decision analysis, economics, landscape architecture, and anthropology). Acting as a bridge between The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and The Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment, The Ecology Institute can utilize a collaborative and integrative perspective to answer ecological questions across multiple spatial and temporal scales and think of solutions to our most pressing ecological issues.