UT mathematical ecologist Dr. Louis J. Gross instigated the formation of the Institute for Environmental Modeling in 1998 to perform basic research on significant environmental problems that impact Tennessee and have national and international implications. The center’s focus was on experimental design, environmental model formulation together with mathematical and statistical analyses of the models, projection of the analysis for use by decision makers, development of theoretical and computational tools for studying the environment, and on development of hardware and software (such as parallel computing and visualization graphics) to implement and analyze the models. TIEM was housed in the Division of Biology.