Special resources include a driving test and training facility and safety assessment equipment. This center enables faculty, staff, and students to work as partners with area agencies to address the most pressing health and social service problems of Southern Illinois. It has received grants from many public and private agencies concerned with health care, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This recently established center prepares graduates to tackle scientific and societal issues related to the biodiversity crisis. Research focuses include potentially valuable microbes, plant genome evolution, environmental monitoring of amphibians, and evolutionary relationships of fishes, birds, marsupials, primates, and other taxa.
Studies range from local biotic surveys to international collaborations.
Coal Research Center Coal-related research at SIUC is coordinated by the Coal Research Center, established in 1974. With funding and collaborative support from industry and government, SIUC has conducted long-term projects relating to surface mine reclamation, mine subsidence, coal desulfurization, coal characterization and combustion, coal residue management and utilization, coal market modeling, and environmental policy. Faculty, staff, and students in fields as diverse as engineering, science, business, education, law, and agriculture have contributed to the University's international reputation in coal research. The Coal Research Center operates the Illinois Coal Development Park under a cooperative agreement with the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. New technologies developed for coal cleaning, refining, and combustion are being put into practice at this facility.