We assemble diverse, interdisciplinary teams of faculty, external experts and students to collaborate on the world’s greatest environmental and sustainability challenges and turn research into service for the common good. Our research isn’t restricted to the lab: we are transforming Georgetown’s campus into a living laboratory where we develop urgently-needed, scalable solutions to green the campus and broader community—and shape the future of our planet.
In an ongoing ‘data revolution’ in ocean science, scientists are working to close perceived knowledge gaps through novel data technologies, which make previously unseen physical and ecological properties visible. In this paper, researchers ask: what ocean phenomena and data do Ocean Data Science Initiatives’ (ODSI) maps make visible, and what kind of ocean worlds do these maps create?
In this review, the authors discuss current trends, threats and conservation responses for migratory birds. The true status of Earth’s migratory birds remains uncertain as monitoring is constrained by technical and financial limitations and geographic biases, particularly in the Global South. Identifying where declines occur and their causes remains challenging because migrants traverse vast ecological and political landscapes, complicating diagnosis and response.
July 23, 2026
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International team of scientists calls for a new approach to biodiversity conservation as losses span continents, oceans, and political boundaries
More than half of the world’s migratory bird…
July 23, 2026
ECo Faculty Network
Explore over 100 Georgetown faculty furthering research and teaching on complex environmental issues
Below is a list of research programs related to the work of the Earth Commons:
Marra Lab
Director Peter Marra’s research uses birds to help us define and understand broad environmental issues, tackling contemporary conservation challenges by addressing fundamental knowledge gaps at the intersection of ornithology, ecology and conservation biology. The Marra Lab in Georgetown’s Department of Biology investigates migratory connectivity, full annual cycle ecology, urban ecology & applied conservation, Kirtland’s Warbler conservation & management, and identifies the smoking guns in bird declines.
Through the Migratory Connectivity Project, led by Georgetown University and the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and together with the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, we are working on an important and exciting two volume book entitled “Discovering Unknown Migrations: The Atlas of Migratory Connectivity for the Birds of North America.”
