Walter R. Lynn, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering and of science and technology studies at Cornell University, has been named interim director of the Cornell Center of the Environment (CfE).

Lynn, who will continue to serve as university ombudsman, succeeds Theodore L. Hullar, director of CfE since 1997. Hullar resigned, effective Oct. 1, to become the director of higher education for Atlantic Philanthropic Service Co.

The CfE's director from 1995 to 1997, Lynn will serve as interim director until the selection of a permanent director is selected. Lynn also has served as dean of the faculty (1988-93), director of Cornell's Program on Science, Technology and Society, and director of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He joined the faculty in 1961 and retired from his teaching duties in 1998. The universitywide CfE was established in 1991 to facilitate interdisciplinary research; encourage development of new environmental courses and curricula at the graduate and undergraduate levels; coordinate outreach programs to assist state, federal and local governments, private organizations, businesses and individuals with environmental problems; and to disseminate environmental information.

The center's work is carried out through research, outreach, and education programs, including the Cornell Institute for Resource Information Systems, the Institute for Comparative and Environmental Toxicology, the NYS Water Resources Institute and the Waste Management Institute. The center also supports other environmental program areas, including the Environmental Risk Analysis Program, the Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors, the Work and Environment Initiative, the Program on Environment and Community, the Watershed Program and the Environmental Inquiry Program for young people and their teachers.