The Center was founded to fulfill the following goals:

To provide a research environment where students and faculty from diverse disciplines and institutions can freely interact and contribute;

To develop new antibiotics, anti-cancer drugs, and biofriendly pesticides by harnessing bioactive rhizosphere chemicals;

To increase our understanding of the complex multitrophic interactions beneath the soil;

To make our research available and accessible to the public through a seminar series, an informational website, and popular press publications.