Lauren Leve studies the ways that environmental and policy changes impact cultural and religious practices, and vice versa. Her current projects include a multidisciplinary, community-engaged study of sacred lakes and climate change in the Himalayas (funded by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and the Institute for the Arts and Humanities), and a study of the globalization of vipassana meditation by the Indian teacher, S. N Goenka, and his place in the modern mindfulness movement.