Sustainability Highlights

Media seeks ASU expertise on Paris climate talks

With expertise ranging from international law to ecology to ideology, policy and equity, the eight ASU sustainability experts who attended the 2015 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference in Paris were well-represented in the media, including in a CNN piece that quoted Foundation Professor of Law and Senior Sustainability Scholar Dan Bodansky.

Paris climate progress predicted by Harvard panelists

During a November panel discussion titled “Bringing the Global Community to the Table: Paris 2015 U.N. Climate Change Conference” at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, panel members – including sustainability scholar Dan Bodansky – expressed optimism about the conference in light of game-changing domestic, climate-related moves.

Celebrating 10 years of leading the way

Since its inception in 2006 under the stalwart leadership of President Michael Crow, ASU's School of Sustainability has been boldly leading the way to a sustainable future by preparing a new generation of practitioners to address the most pressing challenges of our time. Now in 2016, the school reaches its 10th Anniversary – a milestone that will be marked with a series of memorable events from April 14-16.

Report outlines new utility regulatory pathways

The leaders of the Powering Tomorrow Initiative – co-directed by sustainability scholar Kris Mayes – recently released their Phase Two report, which defines industry structures and regulatory packages that accommodate a growing number of market participants, while securing the vitality of existing utilities and a fair playing field for new market entrants.

Arizona is gliding toward a clean energy future

Arizona can increase its energy generation enough to power more than 603,000 homes by 2030, according to a recent renewable energy build-out study by The Sonoran Institute, in collaboration with ASU’s Energy Policy Innovation Council (EPIC) – co-directed by ASU sustainability experts Kris Mayes and Mike Pasqualetti.

Turning pollutants into profits, while cleaning water

In a recent contribution to Nature, Distinguished Sustainability Scientist Bruce Rittmann and co-authors describe how to make wastewater treatment – a historically costly process – not only cost-efficient, but profitable through the capture of valuable chemicals like useful forms of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus.

Joint master's to teach sustainability in global setting

A joint master's degree program in global sustainability science between ASU and Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany – the first of its kind at ASU and representative of the university's global education efforts – has received German accreditation. Students who enroll in the program will spend time at both universities, work on joint projects and receive a degree from both.

Creating concrete that can better weather heat

A new international initiative called Infravation, spearheaded by ASU engineer and sustainability scientist Narayanan Neithalath, has been awarded $1.6 million by the European Commission to find out whether mixing a phase-change material with concrete can significantly enhance the durability of pavements and bridge decks.

Conference in Aloha State will have strong ASU presence

For the first time in its history, the International Union for Conservation of Nature will host its World Conservation Congress on U.S. soil in September 2016 – a bid secured with the assistance of ASU. The WCC will feature three events sponsored by the ASU Wrigley Institute, as well as a subcommittee chaired by board member John DeFries.

Sustainability a motivating alternative to doom and gloom

In a recent contribution to the Journal of Sustainability Education titled "On Hope and Agency in Sustainability: Lessons from Arizona State University," School of Sustainability Dean Christopher Boone examines why students are attracted to sustainability programs and how ASU prepares students to work toward a desirable future.

Food security a historic factor in climate resilience

In a recent study, teams of researchers – including Distinguished Sustainability Scientist Margaret Nelson – working in both the American Southwest and North Atlantic islands of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroes found that historic and prehistoric peoples who were vulnerable to food shortage were especially susceptible to climate challenges.

Sustainability grad receives prestigious NASA fellowship

Ann Marie Raymondi, a 2013 graduate of the School of Sustainability's Master of Science program, has been named a NASA Harriett G. Jenkins Graduate Fellow following a rigorous selection process. Now pursuing her master’s in biology at Boise State, Raymondi will use the award to examine the effects of fire and climate change on plant communities in the sagebrush-steppe system.

Project holds promise for clean energy from algae

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded ASU a three-year, $1 million grant to fund the Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Capture and Membrane Delivery project – run by engineer Bruce Rittmann and physicist Klaus Lackner – in an effort to enable more large-scale cultivation of microalgae, which can be used to make biofuels and an array of consumer products.