Each semester, the School of Sustainability recognizes its top academic achievers by publishing the Dean's List. Undergraduate students who earn at least a 3.5 GPA in 12 or more semester hours of graded coursework during a semester in residence at ASU are eligible for the Dean’s List. A notation regarding Dean’s List achievement appears on the student’s unofficial transcript.

Dean's List Spring 2020:

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The Social Science Research Council seeks proposals that address the risks, opportunities, and challenges posed by public health surveillance stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic. A new essay forum explores the human, social, political, and ethical dimensions of Covid-19.

ASURE has been awarded a contract that could total as much as $42.4 million over the next five years to advance unmanned and robotic technologies and weapons systems.

The Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, awarded $12 million now to the Arizona State University-affiliated applied research lab to solve the initial task and is offering the opportunity for an additional $30.4 million for subsequent tasks. There are nine task groups in total and, according to Naval Postgraduate School, this is the school’s largest task order contract ever awarded for unmanned systems and robotics. It is also the largest contract ASURE has been awarded.

ASURE is a nonprofit organization and exemplifies a new prototype for the academic applied research lab that leverages ASU’s innovative resources to rapidly solve grand challenges with high-impact solutions for local, state and national government agencies and companies. ASURE’s expertise centers on translating ideas into dual-use solutions for technology, engineering, safety and security sectors, meaning they solve for commercial and military problems.

"This collaboration leverages the multidisciplinary expertise that exists within the Fulton Schools and ASURE’s objective of conducting applied research," said sustainability scientist Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools at ASU. "Our faculty has made significant progress to achieve broader technological capabilities and understandings of these areas in recent years, so we are eager to work with partners to develop and test robotic and autonomous systems."

At the recent (June 26, 2020) meeting, the Flagstaff City Council declared a Climate Emergency, prompting the city to update its Climate Action and Adaptation Plan to achieve community-wide carbon neutrality by the year 2030.

Communities across the country and world are recognizing the impacts of climate change on cities’ resources, economy, infrastructure, and quality of life. In Flagstaff, it affects snowpack, water availability, wildlife, and increases the chance of wildfires in the area. Flagstaff’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, prepare for climate risks, and safeguard the well-being of its residents for the future. To learn more about Flagstaff’s Sustainability initiatives, visit their website.

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Thirty years ago this month, President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law, creating protections in employment, housing, health care and access for millions of people. One of the most obvious results of the law is accessible building design — curb cuts, automatic doors and ramps.

But truly universal design, sometimes called “inclusive design,” is much more than that. It’s a design concept that makes everything as easy as possible for anyone, and includes products from smartphones to flexible drinking straws. The concept means that design that accommodates one group actually makes it easier for everyone. For example, curb cuts meant to help people who use wheelchairs also make it easier for people with strollers or wheeled suitcases.

Read a Q&A with sustainability scientist John Takamura, an associate professor of industrial design in The Design School at Arizona State University, who teaches universal design in a studio class to graduate students. He had a career designing electronics and consumer goods before coming to the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.

View the latest newsletter from the Sustainable Cities Network:

SCN INFO OF INTEREST: 7/29/2020 (PDF)

Sustainability scientist Mariana Bertoni and colleague Jennifer Blain Christen – both associate professors in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering and co-founders of technology startups extending from their research at ASU – are receiving high-profile support from the Fulton Entrepreneurial Professors program as its two newest fellows.

These two-year fellowships provide tenured or tenure-track engineering faculty members with the equivalent of $200,000 in time and resources to accelerate their nascent ventures toward successful commercialization. They do so by reassigning teaching responsibilities and supplying research staff to manage laboratory groups. With freedom from these responsibilities, fellows can apply themselves to pursuing small business training and seed funding, working with patent lawyers, meeting with potential equity investors and consulting with industry advisers.

Bertoni will use her forthcoming Fulton Entrepreneurial Professors fellowship experience to advance Crystal Sonic, the technology company she co-founded two years ago to improve the efficiency and lower the cost of next-generation semiconductor manufacturing.

In our July Sustainability Strategist newsletter, we highlight our interview with Dr. George Brooks Jr. where he shares insights, lessons, and tips on the link between environmental racism and social justice, and provides solutions to solve systemic issues.

View the full newsletter in your browser. 

This blog post was written by Arizona State University graduate student Katie Poirier. In addition to studying Food Policy and Sustainability Leadership at ASU, Katie is the Executive Director of the Mollen Foundation where she works to empower Arizona youth and families to adopt healthy habits through engaging gardening, cooking, mindfulness, and physical activities. 

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The College of Health Solutions partners with the World Economic Forum and the Rockefeller Foundation on an initiative to help companies get back to work safely.

View the latest newsletter from the Sustainable Cities Network:

SCN INFO OF INTEREST: 7/23/2020 (PDF)

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education's (AASHE's) virtual Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education is the largest stage to exchange effective models, policies, research, collaborations and transformative actions that advance sustainability in higher education and surrounding communities.

Humanity faces a series of intensifying and interrelated social and ecological crises. Solving these crises requires a holistic transformation: a shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy. With a theme of "Mobilizing for a Just Transition," this year's Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education will be held October 20-22 and will focus on centering justice within this transformation and ensuring that it leaves no one behind.

Higher education has changed dramatically since AASHE closed its original call for proposals in early March. AASHE has opened a supplementary Emerging Issues Call for Proposals; proposals are due August 14.

Become a presenter and have your voice heard on vital topics such as the global pandemic, widespread protests against racism and the upcoming 2020 U.S. Election. Submit your proposal by August 14 to participate in AASHE's first virtual conference!

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, digital connections were indispensable — for education, social interactions, telemedicine, business continuity and so much more.

But in places where connectivity is limited, the challenges and tragedies of the pandemic were only heightened. This was especially true in Native American communities across America, where infection rates soared, economic opportunity fell, and, for many, isolation deepened.

In this podcast, Cisco Techbeat host Kevin Delaney speaks with sustainability scientist Traci Morris, Director of the American Indian Policy Institute at Arizona State University. A proud member of the Chickasaw Nation, Dr. Morris has studied the impact of the digital divide in Indian country.

You're invited to participate in the ASU Mastcam-Z team Live Zoom webinar of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Launch. This event is hosted by Meenakshi Wadhwa, Director of ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration and Jim Bell, Mastcam-Z Principal Investigator and professor at ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration. The Webinar will feature interviews and Q and A with Jim Bell and ASU Mastcam-Z team members, as well as the official NASA live launch coverage feed.

Please register for the July 30 event. Once you have registered, a reminder email will be to you the day before the webinar.

Please be aware that there is an approximate 120-minute launch window. In case of launch postponement, the Webinar will reconvene one hour before the next launch opportunity. A new reminder will be sent with instructions to all current registrants.

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National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has received a $2,000,000 gift to establish the James Prize in Science and Technology Integration. The prize was made possible through a generous donation from Robert “Bob” James.

This prize will recognize outstanding contributions made by researchers who are able to adopt or adapt information or techniques from outside their own fields, and thus integrate knowledge from two or more disciplines in order to solve a major contemporary challenge not addressable from a single disciplinary perspective. Nominations for the inaugural prize will be accepted through Monday, October 5, 2020.

More information on how to submit a nomination, including FAQs, can be found here.

Skysong Innovations is ASU's intellectual property management company. Its goal is the rapid and wide dissemination of ASU discoveries and inventions into the marketplace, and so was created as a separate corporate entity to act as a proxy for ASU, which substantially increases flexibility and speed in deal-making and venturing activities. A recent article in ASU Now features the work of several sustainability scientists.

Zero Mass Water, led by sustainability scientist Cody Friesen, a professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, creates SOURCE Hydropanels that use solar energy to pull moisture from the air, bringing clean drinking water to communities and residences well off the grid.

Skysong Innovations team identified and pushed forward 20 COVID-19 technologies: four vaccines, two therapeutics, three diagnostic tools, seven sterilization- and PPE-related pieces of equipment and four software technologies. Sustainability scientists have led several of these.

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Caitlyn Finnegan is a junior in the School of Sustainability who has spent her summer conducting research on fisheries with Assistant Professor Kailin Kroetz. Fisheries have always been a model for sustainable management, challenges, and discipline. They represent a relationship between humans and marine ecosystems.

“My interest in aquatic ecosystems and how anthropogenic activities interfere with their success drew me to assist Dr. Kailin Kroetz with her fisheries research. Fishery research is impactful because it represents a natural resource that continues to be negatively disrupted by human behavior globally.”

Read more from Finnegan in her Q&A. 

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The unprecedented global health crisis we are facing is affecting all parts of society and changing lives and livelihoods. In times of need, from climate change and natural disasters to the current COVID-19 pandemic, youth have been quick to take action and respond to the needs of their communities. That is why the Local2030 Island Network, WE Empower partner Hawaii Green Growth and Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at ASU convened a panel of island and indigenous youth to have a solution-oriented conversation on responding to COVID-19 and building back better, harnessing their creativity and innovation.

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The world is experiencing changes in food and sharing during the pandemic. Food shortages in the spring and being confined together have spurred changes. Sustainability scientist Alexandra Brewis-Slade saw COVID-19 as an obvious point to jump in on questions of how illness and other crises worsen food insecurity.

The founding director of the Center for Global Health and a President’s Professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change said the center identifies a key theme each year, one that they believe can reinvent and reimagine global health. “This year it was a focus on the human experience of food insecurity, working with nutritionist and food security expert Meg Bruening in the College of Health Solutions,” Brewis-Slade said.

Brewis-Slade and Amber Wutich, director of the Center for Global Health and also a President’s Professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, were doing research with partners in Puerto Rico to understand how people were working together within communities, as part of work with the international Household Water Insecurity Experiences research collaboration, for which the Center for Global Health is a key partner. Bruening and Wutich are both sustainability scientists.

On World Humanitarian Day, and as part of a week-long series of events for Entomology Advocacy Week hosted by the Entomological Society of America, Dr. Arianne Cease, Director of the Global Locust Initiative at Arizona State University, and Dr. Shoki Al Dobai, Locust and Transboundary Plant Pest Team Leader of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, will discuss current global efforts to enhance the capacity for sustainable locust management and the ongoing international efforts to manage the Desert Locust crisis occurring in the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia.

The webinar, The International Locust Crisis, will be held on Wednesday, August 19. Register through the Entomological Society of America.