Sustainability News

From the American Society of Civil Engineers:

Elham H. (Ellie) Fini, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, co-founder of Bio-Adhesive Alliance Inc., senior sustainability scientist at Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and associate professor of Arizona State University, has been named a Fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction.

Fini has served as a program director at the National Science Foundation and as president of the American Association of Civil Engineers (Northern branch in North Carolina). She has been Fulbright scholar at Aalborg University of Denmark and research affiliate at MIT's Center for Materials Science and Engineering. She is currently serving as an invention ambassador for American Association for Advancement of Sciences and as the associate editor of ASCE's Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. She is also the inventor and co-founder of a startup company and has published more than 100 journal papers, one book and one book chapter.

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Sustainability scientists Darshan Karwat of the School for the Future of Innovation in Sociaty and Jenni Vanos of the School of Sustainability were among several experts interviewed by local Phoenix National Public Radio affiliate KJZZ last month. The April 27 radio piece was titled Worse Air Quality In Phoenix Communities Of Color Could Mean Higher COVID-19 Risk.

Karwat’s research shows correlations between neighborhoods’ poverty levels, percentage of minority residents, and pollution levels. Vanos studies the influence of extreme heat, radiation, and air pollution on human health. With so many cars off the road as people stay home during the pandemic, Phoenix’s air has been much cleaner for the past few weeks, which the two see as an opportunity for shared research.

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Every year Arizona State University Faculty Women’s Association recognizes exceptional mentors across the university with the Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award. This year, social sciences faculty members Amber Wutich and Tracy Spinrad from The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences were selected for the honor.

Sustainability Scientist Amber Wutich joined the School of Human Evolution and Social Change as an assistant professor in 2007 after initially coming to ASU as a postdoctoral student in 2006. Today she serves as the President’s Professor of anthropology, the director of ASU’s Center for Global Health and the associate director of ASU’s Institute for Social Science Research.

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Four children live on an island that serves as the repository for all the world’s garbage. Trash arrives, the children sort it, and then they feed it to a herd of insatiable pigs: a perfect system. But when a barrel washes ashore with a boy inside, the children must decide whether he is more of the world’s detritus, meant to be fed to the pigs, or whether he is one of them. Written in exquisitely wrought prose, Pigs asks questions about community, environmental responsibility, and the possibility of innocence.

In this May 20 lunchtime event, hosted on Zoom, author Johanna Stoberock joins a panel of experts to discuss the unanticipated effects of our real-world linear waste system on people and communities, assessing current trends and innovations for a circular economy to reuse and regenerate our world’s resources. Register for Zoom details.

This event is presented by the ASU Rob & Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Service, ASU Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, ASU Center for Science and the Imagination, Changing Hands Bookstore.

Anyone that’s ever been out walking on a hot summer day has probably experienced an uncomfortable phenomenon: sometimes, the heat radiated from the pavement below is just as hot as that coming from the sunlight above. In a quest to cool city streets, the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Surfaces has pioneered the use of solar reflective coatings with the idea that coating streets with a lighter color will lower the surrounding temperatures. It’s an interesting theory, and one that has attracted the attention of researcher and urban climatologist Ariane Middel.

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One of the many changes David Ginn experienced as he moved from rural Pennsylvania to metropolitan Phoenix was the increase in his concern for the growing climate crisis. Motivated to do something about it, he decided to enroll in the Master of Sustainability Leadership program at Arizona State University.

“The focus on global and strategic perspectives in sustainability seemed like a great trajectory for the program, and the subject matter of the curricula for each course seemed very interesting to me,” Ginn said. “I was not from a traditional sustainability background for my undergrad studies, so this seemed like the perfect bridge into the field.”

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In the latest thought leader piece from the Global Futures Laboratory, "Societal Planetary Boundaries: When Global Society Endangers the Future of Our Planet," Sander van der Leeuw, Manfred Laubichler and Peter Schlosser discuss the unstable state of our global societal systems and how we can change. "We are challenged to find and establish a completely new structure for current societal dynamics, and to do so within the Environmental and Societal Planetary Boundaries," the authors write.

You can read the piece on Medium. To ensure you don’t miss any Global Futures Laboratory Medium posts, follow our Medium channel directly, or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn where we announce all new posts.

After more than 35 years, David Pijawka, sustainable planning professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, is retiring as full-time faculty. Pijawka has been at the helm of interdisciplinary research at Arizona State University for more than three decades, bringing together policy, sustainability, geographical sciences and urban planning in novel and innovative ways and applying them to community work.

Arriving at ASU in 1982, Pijawka took on a range of critical roles and academic positions over the course of his career. He served as full-time faculty for the School of Public Affairs, the School of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture, and the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning — establishing a record of excellence in each.

In the mid-1990s, Pijawka served as interim director of the Center for Environmental Studies, predecessor to what is today the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability. He took over after Duncan Patten's retirement in 1995 and was succeeded by Charles Redman in 1997. During Pijawka's tenure as interim director, the Center initiated several new interdisciplinary research and outreach programs, expanding relations with other ASU units.

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Sustainability scholar Gary Moore, an assistant professor in Arizona State University's School of Molecular Sciences and the Biodesign Institute’s Center for Applied Structural Discovery, has just been named one of 14 young faculty nationwide to be honored with a 2020 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.

The Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program supports the research and teaching careers of talented young faculty in the chemical sciences. When choosing its teacher-scholars, the foundation seeks those who demonstrate leadership in both research and education.

Moore’s group uses chemistry to build nanoscale materials that are fundamentally interesting and address societal challenges. Research themes include the transduction of solar energy, the synthesis of new materials to catalyze a range of chemical transformations of industrial importance, the design and preparation of novel hard-to-soft matter interfaces, and development of a general improvement in our understanding of molecular structure and function relationships.

Overworked and experiencing health issues, Laura Friedman knew she needed to make major life changes. So, when her son recommended she go to college, she didn’t hesitate.

“I researched online graduate school degrees and learned that Arizona State University was ranked No. 1 in the country for innovation,” Friedman said. “I found the Master of Sustainability Leadership program and I believed combining and expanding the sustainability leadership themes with my technology career would enable me to make a valuable career shift.”

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The Office of Health Futures at ASU Knowledge Enterprise is hosting a virtual discussion on pandemics this Friday, May 8th from 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM MST that will be open and free for members of the ASU Health Futures and Health Leadership Councils, as well as senior leaders, faculty, staff, and students at ASU, and those within our surrounding communities.

The conversation will be moderated by Christine Cassel, M.D., a renowned expert in geriatric medicine, medical ethics, and quality of care, and will feature prize-winning New York Times bestselling author John Barry (author of The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History) and Richard Carmona, MD, MPH, FAC, the 17th Surgeon General of the United States, Chief of Health Innovations at Canyon Ranch, and Distinguished Professor at the University of Arizona).

Register online.

Joseph Aubert was looking to make a career change when he discovered corporate sustainability. Excited by the opportunity, he applied to Arizona State University’s Master of Sustainability Leadership (MSL) program.

“My impression of the MSL was that it flipped that paradigm, and was much more 'macro' in scale, focusing on the big picture instead of the day-to-day management,” Aubert said. “A culture of sustainability needs to start at the top, which is where I want to be.”

This May 2020, Aubert is graduating from the program and will continue his journey to help bring about meaningful change in the world. In the following Q&A, get acquainted with Aubert and his future plans.

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Although he had been taught to live sustainably before he even knew the meaning of the word, Dan Colton’s interest in sustainability wasn’t sparked until he got to — of all places — law school.

“I was in law school taking classes such as Environmental Law, Water Law, and a newly formed class called Sustainability," Colton said. "I realized then that there are some incredibly powerful tools in our society that can help us responsibly use the world's resources in a way that protects them and makes them available for future generations. From that point on, I was always looking for ways to tie my profession back in to my interest in sustainability.”

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The sustainability challenges facing society require novel approaches to use-inspired science with local-to-global impact. The Global Futures Research Accelerator* empowers ASU Sustainability Scientists and Scholars to develop an enterprise research strategy to increase competitiveness, funding success, partnerships and societal impact.

This is your opportunity to develop a proactive capacity-building research strategy; build resources, infrastructure, expertise and training necessary to assemble and empower transdisciplinary teams; and set targets and identify tactics for improving proposal volume, quality, conversion and win rates. Read the flyer to learn more.

Applications are open now and must be submitted by June 12. Early to mid-career faculty and research professors should apply. Apply now at globalfutures.asu.edu/accelerator.

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Earth Month 2020 wrapped up with a Wrigley Lecture featuring Meg Lowman, National Geographic Explorer and director of the TREE Foundation. Dr. Lowman has dedicated three decades to the exploration of tree canopies and is one of the first pioneers in the field of treetop science. Her talk was originally presented via Zoom on April 28 and drew over 300 attendees.

You can watch the event on YouTube. In her presentation, Lowman talks about tree canopy exploration, inclusivity in science, and how her research can be applied to create sustainable practices on local and global scales.

In response to this Dear Colleague letter, the National Science Foundation has awarded 202 RAPID awards totaling almost $32 million dollars. Arizona State University has received 6 awards, the top single university to receive an award.

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Recently, GIOS receptionist Shaundiin Yazzie shared two initiatives led by her sisters. These include the production and distribution of 3D-printed face shields led by IndigeDesign Collab and a food pantry distribution led by a registered dietician. The initiatives were covered in a news broadcast by local station ABC15 Arizona.

Shaundiin's sister Eunique Yazzie invites you to watch a video about the IndigeDesign effort, join a Facebook group to get involved, make a donation, or volunteer to deliver supplies. Sister Denee Bex, whose outpatient nutrition consultations are for Navajo elders, the malnourished and immunocompromised, is building a list of people and organizations willing to donate.

These opportunities are shared here as a courtesy and may be shared with your networks as well, if appropriate. Please don't hesitate to contact Shaundiin if you have any questions.

Alycia de Mesa is elated.

An instructor in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University, she and her colleague Maria Coca Ascencio, a graduate of the Executive Master of Sustainability Leadership program, have recently been voted on to the executive board of the ASU Chicano/Latino Faculty & Staff Association (CLFSA) for leadership positions. De Mesa is serving as president-elect and Coca Ascencio is secretary of the association.

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Inspired by her love for nature but dismayed by its degradation, Taylor Reimann was determined to pursue sustainability from an early age.

“Growing up, my family continued to frequent our favorite Arizona gems, but over time things began to look different,” Reimann said. “These things were hard for me to see, and as I got older I realized that it wasn’t just my home that was suffering, this was happening in a lot of people’s  backyards. When it came time to decide on a career path, there was nothing I felt stronger about than sustainability.”

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According to researchers, about half of Caribbean coral reefs have died since the 1970s, with the iconic elkhorn and staghorn corals being the hardest hit. However, climate change does not completely explain the loss of the reefs. So, in order to get a better picture of the drastic coral loss, Arizona State University researcher Katie Cramer has published a new paper in Science Advances.

"I am interested in going back to the scene of the crime when humans first began to significantly impact coral reefs centuries ago, to understand when, why and how much reefs have been altered by humans,” said Cramer, an assistant research professor at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and an Ocean Science Fellow at the Center for Oceans at Conservation International.

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