Spring 2021 update | FAQ page | Class flexibility for students | Novel coronavirus updates
March 19, 2021
The ASU Staff Council sponsors the 1st Annual Conference on Diversity and Inclusion at the university. Their goal is to provide a venue for not only the exchange of innovative ideas but also to facilitate competent and impactful action plans to address diversity, equity, and inclusion in our respective areas of influence. This conference will be held virtually via ZOOM Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, April 8-9, 2021.
March 19, 2021
Recent writing across the social sciences have emphasized the importance of the position and perspective of the researcher in understanding observer bias and reflexivity in correcting for that bias. Taking a hands-on approach, this workshop will use specific examples of how one might incorporate considerations of reflexivity and positionality into designing, conducting, and writing up research. What are the advantages of doing so? The disadvantages? How do concerns about positionality relate or not relate to more traditional concepts of bias?
Participants will learn techniques for robustly engaging in reflexivity, for understanding positionality and for weaving reflexivity and positionality into different types of methodologies and fieldwork. The workshop uses both lectures and activities where participants engage with case studies and work to develop their own reflexive and positional skills. This workshop is appropriate as an introduction for scholars interested in developing ethically grounded reflexive approaches to research methods. Participants will complete the workshop with the basic skills to deploy reflexivity and positionality in scholarly research.
The event is offered by the Institute for Social Science Research and led by Dr. Pardis Mahdavi, dean of Social Sciences and director of the School for Social Transformation at ASU. May 13, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Learn more and register.
March 19, 2021
Sustainability scientist Matei Georgescu, associate professor in ASU’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, is lead author of a new study, Precipitation response to climate change and urban development over the continental United States, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
When rain began falling in northern Georgia on Sept. 15, 2009, little did Atlantans know that they would bear witness to epic flooding throughout the city. Georgia’s busiest expressway was underwater, as were roads and bridges; untreated sewage mingled with rising flood waters; cars and people were swept away. Moisture from the Gulf of Mexico fueled the flood of 2009.
A decade later, Arizona State University researchers are asking whether a combination of urban development — and climate change fueled by greenhouse gases — could bring about comparable scenarios in U.S. cities. Based on a just-published study, the answer is yes. Read the full story in ASU News. The abstract follows.
March 18, 2021
What can we achieve together in this decade to put the world on a path to a more sustainable, more prosperous future for all? Join the Nobel Prize Summit, Our Planet, Our Future, April 26-28, 2021 to become part of the solution.
View the program, which includes remarks from Johan Rockström, Beatie Wolfe, Xiye Bastida, Steven Chu, John Kerry, Anthony Fauci, Ursula Von der Leyen, the Dalai Lama, and many other distinguished presenters.
March 18, 2021
The workshop brings together three leading scholars to discuss current changes in the global economy. The speakers will address the impact of mobile money, resource extraction, and other transformative factors on economic practices in urban and rural areas of the global south.
Speakers
Sustainability scholar Nina Berman is director of the School of International Letters and Cultures, which is sponsoring this event along with the Center for Philosophical Technologies, School of Politics and Global Studies, School of Art, Dean of Social Sciences, College of Global Futures, and the Department of Economics.
March 16, 2021
"With the world still gripped by the coronavirus, with devastating weather and climate disasters, and with attacks on science being spread through disinformation campaigns, there has never been a greater need for scientific engagement with public policy. Leaders in the scientific community are calling for better ways to incorporate science into decision-making during periods of crisis and beyond."
Thus begins a new piece in Bioscience, Ensuring that Science Has a Seat at the Table: Scientists key to decision-making in critical times, published March 8, 2021.
Sustainability scientist Leah Gerber's work on structured decision-making was referenced as a means to improve decision-making. “Evidence and science should be used for decision-making across the board, especially in natural disasters,” Gerber said. The process of structured decision-making makes every step in that decision process transparent, she notes. Gerber is director of ASU's Center for Biodiversity Outcomes.
March 12, 2021
The WE Empower Challenge honors innovative women leaders from around the world who are pushing the SDGs forward through sustainable business practices and inspiring others to follow suit. The opportunity recognizes their innovative work and provides Awardees with capacity-building training sessions and opportunities to connect with an unparalleled global network to advance their enterprises.
In 2021, the WE Empower Challenge Awardees will participate in events surrounding the 76th UN General Assembly as well as will connect with renowned business experts from around the world.
March 11, 2021
Researchers at the Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology and their colleagues have been awarded the 2021 Rudolph Hering Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers. Their lauded study describes new approaches to rid ecosystems of a dangerous chlorinated chemical known as trichloroethene.
The prestigious award recognizes the best paper of the preceding year from the Journal of Environmental Engineering. Sustainability scientists Bruce Rittmann and Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown are among the authors of the paper, entitled Modeling Trichloroethene Reduction, Methanogenesis, and Homoacetogenesis in a H2-Based Biofilm.
Read more on the Biodesign website. The paper's abstract follows.
March 11, 2021
With more than 250 presenters, this event will dig into best practices for community-university collaborations. Registration is free. March 24-26. More information.
March 11, 2021
Want to take your research or teaching abroad? Thinking about applying for Fulbright? Join the Office of the University Provost on March 24 for ASU’s Fulbright Day. There will be a number of information sessions covering the Fulbright specialist, scholar and student programs. The event is open to all ASU faculty, staff and students.
March 11, 2021
Margaux Hein is an ecologist specializing in restoring coral reefs and linking theory to practice. Her work seeks to better assist managers and practitioners in designing, implementing, and monitoring their restoration efforts.
In this Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science Monthly Seminar, set for March 25 at noon Arizona time, Hein will review the status and trends in the field of coral reef restoration and present results from her research on its long-term effectiveness.
March 10, 2021
The Urban Resilience Project at Island Press has published a free, online e-book: Resilience Matters: Reimagining the Future in a Tumultuous Year. The book compiles reporting from the previous year and includes diverse thought leaders in climate, health, politics, water, smart growth, and racial justice.
Authors include ASU sustainability scientists Ann Kinzig and Shade Shutters. These fresh insights from on-the-ground practitioners offer alternatives to the unsustainable, inequitable status quo.
March 9, 2021
Nature Partner Journals announces its inaugural issue of npj Urban Sustainability, an open-access, online-only journal dedicated to publishing high-quality papers that describe the significant and ground-breaking research covering urban environments through the lens of sustainable development, studied across a broad range of research topics.
Several of the articles in the inaugural issue feature work from ASU's Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network.
March 9, 2021
Throughout April, which is also Earth Month and Citizen Science Month, the ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes invites the ASU community and the entire state of Arizona to participate in a citizen science project to help us document flowering plants and pollinators on ASU’s Phoenix-area campuses.
Horizon | March 9, 2021
Dave White, deputy director of ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation, was featured March 8 on the KAET news and current affairs program Horizon, where he discussed the dependability of electricity, gas and water in times of extreme and/or unexpected weather.
“What we saw in Texas is a classic example of what we call cascading risk, so an extreme weather event in this case extreme cold, caused disruption to the states electrical grid. That disruption and power loss subsequently caused a number of other impacts including disruption to water systems, disruptions to transportation networks, unfortunately loss of life, and a variety of other impacts to the residents of Texas,” White said.
Asked whether something similar can happen in Arizona, White responded, “Yes absolutely. Although we’re doing everything we can to prepare for and to prevent such disasters from affecting us here in Arizona, we should be aware of these risks and how these risks can affect us here."
March 4, 2021
In this inaugural Distinguished KAITEKI Lecture, Stratos Pistikopoulos will present the foundations of a Circular Economy Systems Engineering framework and highlight the advantages, limitations, and open questions of this framework as seen through multiple case studies.
March 3, 2021
Last month's winter storms proved Texas' utility systems are not prepared to persevere through extreme weather, but what about the rest of the nation? Or the planet?
It goes without saying that more extreme weather events are on the horizon. In the latest thought leadership piece for Medium by Peter Schlosser, Steven Beschloss, Clea Edwards and Jason Franz, we look at how Texas responded to their lack of preparation and how the rest of the nation and the world can avoid a similar collapse.
Given that electrification is not only a cornerstone to a functioning modern society but also central to the success of critical infrastructure systems supporting water, food, fuel, and much more, this lack of preparedness is stunning. But Texas is not alone in the failure to adequately prepare. While Texas did intentionally place itself on an energy island, isolating itself from the two national grid systems that allow for greater backup and sharing, it should be seen as a bellwether of growing and increasingly interconnected threats. In California, for example, rising heat levels and massive wildfires crippled its energy system and required rolling blackouts.
We can hope that this catastrophic failure of preparedness will be a loud signal to leadership in Texas and beyond to confront the flaws of their systems amid continuing climate change. But hope is not enough: It will take massive new resources, rethinking the national and regional power grid systems, and redesigning them so that they are resilient enough to withstand extreme weather conditions.
Read the full article here.
March 3, 2021
Gary Dirks, senior director of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory and executive director of ASU LightWorks, recently sat down for a conversation with Marc Serber from the International Policy Digest. In this exchange, Dirks shares ASU's history in energy research and why this pandemic has shined a brighter light on the need to transition fuel sourcing and production away from fossils and to renewables.
"Well, COVID-19 has had a very negative impact on the oil industry, and it’s probably the last nail in the coffin for coal also," Dirks said. "I think it’s drawn forward a lot of the thinking about the pace at which we aim to decarbonize, probably by as much as 10 years, and that has opened up a lot more thinking about how and when we actually deploy renewable energy."
Read the full interview here, and learn more about the work going on at LightWorks.
March 2, 2021
Achieving net-zero carbon emissions in the U.S. by 2050 is feasible and would not only help address climate change but also build a more competitive economy, increase high-quality jobs, and help address social injustice in the energy system, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Sustainability scientist Clark Miller was a member of the committee that wrote the report, which emphasized that immediate action and proactive innovation are required and recommended a portfolio of near-term policies to ensure equitable access to benefits generated as a result of this transition, mitigate harms to vulnerable populations and engage public participation in decision-making, and revitalize the U.S. manufacturing sector.
Read the NASEM press release, and access the full report, Accelerating Decarbonization of the U.S. Energy System.
March 2, 2021
ASU hosts a series of Our Commons Future conference events organized by the International Association for the Study of the Commons. The aim of the conference is to bring together researchers, practitioners, and policy makers for the purpose of improving governance and management, advancing understanding, and creating sustainable solutions for commons, common-pool resources, or any other form of shared resources. IASC will especially focus on the increasing diversity of domains where concepts of commons are applied.
Future Conferences
• Fisheries and Aquaculture, Mar 9–11, 2021
• Commoning the Anthropocene, Apr 21–23, 2021*
• Conceptualizing the Urban Commons, May 6–8, 2021
• Polycentricity, May 17–19, 2021
• Water Commons, May 19–21, 2021
• Knowledge Commons, June 9–11, 2021
• Land and Forest Commons, September 2021 (information coming soon)
• General Conference, October 11-15, 2021
