Sustainability scientist Mikhail Chester is interviewed in the August 8 Washington Post article, Why climate change is about to make your bad commute worse. According to the article, while most motorists are familiar with many reasons for bad traffic, such as construction, inadequate mass transit and crashes, a culprit that must increasingly be considered is climate change.
"We need to fundamentally reassess what our systems need to be able to deliver, and under what conditions," said Mikhail Chester, associate professor of civil, environmental and sustainable engineering at Arizona State University and co-leader of the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network. "And those conditions, it looks like, are going to be changing faster and faster in the future."
"Climate change is an additional stressor on already taxed infrastructure," Chester said. The situation’s silver lining, he added, is consensus: "Everyone is in agreement that we should do something about infrastructure."
Sometimes crises bring out the strength of a community. People pitch in to help each other after a flood or earthquake. While dealing with the COVID-19 crisis similarly demands strong social cohesion, necessary public health measures like social distancing and the disruption of business and public spaces seem to undermine our underlying sense of community. Moreover, the pandemic lays bare pre-existing inequalities, the weakness of social institutions and other challenges to social cohesion.
How do we beat the crisis, and how can we rebuild to have stronger societies in the future?
View the video from ASU Convergence Lab's binational discussion featuring Alexandra Zapata — researcher, activist and former deputy director general of el Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad, and Craig Calhoun — ASU's university professor of social sciences and former director and president of the London School of Economics and Political Science. The conversation will be held in English.
Gary F. Moore, assistant professor in Arizona State University's School of Molecular Sciences and scientist in the ASU Biodesign Institute Center for Applied Structural Discovery, was awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science’s Early Career Research Program.
Moore’s research group at ASU studies the fundamental science of energy conversion processes, including those required to use solar energy for producing fuels and other value-added chemical products. The research Moore and his team performs aims to unleash sustainable-chemistry and renewable-energy technologies that address global-scale demands. Biological energy transducing systems perform several related chemical processes at large scales. For example, photosynthesis uses sunlight to drive a series of complex chemical transformations that power our biosphere and ultimately provide the fossil fuels our modern societies rely on.
“Nature provides inspiration and design considerations for the constructs we build and the chemistries we develop,” Moore said. Read the full story on ASU Now.
Our latest Medium article, written by the Human Economies Working Group at the ASU Global Futures Laboratory, explores the relationship between the formal and informal economy, particularly in this period of crisis. The authors write: "A growing number of innovative economists and other scholars...are challenging us to reevaluate our profit- and growth-driven economy on the basis of an ethics of inclusion and sustainability. We need an understanding of economic activity that reflects its complexity and is centered on the long-term well-being of humans and the rest of the planet."
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.
A U.S. Department of Energy award is empowering a new center at Arizona State University to create a more resilient and sustainable electricity grid with the use of next-generation materials.
The four-year, $12.4 million award from the DOE’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences establishes an Energy Frontier Research Center headquartered at ASU called Ultra Materials for a Resilient, Smart Electricity Grid, or Ultra EFRC. While ASU will lead Ultra EFRC, researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of California Riverside, Cornell University, Michigan State University, Sandia National Laboratories, Stanford University and the University of Bristol will work within its framework.
Headed by Regents Professor of physics Robert Nemanich and Professor of electrical engineering Stephen M. Goodnick, Ultra EFRC will investigate fundamental questions about wide band gap semiconductors. Goodnick is a senior sustainability scientist and deputy director of LightWorks.
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.
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.
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.
ASU's Center for Law, Science and Innovation is playing a leading role in Greater Phoenix’s push to become a top tech-driven “smart region.” Renowned for being nimble and keeping pace with rapid science and technology developments, the center, part of the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, is helping to address extraordinary legal and regulatory questions that accompany innovation. Those challenges are exemplified as regional leaders embrace the promise of smart technology.
Co-founded by ASU, a recently launched smart-region initiative called The Connective is bringing onboard Mastercard to provide timely economic data that helps inform budget decisions and policymaking. Sustainability scholar Diana Bowman is ASU’s lead on The Connective and one of five members of the public-private partnership’s Leadership Council. She said the partnership is providing local governments with resources they otherwise wouldn’t have, including Mastercard’s nearly real-time sales data.
Engineers today are increasingly asked to produce sustainable designs, products, and infrastructure. But what is meant by sustainability and sustainable development, and what is the role of the engineer in this domain which increasingly pervades all facets of human endeavor? This webinar, meant to provide a pedagogical framework for engineering education, will make the case that sustainability and sustainable development should evolve beyond its environmental and social origins.
The paper spawned out of a seed grant the authors received from the PLuS Alliance on conceptualizing and implementing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an integrated system, in contrast to the general practice of analyzing these goals in isolation. In this paper the authors focus on the interactions between economic growth (SDG 8), reduced inequalities (SDG 10), and climate action (SDG 13), the goals which underpin the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. Examining the interactions between these goals contributes towards understanding some of the complexities and nuances of the UN Agenda.
Using data from 70 countries, Agusdinata, Aggarwal and co-author Xiaosu Ding of Purdue University applied data mining techniques to identify twelve archetypes of development pathways, each of which shows a different pattern of interactions among these goals, thus highlighting the diversity in development experience across the world and lessons it may offer in shaping future policies.
The abstract follows.
Implementation of sustainable development goals (SDGs) requires evidence-based analyses of the interactions between the different goals to design coherent policies. In this paper, we focus on the interactions between economic growth (SDG 8), reduced inequalities (SDG 10), and climate action (SDG 13). Some previous studies have found an inverted U-shaped relationship between income per capita and inequality, and a similar relationship between income per capita and environmental degradation. Despite their weak theoretical and empirical bases, these hypothesized relationships have gained popularity and are assumed to be universally true. Given differences in underlying contextual conditions across countries, the assumption of universal applicability of these curves for policy prescriptions can be potentially misleading. Advances in data analytics offer novel ways to probe deeper into these complex interactions. Using data from 70 countries, representing 72% of the world population and 89% of the global gross domestic product (GDP), we apply a nonparametric classification tree technique to identify clusters of countries that share similar development pathways in the pre-recession (1980–2008) and post-recession (2009–2014) period. The main outcome of interest is the change in per capita CO2 emissions (post-recession). We examine how it varies with trajectories of GDP growth, GDP growth variability, Gini index, carbon intensity, and CO2 emissions (pre-recession). Our study identifies twelve country clusters with three categories of emission trajectories: decreasing (four clusters), stabilizing (three clusters), and increasing (five clusters). Through the application of data mining tools, the study helps unravel the complexity of factors underlying development pathways and contributes toward informed policy decisions.
The American Association of University Women (AAUW) has awarded its 2020–21 American Fellowship to Dr. Lily Hsueh, an assistant professor and senior sustainability scientist at Arizona State University, to work on her book-in-progress. Her book, under contract at MIT Press, examines the demand for, and supply of, global businesses’ climate action, across levels of governance, sectors, and in developed and developing countries.
“I am delighted to be a recipient of the 2020-21 AAUW American Fellowship,” said Hsueh. “It is a privilege to join prominent women across the arts, sciences, and the social sciences throughout history in receiving this award.”
“The AAUW fellowship allows me to complete my book, which combines large-N statistical analyses with illustrative company case studies to tell a larger narrative about the economic and political forces that motivate or dissuade private and public actors, such as corporations and governments, to combat global climate change.”
Cities and towns face unprecedented challenges, even moreso now during to the COVID-19 pandemic. The unique issues local government agencies deal with demand a research-backed, multidisciplinary response. Leverage your classroom activity to add a meaningful applied learning experience for students that also makes a difference for local communities.
ASU's Project Cities manages contracts and relationships with city partners, facilitates site visits with stakeholders, offers a small budget and technology resources, and publishes project summary reports. Learn more and see the current project topic list.
Planned and continuing municipal sustainability projects incorporate some component of sustainability; economic, social, environmental, or a combination of the three. Many span multiple semesters and groups of students, allowing projects to take on big-picture, multi-disciplinary challenges. In addition, community partners seek assistance on applied projects centered around COVID-19, that examine local responses to the pandemic.
Project Cities' community partners will consider all ideas. Pitch projects via email to projectcities@asu.edu.
Together with a UK architect, sustainability scientist Sonja Klinsky, an associate professor in the School of Sustainability, College of Global Futures, has edited a special issue of Buildings & Cities. Published July 14, the issue explores the concept and relevance of climate justice in relation to the built environment.
How do responsibilities and decisions intersect with human wellbeing in a changing climate? Specific processes, decisions and actions are identified to reduce these injustices and to reduce current gaps both in knowledge and practices. Several perspectives are examined for integrating concerns about climate justice into research and decision-making about the built environment.
In many places around the world supply chain gaps prevent goods from reaching their intended market and the people who need and rely on them. Supply chains include the system of organizations, resources, and activities that move goods to consumers and gaps can create stresses for producers and consumers alike. When these goods are food and medicine, the results can be devastating — even deadly. A large body of research shows that efficient supply chains are crucial to local, regional, and national economic development.
That’s why the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), invested in this new project, via the Building Research and Innovation for Development: Generating Evidence and Training (BRIDGE-Train) program: to advance research, translation – quickly moving research findings into practice with practical solutions – and training in supply chain management (SCM).
With a $15 million investment from USAID, Arizona State University (ASU) is embarking on a catalytic partnership with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and multiple public and private sector partners to establish the Center for Applied Research and Innovation in Supply Chain-Africa (CARISCA). The project brings together faculty expertise in the Department of Supply Chain Management in ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business and the KNUST School of Business. It’s the largest award in W. P. Carey’s history.
A new paper in Sustainability Science finds that the use of alternative water supplies, such as rainwater harvesting and greywater use, could offset up to 30 percent of total outdoor water demand for the Phoenix Metropolitan Area under modest implantation of these policies.
The paper, Simulating alternative sustainable water futures, is the work of sustainability scientists David Sampson and Nancy Grimm, sustainability fellow David Iwaniac, UREX affiliate Elizabeth Cook and CAP LTER affiliate Melissa Davidson. The authors adapted ASU’s WaterSim tool to explore differences in water demand and supply, as influenced by runoff, rainfall, changes in land use and land cover, population growth and improvements in water use efficiency.
A new strategic partnership agreement will advance a shared interest in meeting the needs of learners in remote, offline communities globally by leveraging ASU’s innovative technology, SolarSPELL, a tool to build information literacy and to advance high-quality education. SolarSPELL is directed by ASU Sustainability Scientist Laura Hosman, Associate Professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society.
The Peace Corps and ASU have been working together since 2015 to pair SolarSPELL’s digital library with locally-based trainers, Peace Corps Volunteers and their resident teacher counterparts. ASU provides the tools and the training that empowers volunteers and local teachers to utilize SolarSPELL libraries in their schools and communities.
Through this new agreement, Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) will advise on content specific to the locations of their postings. The PCVs are ideal liaisons because they spend two years at a posting, often in small, remote villages. The library content is hyper-localized, so having advocates embedded in the field can help determine the kind of information that is most helpful.
A key component of ambient direct air capture (DAC) systems that remove carbon dioxide from the air is the sorbent material that is used to first capture the carbon and then to release it. Certain sorbent materials can pull carbon dioxide from the air as it flows over the material. It then releases the carbon when water is applied. As the material dries again, it absorbs carbon, and so on.
This elegant function of specific materials has been observed for several years by those working on DAC systems, like Klaus Lackner, sustainability scientist and professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment. Lackner has developed a system called “MechanicalTree” that uses sorbent materials to remove carbon from air.Klaus LacknerKlaus Lackner in his lab. New research by Lackner and his colleagues explains how sorbent materials catch and release carbon, a key component to direct air capture systems that remove carbon from the atmosphere.
Now, in a new paper in the early, online edition of Joule, Lackner and his colleagues lay out exactly how some of these sorbent materials capture and release carbon, a finding that could lead to the smarter design of sorbent materials at the heart of all carbon removal systems.
David Hondula, a senior sustainability scientist in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, was interviewed by the Washington Post about the Heat Ready initiative, a project funded by Healthy Urban Environments.
“We talk about climate … as something mysterious and ambiguous that comes from the sky. But it is also something we are driving with the way we are paving our streets,” Hondula said in the article. “Urbanization is a critical part of the story.”
Sustainability scientist Mikhail Chester is interviewed in the August 8 Washington Post article, Why climate change is about to make your bad commute worse. According to the article, while most motorists are familiar with many reasons for bad traffic, such as construction, inadequate mass transit and crashes, a culprit that must increasingly be considered is climate change.
