The Center for Environmental Science Applications (CESA) promotes research that reconciles the needs of society and nature through projects involving urban systems, climate change, and sustainable technologies.

CESA leverages collaborations between faculty of Arizona State University and global partners. Our programs combine a systems approach with new technologies relevant to arid cities, such as solar power and water conservation. We aim to enhance conflict resolution, decision-making, scenario exploration, and stakeholder engagement. We are affiliated with ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) and School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (SGSUP).

CESA helps attract resources from federal and international agencies, foundations, and companies. We organize workshops and host visits by leading sustainability practitioners and thinkers from diverse sectors. We link the parts of our portfolio to cultivate new, richer synergies.

Urban Systems

Cities hold the key to achieving global sustainability. Only by successfully bringing the demands of urban areas into alignment with available natural resources and human needs can we hope to avoid the most calamitous effects of climate change. CESA helps connect ASU with innovative, public- and private-sector, city-related organizations and programs. Current CESA urban projects involve remote sensing, agent-based modeling, city indicators, and assessments of future water needs. ASU has a large collection of urban-related experts and collaborative projects spread across nearly all of its colleges and schools. The list provided here is a subset of that portfolio; it is not intended to be exhaustive.

Projects, Partners, and Sponsors

• 100 Cities (NASA)
• Urban 4D (NASA)
• Global City Indicators Facility (University of Toronto)
• Assessment of Urban Vulnerability (World Bank)
• Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research (British Consulate)
• Urban Sustainability Forum (National Academy of Sciences)
• Sustainable Cities Network (ASU)
• SENSEable Cities Lab (MIT)
• Smarter Cities (IBM)
• Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9
• San Francisco EcoMap (Cisco)

Climate Change

The uncertainties of climate change provide a confusing backdrop for all of today’s sustainability discussions. While there is no longer scientific doubt about anthropogenic influences on the Earth’s atmosphere and climate, determining appropriate responses is one of the greatest policy challenges mankind faces. CESA is working with ASU faculty members to develop tools that can help explore alternative futures that depend on the speed and intensity of climate change. These applications include evaluations of future water supplies in Arizona (Decision Center for a Desert City) and the Middle East (Middle East Decision Making), biodiversity preservation (BiodiverSim), and ecosystem function (Variable Atmosphere Lab).

Projects, Partners, and Sponsors

• Decision Center for a Desert City
• Decision Theater
• Water Evaluation and Planning System (WEAP)
• Arizona Department of Water Resources
• East Valley Water Forum
• Sandia National Laboratory Water Portal
• House of Water and Environment, Ramallah
• Higher Council for Science and Technology, Amman
• Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya
• Porter School of Environmental Studies, Tel Aviv University
• The Nature Conservancy, Arizona Chapter
• Advancing Conservation in a Social Context
• CH2M HILL 

Sustainable Technologies

For the past two decades, ASU researchers have incorporated the latest technologies into environmental problem-solving, combining an interdisciplinary systems approach with leverage of federal and industry funding. Beginning with two wireless consortia in the 1990s, these efforts have expanded to sensor and biofuels work based in the Biodesign Institute, a broad set of solar applications, and urban heat island research.

ASU was the first university to frame its solar expertise as an end-to-end package that included the work of material scientists, electrical and mechanical engineers, architects, chemists, geographers, and specialists in real estate development, public policy and marketing. This comprehensive presentation of its technological spectrum helped ASU establish a major research partnership with BP Solar in 2007 and was a key factor in Suntech Power's decision in 2009 to locate their first U.S. manufacturing facility in Metro Phoenix. CESA is now promoting a similar approach to novel rapid transit systems, the monitoring of natural hazards, and public safety in cities. The Variable Atmosphere Lab initiative also has the potential of spinning off dozens of new technologies related to sensors, lighting, and environmental controls.

Projects, Partners, and Sponsors

• Suntech Power
• BP Solar
• TUV Rheinland-PTL
• NASA Ames Research Center
• Unimodal Inc.
• Maricopa Association of Government
• U.S. Geological Survey Volcano Hazards Program
• San Francisco Police Department
• East Valley Fusion Center
• GeoDa Center for Geospatial Analysis and Computation