Spring 2021 update | FAQ page | Class flexibility for students | Novel coronavirus updates
June 7, 2021
Earth Day was something special in Arizona this year: it was a united movement of celebration and action. 10 Mayors and communities across the state joined together for Earth Day AZ, a collaborative effort to celebrate current climate action and inspire even more. From Flagstaff to Tucson and El Mirage to Oro Valley, Mayors, cities and residents showed up in solidarity this Earth Day, in whatever way they could.
June 7, 2021
The ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is currently seeking a student research assistant to work on an endangered species decision-making project.
Applicants must be currently enrolled. This project entails 100 hours of paid work during the month of June and potentially early July.
The student research assistant will be helping complete three tasks:
June 7, 2021
The ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is currently hiring a new project manager. Applications close on Friday, June 19, 2021, at 3:00 p.m. AZ time (the deadline may be extended, based on when we secure a qualifying candidate).
The new project manager will help plan, direct, organize and execute the strategic goals of the center.
The person in this role will coordinate internal and external proposal development; act as the primary center liaison for partnerships and research collaborations; act as primary center contact for ASU and external engagement; and will identify and implement project management tools for program planning.
Click here to learn more and apply or apply via Careers at ASU.
June 7, 2021
An ASU-Conservation International study reveals that “the most important factor in protecting Liberia’s chimpanzees is simply to give them space – a radius of one to three kilometers of virgin forest,” as stated in an Afrik21 article titled “LIBERIA: giving chimpanzees space to thrive.”
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species recently listed chimpanzees as Critically Endangered. The IUCN Red List categories consist of: not evaluated, data deficient, least concern, near threatened, vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered, extinct in the wild, extinct.
Register now | June 3, 2021
June 10, 2021
We are excited to share that registration for Arizona State University's Sustainability Opportunity program is now OPEN!
This 6-week, intensive online certificate course combines the power of the consistently top ranked W. P. Carey School of Business with the pioneering first-in-the-nation School of Sustainability, part of ASU College of Global Futures.
Faculty from ASU’s School of Sustainability and the Department of Supply Chain Management will provide instruction and offer practical insights.
“The certificate program will examine sustainability not only through the lens of the environment but also through the lens of business,” says Professor of Supply Chain Management Kevin Dooley. “It’s not just, ‘How do we reach a goal like, say, using less water,’ but ‘How do we do so in a way that reduces the footprint of doing business from the bottom line up?’”
June 1, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended so many aspects of our lives – from the ways we socialize, the ways and places where we spend our free time, and the ways in which we work. Which, if any, of these changes will persist once the pandemic is behind us? This month, our guests are Dr. Laura Schewel (CEO of StreetLight Data) and Dr. Carlo Ratti (Director of the Senseable City Lab at MIT). We discuss whether work-from-home momentum will persist after the pandemic, the 15-minute city, equitable transportation and mobility, and more. Our guests also share insights on interdisciplinary collaboration and their visions and hopes for cities in the year 2080.
Learn more about Streetlight Data at their website (www.streetlightdata.com) and connect on social media:
Facebook (@StreetLightData), Twitter (@StreetLightData), LinkedIn, YouTube.
Learn more about Dr. Ratti's work at his website (www.carloratti.com) and connect on social media: Facebook (@carlorattiassociati), Twitter (@crassociati), Instagram (@crassociati), LinkedIn
Listen on iTunes, StitcherGoogle Podcasts, Spotify, or Buzzsprout.
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at futurecitiespodcast@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) at www.sustainability.asu.edu/urbanresilience.
June 1, 2021
Graduate students from the ASU School of Life Sciences’ Conservation Innovation Lab, which Professor Leah Gerber leads, published a paper today titled “Aligning actions with objectives in endangered species recovery plans” in Conservation Science and Practice.
To achieve conservation objectives for threatened and endangered species, managers must choose among potential recovery actions based on their efficacy. Yet, a lack of standardization in defining how conservation actions support recovery objectives can impede action efficacy and inhibit the efficient allocation of resources across species and projects. It is especially difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of actions in U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) recovery plans due to variation in how actions are described across different plans.
June 1, 2021
Science is not enough.
We need to translate knowledge into action to produce positive outcomes in biodiversity conservation.
That is why one of our main goals at the ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is to develop evidence-based tools that inform action across all sectors: NGOs, governments and corporations.
A significant challenge to these organizations in measuring and valuing biodiversity is a lack of standardized assessment sets and indicators. We integrate disparate data and develop decision tools to account for the full suite of specific risks agencies in various sectors face.
June 1, 2021
Arizona State University faculty and staff are already members of AASHE, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. AASHE is home to the STARS rating sytem, offers professional development including webinars on sustainability curriculum, and provides a number of faculty resources, including a faculty community, awards and the annual AASHE Conference & Expo. AASHE's Campus Sustainability Hub is home to thousands of resources related to curriculum, research, operations and more. In addition, webinar archives are available for free to all AASHE members.
Here's how to activate a new account.
May 27, 2021
We are pleased to highlight one of the network’s outstanding faculty members, Mr. Al Brown. Al is a Senior Lecturer and the Director of Environmental Research Initiatives at ASU’s Polytechnic campus. He is also Faculty with the Environmental Technology Management program. Al participated in the program’s inaugural partnership year, and has facilitated a total of 5 student projects with Project Cities, since 2017.
May 26, 2021
Early this Spring, ASU’s Sustainable Cities Network (SCN) Steering Committee appointed new city leadership to help guide the collaborative community network into the next year. Serving as the new chair and co-chairs are Braden Kay, Sustainability Director at the City of Tempe (Chair), and Fatima Luna, Environmental and Sustainability Advisor at the City of Tucson and Tim Conner, Manager of Environmental Initiatives at the City of Scottsdale (co-chairs).
Over the past decade, Bonnie Richardson has served an extensive term as SCN chair. Through her leadership, Bonnie is responsible for helping SCN grow to encompass communities statewide, as well as adapt to the many sustainability-related changes and issues facing cities and towns on a daily basis. Bonnie says that SCN has been “the touchstone for so many of the advances in sustainable planning and building in our cities over the last decade.”
May 26, 2021
The ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is currently seeking an enthusiastic, sustainability-minded intern to support its daily administrative and communication projects.
Through this opportunity, interns will enhance transferable skills such as administrative organization, workflow, teamwork and strategic communication. They will also be exposed to a variety of fields such as copywriting and editing, social media, public relations and project management to advance biodiversity conservation efforts in the academic and environmental fields.
This is an unpaid position, but might be eligible for course credit.
This position can be performed remotely.
The search will remain open until we have secured an intern.
May 25, 2021
School of Sustainability assistant professor Tyler DesRoches, sustainability fellow Daniel Fischer and their co-authors have published a new paper, Sustainable consumption communication: A review of an emerging field of research, in the Journal of Cleaner Production.
According to Fischer, the paper provides a review of sustainable consumption communication (SCC) as a field of research. Analyzing 67 papers, the authors describe 4 types of SCC research that conceptualize and relate the terms very differently.
The abstract follows.
May 25, 2021
The IASC 2021 Conference: Knowledge Commons aims to bring together scholars and practitioners to address problems defined by knowledge systems. Topics include: innovation spaces; digital resources like Wikipedia and Stack exchange; open-source software development; the future of science and education; the archival of existing knowledge; cultural commons; and citizen science. More information and registration.
funding.asu.edu | May 25, 2021
Submit a scientific session or workshop proposal for the 2022 AAAS Annual Meeting. This year’s meeting theme, Empower With Evidence, aims to inspire sessions that illustrate the transformative power of evidence-based discoveries and that address the challenges of rebuilding the public trust in science and focuses on science literacy, evidence-based decision making, and the use of validated knowledge to drive public policy for the benefit of all.
The deadline to submit a proposal for Scientific Sessions and Workshops is June 17, 2021. If you would just like to attend a session or workshop, meeting registration will open in September. To submit a proposal or learn more, visit the AAAS website.
May 24, 2021
Competitive Intelligence is the ethical collection and analysis of information to provide actionable intelligence for informed decision-making. The Competitive Intelligence Working Group (CIWG) is open to anyone who is currently performing strategic and competitive intelligence activities, or interested in learning more about this growing area in research development. Our members are primarily professional staff in higher education who are advancing the research activities of their institutions.
The CIWG meets and discusses best practices, shares useful resources, and creates a network of academic professionals across the nation who seek to define how CI is used and is perceived in the academic environment. This group connects with colleagues from other universities to expand our understanding of how research development professionals are working with CI and to share common issues and interests.
Bring your questions to the year-end session, May 25, 10:00 a.m. AZ time. Learn more and register. ASUrite login required.
May 24, 2021
What do Indigenous futurisms and climate fiction have in common? To find out, listen to Indigenous Futurisms And Climate Fiction, a recent episode of "Word" — a KJZZ original podcast about the literary arts in Arizona and the region.
The May 11 episode included Joey Eschrich, editor and program manager for the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University and assistant director of Future Tense, a partnership of ASU, New America, and Slate that explores emerging technology, public policy, and society.
In collaboration with ASU’s Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, Eschrich runs the Everything Change global climate fiction contest. A new anthology of climate fiction, Everything Change can be downloaded for free.
LinkedIn | May 24, 2021
This year, undergraduate student William Walker had the privilege of executing one of his goals, which was to bring representation to overlooked identities in sustainability through a student-led course.
With support from the School of Sustainability, Walker developed a student-led, faculty-advised course named "Intersectional Environmentalism and Sustainability." The course, which included undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students, examined how identities such as race, class, and gender create different realities for different people and how those people navigate the world around them.
According to Walker, students in the class taught the class on topics such as Black representation in sustainability, ecofeminism, and Indigenous leadership in sustainability. Walker said, "This initiative was awe-inspiring because it broadened student's horizons on what inclusion really means."
A web page describing the course and all the students' topics was created by fellow students Tahiry Langrand and Jordan Sene.
May 18, 2021
University students will strengthen their mapping proficiency with a new online platform. The YouthMappers Academy is a new online learning platform for network members. The Academy will strengthen YouthMappers students’ knowledge and proficiency to work with the ecosystem of OpenStreetMap software and tools and the social and organizational skills related to creating open spatial data for humanitarian and development needs.
Sustainability scholar Patricia Solis is co-founder and director of YouthMappers, a rapidly-growing consortium of student-led chapters on more than 264 university campuses in 58 countries who create and use open spatial data for humanitarian and development needs in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development, the main co-founding sponsor.
YouthMappers Academy course materials encourage YouthMappers to engage more confidently in open mapping communities and seek to stimulate critical thinking around research and mapping activities, leading to higher quality outputs. The added opportunity to earn micro-credentials will enhance YouthMappers’ job marketability by providing formal recognition of proficiency and achievement in targeted geospatial techniques and concepts.
Read more about the YouthMappers Academy in the May 17, 2021, press release.
May 15, 2021
Doctors Marta Berbes, Nancy Grimm, Robert Hobbins, and Timon McPhearson join Robert Lloyd to talk about how scenarios of future city transformations are analyzed and turned into products that can be understood and used by city practitioners, and the general public, as well as other researchers. Scenarios provide potential goals for practitioners in city government and other actors to work towards in efforts to ensure greater sustainability, resilience, and equity. A new book, the result of collaboration among many of the researchers who participated in this episode and the previous one, is also discussed.
Urban Systems Lab Data Visualization Platform
San Juan, Puerto Rico Story Maps
Learn more about our guests:
Marta Berbes (@MartaBerbes): https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/person/marta-berbes/
Nancy Grimm (@DrNitrogen): https://sols.asu.edu/nancy-grimm
Robert Hobbins (@RobertHobbins): https://roberthobbins.com/, https://urbaninstitute.gsu.edu/profile/robert-hobbins/
Timon McPhearson (@timonmcphearson): https://www.newschool.edu/public-engagement/faculty/timon-mcphearson/
Access their recently published book here: https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783030631307
Listen on iTunes, StitcherGoogle Podcasts, Spotify, or Buzzsprout.
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at futurecitiespodcast@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) at www.sustainability.asu.edu/urbanresilience.
