Dimensions is a linked research knowledge system that re-imagines discovery and access to research. Dimensions brings together grants, publications, citations, alternative metrics, clinical trials, patents and policy documents in one platform, enabling users to find and access relevant information faster, analyze the academic and broader outcomes of research, and gather insights to inform future strategy.

There is an online toolkit of videos and tutorials on how to navigate the product, several on-demand webinars on how to make the most of Dimensions data, or you can begin exploring the platform right away. Sign up at the bottom of any resource page to receive email updates from Dimensions.

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In this episode, we explore the field of urban ecology and the challenges of doing social-ecological research. Stephen Elser (@stephen_elser) interviews Dr. Dan Childers, a professor at Arizona State University and director of the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) program. Dan emphasizes how important it is to be willing to learn the language and approaches of other disciplines on order to do better urban ecological research. But urban ecology didn’t always have an interdisciplinary approach, and the social aspects of cities were frequently ignored. Dan describes what he calls the “prepositional journey” from an ecology *in* cities to an ecology *of* cities to an ecology *for* cities. He discusses what some of the major challenges are in pursuing urban sustainability and what CAP LTER (@caplter) is doing to address those challenges in order to create more positive futures for the city of Phoenix.

Stephen wrote a haiku inspired by this conversation with Dr. Childers.

No more Birkenstocks.
Go beyond your field – listen.
Improve our cities.

Learn more about CAP LTER at their website: https://sustainability.asu.edu/caplter/

Listen on iTunes, Stitcher 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.

As their first topic, Tessa Martinez and PhD candidate, Stephen Elser (@stephen_elser), discuss the Novel Coronavirus, COVID-19, and how it relates to city life. They then talk about green spaces and how they have a role in decreasing depression and improving human livelihood!

Here are the links to the two topics discussed! https://theconversation.com/outbreaks... https://www.npr.org/sections/health-s... Listen to the most recent full episode, Urban Ecology to Improve Our Cities on Buzzsprout. 

As their first topic, Tessa Martinez and Jason Sauer discuss Arizona’s goal of getting rid of their 43 food deserts. They then talk about the local Phoenix business, Agriscaping, and how they are making a difference in Arizona’s urban agriculture!

Check out these links to the learn more about the two topics discussed! https://modernfarmer.com/2019/10/phoe... https://agriscaping.com/ Listen to the full "Greening Phoenix through Urban Agriculture" episode on 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.

In our first current events minisode, Tessa Martinez and Alysha Helmrich discuss the Australian wildfires and their implications on Sydney’s infrastructure. They then explore Portland’s new way of filtering their water supply before it reaches the sewers- rain gardens! Listen to the full Infrastructure and Climate Change episode on 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.

Inspired by sustainability, public transit and urban spaces, School of Sustainability senior Nick Johnson took on a year-long internship with Valley Metro.

“As I continued my studies it became clear that these urban spaces are also capable of manifesting strong and environmentally responsible communities. From then on I knew that I am most passionate about working towards creating more sustainable cities that have robust transit networks, walkable spaces, and human-oriented design."

The passion he felt has manifested in projects, student leadership and fostering a culture of sustainability, right here in the valley. Read more about Nick Johnson in his Q&A.

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This month, Pat Gober will be retiring from ASU’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning full-time faculty to focus on research and professional service projects. Gober, a population geographer and demographer, was the founding director of the Decision Center for a Desert City.

Over the course of her 45-year tenure at ASU, Gober held a range of appointments including a term as chair of the Department of Geography, where under her leadership it grew into a nationally-ranked geography doctoral program. She also held appointments as distinguished honors faculty fellow in Barrett, The Honors College; policy research associate, Morrison Institute for Public Policy; senior sustainability scientist, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability; and interim director in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban planning.

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ASU psychologist Athena Aktipis and collaborators weigh in 

Cooperation is essential during a pandemic. As societies deal with the rise of disease in different ways, a consistent theme is that knowing how diseases spread and evolve can put you in a much better position to evaluate what is or isn’t a real threat.

We asked Arizona State University’s resident expert on cooperation, Athena Aktipis, and some of her collaborators about how to encourage cooperation during a pandemic. Aktipis is an assistant professor of psychology in the ASU Department of Psychology who studies cooperation and cheating and co-directs the Human Generosity Project.

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2019 WE Empower awardee Lina Khalifeh has written an inspiring book, SheFighter: From Trouble Maker to Global Change Maker. SheFighter chronicles Lina’s life journey from a little girl in Jordan, often beaten up by the boys she wanted to play soccer with, to a Gold medalist and black belt in Taekwondo martial arts who founded a business franchise to help other women defend themselves from violence.

SheFighter was the first self defense studio in Jordan and the Middle East and is now an international franchise that has trained more than 18,000 women globally. Khalifeh describes the program as “designed to empower women physically, mentally and emotionally through self defense training."

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As ASU continues to monitor COVID-19, the university is temporarily transitioning classes wherever possible to remote teaching and learning, starting March 16, 2020. The university’s primary goal is the continuation of classes and the commitment to high-quality delivery of learning. ASU has collected all the resources available to you on one website so that you are prepared to teach, learn and work through digital remote options.

If you registered to attend ASU's Fulbright Day on March 18, you will be contacted about in-person and online workshops now tentatively planned for April. More information can be found in this announcement.

Faculty, students and staff are still eligible to apply for a Fulbright. For questions about Fulbright Scholars or Specialist Programs, contact Karen.Engler@asu.edu.

School of Life Sciences Professor Melissa Wilson researches sex chromosome evolution, sex-biased research and comparative genomics. Wilson states, “It seems really unfortunate that we are going to exclude half of the population. Even if you are understanding the research in one sex, you not understanding it in everyone.”

ASU Knowledge Enterprise has issued recommendations to mitigate the impact of 2019 Novel Coronavirus on the university’s research mission. For the most current information on the virus and the university’s response, visit the university’s information center at coronavirus.asu.edu.

For details on each of the following research guidelines, issued today, visit research.asu.edu/covid-19.

Guidelines to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on research activities:

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Register by March 29 to attend the Project Cities Faculty Open House on Thursday, April 9th from 2 to 4 pm. New faculty are needed to support this innovative program with real-world impact!

Project Cities is a unique, ASU-community partnership that connects students and faculty in project-based classes to local community partners, with the goal of advancing the communities' sustainability goals. Attendees will be the first to choose projects with the community partners.

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The 2021 AAAS annual meeting is scheduled for February 11-14 in Phoenix. The focus of the meeting will be on understanding the complexities and dynamics of various ecosystems by drawing on a multitude of perspectives.

ASU is the host insitution for the 2021 meeting and we want to show up in force! Proposal submissions for the conference are now open. Submissions were scheduled to close on Thursday April 16, but will be extended due to the community focus on COVID-19. More details can be found on the AAAS conference website.

On Tuesday, March 17, 2020, 4-5 p.m., David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellow Stephanie Borelle  will be presenting a talk titled "Plastic Futures: plastic emissions and the impact of mitigation strategies for reducing plastic pollution."

Marine litter is a complex socio-ecological problem, with numerous land-based and sea-based sources, impacts and many proposed solutions. Diverse strategies are necessary to meet place-based goals, but there should also be quantitative evidence or calculated evaluation to inform which individual mitigation strategies will be the most effective in specific contexts, whether they are achievable, and if they are enough to meet their plastic pollution reduction targets.

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Undergraduate faculty from all academic disciplines who would like to learn how to incorporate sustainability into their teaching are invited to attend a workshop at Dickinson College on May 19-21, 2020. Applications are due April 1, 2020. Faculty will work collaboratively to learn to introduce and enhance sustainability content in new and existing courses.

For ASU faculty, this training opportunity qualifies for the ASU Sustainability Curriculum Incentive Program.

Is the New York Times paywall bringing you down? A great perk about working or studying at ASU is NY Times access through a Group Pass. All ASU students, faculty and staff have free access to "all the news that's fit to print."

ASU users must initially register for an Academic Group Pass account through a campus authenticated link, i.e. users must sign-in to their ASU account, and follow these steps.

By Kathleen Merrigan, executive director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University, and professor with appointments in the School of Sustainability, College of Health Solutions, and School of Public Affairs

Today a letter was sent to government leaders charged with developing the next iteration of the DGAs – Dietary Guidelines for Americans, an activity undertaken by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services every five years. I am a signatory on this letter and believe that it is past time for sustainability criteria to be integrated into dietary guidance. I will let the letter speak for itself.

Read the organizational letter submitted to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on March 4, 2020 here.

NSF released a Dear Colleague Letter, NSF 20-052, regarding the NSF RAPID and COVID-19. If your research meets the requirements for the RAPID, please remember that you must contact an NSF Program Officer within your directorate prior to your submission.

Proper protocol is to first email the identified Program Officer. We recommend that your email present your developed idea in a short project summary. The email must clearly show the immediate impact on how to model and understand the spread of COVID-19. NSF uses the RAPID program to address areas of severe urgency related to the availability of or access to data, facilities, or specialized equpment. The RAPID is generally for research responsive to natural or anthropogenic disasters and unanticipated events. The budget is capped at $200,000 and funds are available for one year.

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