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Research

Introduction

Conducting research is a major function of many colleges and universities. By researching sustainability issues and refining theories and concepts, higher education institutions can continue to help the world understand sustainability challenges and develop new technologies, strategies, and approaches to address those challenges.

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1064 resources

There is No Such Thing as Free Higher Education: A Global Perspective on the (Many) Realities of Free Systems

In the past few years, many countries around the world have debated the financing of higher education. Increasingly, claims emerge that higher education should be free. This article analyses the ...

Project Delta

  • University of Texas at El Paso (TX)
  • Engineers for a Sustainable World (CO)

Project Delta was created by ESW-UTEP to evaluate and enhance The University of Texas at El Paso's (UTEP's) current recycling system. This project is expected to be finalized ...

Analyzing Ecological Integrity: An Assessment of Princeton University’s Natural Areas

  • Princeton University (NJ)

How can aerial images be used to interpret land use-changes? What can lake sedimentation tell us about erosion patterns? To what extent do forest patches act as stream buffers? How ...

Student Conducting Tree Survey

Campus Mapping Project

  • Florida Gulf Coast University (FL)

Florida Gulf Coast University is located on over 300 acres of wetland and upland preserves. Our unique location has led to the values of environmental stewardship, literacy, and service to ...

Stanford R&DE Student Interns

Stanford R&DE's Student Living Laboratory

  • Stanford University (CA)

Stanford University’s Residential & Dining Enterprises in partnership with students and academic departments have transformed its facilities in to a living laboratory by performing cutting edge research on student ...

Integrating problem- and project-based learning opportunities: assessing outcomes of a field course in environment and sustainability

  • University of Saskatchewan (SK)

Improving student competencies to address sustainability challenges has been a subject of significant debate in higher education. Problem- and project-based learning have been widely celebrated as course models that support ...

Students building garden

Mississippi State Community Garden

  • Mississippi State University (MS)

In the spring of 2017, the Student Association at Mississippi State University secured funding to further sustainability on campus. This funding was used in part to hold a proposal competition ...

RU Sustainable themed sticker design

RU Sustainable event series

  • Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick Campus (NJ)

RU Sustainable events are designed with the purpose of bringing together faculty, students, and staff to engage with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). As described on the ...

Sustainable Nation Podcast

  • Swarthmore College (PA)
  • University of California, Office of the President (CA)
  • University of California, Los Angeles (CA)

This podcast releases three new episodes every week, consisting of interviews with global sustainability leaders in higher education, business and government. This can be a great resource for any sustainability ...

The Applied Student Research Toolkit

  • McGill University (QC)

This Applied Student Research (ASR) toolkit is designed to help students complete an impactful ASR project. ASR related to sustainability is an opportunity for students to address the needs of ...

Cultivating the Globally Sustainable Self Summit Series - Advancing Education for Sustainable Development Through Research and Practice

  • James Madison University (VA)

The Cultivating the Globally Sustainable Self Summit Series is a multi-year, multi-institution initiative that promotes transformative teaching, training, and learning in research and practice (www.jmu.edu/summitseries). The innovative ...

Designing a Proxy Carbon Price Strategy for Smith College

  • Smith College (MA)

This thesis to Design a Proxy Carbon Price Strategy for Smith College was written to internalize the social cost of carbon emissions into financial decision-making. A proxy carbon price is ...

The Meat of the Matter: Behavioral Science Nudges for a More Sustainable Diet

  • Princeton University (NJ)

Current levels of global population growth and meat consumption are putting unprecedented demand on agriculture and natural resources. From a sustainability standpoint, the environmental impacts of excess meat consumption, coupled ...

SUNY Polytechnic Institute Campus Forest Carbon Inventory Report and Sequestration Estimates

  • State University of New York Polytechnic Institute (NY)

This report takes initial measurements for existing SUNY Polytechnic Institute campus forest carbon stocks and estimates projections for annual rates of carbon sequestration. Establishing a baseline for campus forest carbon ...

U-Challenge Participants on Siemens Energy Survey

The U-Challenge at Texas A&M

  • Texas A&M University (TX)
  • Johnson Controls, Inc (WI)
  • Siemens Industry, Inc. (IL)

The U-Challenge is a semester-long research competition for students that has evolved over the past two years to encompass both graduate and undergraduate teams from all majors. Student teams of ...

Higher Education and the Sustainable Development Goals

  • AASHE (PA)
  • University College London (London)
  • University of London

The challenges the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) present to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) go deeper than did those of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). They require a rethink of the ...

  • Posted May 18, 2018
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Mobilization Strategies for Environmental Policy Influence

  • University of Saskatchewan (SK)
  • AASHE (PA)

Those of us who research and teach about sustainability issues are often interested in the potential social impact of our own work, in order to help address environmental challenges of ...

  • Posted May 15, 2018
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Dimensions of professional competences for interventions towards sustainability

  • Open University of the Netherlands
  • University of Derby
  • Open University

This paper investigates sustainability competences through the eyes of professional practitioners in the field of sustainability and presents empirical data that have been created using an action research approach. The ...

A scientometric review of global research on sustainability and sustainable development

  • University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)

The concept of sustainable development has gained worldwide attention in recent years which had enhanced its implementation. However, few studies have attempted to map the global research of sustainability. This ...

Building student capacity to lead sustainability transitions in the food system through farm-based authentic research modules in sustainability sciences (FARMS)

  • Dartmouth College (NH)
  • Montana State University (MT)

Undergraduate courses provide valuable opportunities to train and empower students with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to advance society in more sustainable directions. This article emphasizes the value of bridging ...

Leveraging Sustainability Reporting in Higher Education Institutions—A Multidimensional Research Agenda

  • University of Hildesheim

Sustainability has become increasingly important to research and practice. In order to determine impacts, identify improvement potential and to disclose efforts towards sustainability, an organization needs appropriate reporting. Thus, sustainability ...

Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: An enabling role for accounting research

  • University of St Andrews (Scotland)
  • University of London

The purpose of this paper is to establish and advance the role of academic accounting in the pursuit of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are regarded as ...

The Efficacy of Third-Party Certifications and Memberships: Bridge to Institutional Sustainability at Colleges and Universities

  • Messiah University (PA)

This study researches the effects of third-party certifications and memberships on decision-making pertaining to environmental practices at higher education institutions (HEIs). A survey containing up to 22 questions was sent ...

Implementation of a Green Labs Program in Campus Laboratories

  • University of Alabama at Birmingham (AL)

UAB Green Labs Program is an institution-wide, voluntary program designed to reduce the university’s carbon output while simultaneously reducing operation costs of research buildings. The program accomplishes its goals ...

Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms and Communities

The most comprehensive review of place-based education – its pedagogy and its practice – yet to appear, by the author of the highly influential book Beyond Ecophobia. Through academic research, practical examples ...

The raise of publications on sustainability—a case study in Germany

  • University of Marburg

The number of scientific publications containing the words “sustainability” or “sustainable” has increased tremendously over the last years, but their origins in Germany are not equally distributed in space. The ...

Going Without: An Exploration of Food and Housing Insecurity Among Undergraduates

  • Temple University (PA)
  • University of Iowa (IA)

The rising price of higher education and its implications for equity and accessibility have been extensively documented, but the material conditions of students’ lives are often overlooked. Data from more ...

Developing Boundary-Spanning Capacity for Regional Sustainability Transitions—A Comparative Case Study of the Universities of Augsburg (Germany) and Linz (Austria)

  • University of Marburg

The potential of universities to become ‘change agents’ for sustainability has increasingly been highlighted in the literature. Some largely open questions are how universities get involved in regional sustainability transitions ...

Climate Change and the Canadian Higher Education System: An Institutional Policy Analysis

  • University of Rochester (NY)
  • University of Saskatchewan (SK)

Climate change is a pressing concern. Higher education can address the challenge, but systematic analyses of climate change in education policy are sparse. This paper addresses this gap in the ...

Developing and Testing a Method to Measure Academic Societal Impact

  • University of Kent
  • University of The South Pacific (Central Division)
  • University of Coimbra

This paper aims to extend understanding of the business and societal impact of academic research. From a business school perspective, it has taken stock of the role of academic research ...

Environmental Literacy of Undergraduate College Students: Development of the environmental literacy instrument (ELI)

  • Texas Tech University (TX)
  • University of Texas at San Antonio (TX)

As the world population continues to increase and natural resources become limited, environmental education (EE) in universities play an essential role in developing environmentally literate. This study measured the environmental ...

College Campus Landscapes Within a Learning Ecosystem

  • University of Northern Iowa (IA)

College campus landscapes may help restore student attentional capacity for learning when intentionally viewed as educational resources or integrated with academic content.

Retrofitting the Ivory Tower: Engaging Global Sustainability Challenges through Interdisciplinary Problem-Oriented Education, Research, and Partnerships in U.S. Higher Education

  • Western Illinois University (IL)

Various experts and institutions, including the United Nations, have stressed the complexity of the 21st century’s global sustainability challenges. Higher education institutions should be at the center of research ...

Learning for Biosphere Security in a Crowded, Warming World

  • University of Northern British Columbia (BC)

Among all the pressing needs for educational innovations that humanity faces today, arguably the most imperative is the need to elicit the learner's active involvement in a 'Great Transition ...

The Personal Context of Student Learning for Sustainability: Results of a multi-university research study

  • Victoria University (Victoria)

The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005–2014) was an important framework and catalyst for increasing Sustainable Development (SD) efforts within academic institutions, worldwide. Tertiary institutions began ...

The Unsustainability of Academic Aeromobility in Australian Universities

  • University of Melbourne (Victoria)

This article analyzes how certain forms of unsustainable hypermobility – primarily air travel – are embedded in the institutional orientations of Australian universities, and hence, into the professional practices of academics in ...

Pathways to cleaner production in the Americas I: bridging industry-academia gaps in the transition to sustainability

The transition to sustainability in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is hindered by low demand for environmentally-benign industrial development strategies, and a limited supply of professionals to enact such ...

Towards Transformative Social Learning on the Path to 1.5 Degrees

  • Wageningen University
  • Rhodes University
  • University of the Witwatersrand

This paper provides insights into learning orientations and approaches that encourage change and transformation on the path to achieving the 1.5 degree C target. This literature review of the ...

Rutgers Energy Institute

  • Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick Campus (NJ)

The Rutgers Energy Institute (REI) has four main purposes: to educate undergraduate and graduate students, to pioneer in energy research and innovation, perform community outreach to share information and engage ...

  • Posted May 8, 2018
  • Research Centers & Institutes
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The Solar Institute

  • George Washington University (DC)

The Solar Institute identifies, generates, and shares pragmatic policy solutions to catalyze the adoption and scale of solar energy. Serving this mission, the Institute conducts objective research to advance politically ...

  • Posted May 8, 2018
  • Research Centers & Institutes
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Earth Institute Center for Environmental Sustainability

  • Columbia University (NY)

The Earth Institute Center for Environmental Sustainability is dedicated to the development of a rich, robust and vibrant world within which we can secure a sustainable future. Through a diverse ...

  • Posted May 8, 2018
  • Research Centers & Institutes
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David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future

  • Cornell University (NY)

The Atkinson Center funds cutting-edge research on energy, environment, and economic development, including pioneering work on climate change, sustainable cities, planetary health, and environmental justice. It builds on Cornell University ...

  • Posted May 8, 2018
  • Research Centers & Institutes
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The Sustainability Research Institute School of Earth and Environment

  • University of Leeds (West Yorkshire)

"The Sustainability Research Institute is home to a team of over 30 academic staff, 25 research staff and 45 research students conducting inter-disciplinary research on the different dimensions of sustainability ...

  • Posted May 8, 2018
  • Research Centers & Institutes
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Avoided Costs from Shared Laboratory Equipment and Space at CU Boulder

  • University of Colorado Boulder (CO)
  • AASHE (PA)

CU Green Labs at the University of Colorado Boulder has spent the last year writing a case study to highlight the benefits of our Biochemistry Cell Culture Facility to our ...

  • Posted May 4, 2018
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From Basic Research to Applied Solutions: are two approaches to sustainability science emerging?

  • Arizona State University (AZ)
  • Duke University (NC)

Despite its widespread emergence and adoption, sustainability science continues to suffer from definitional ambiguity within the academe. A review of efforts to provide direction and structure to the science reveal ...

Developing a Framework for Sustainability Meta-Competencies

  • Pennsylvania State University (PA)
  • Stanford University (CA)

Sustainability is a critical issue in higher education curriculum development and organisational culture, yet its contested nature necessitates a shared understanding to support a distinct mission across institutional efforts. Therefore ...

  • Posted April 25, 2018
  • Publications
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UC Merced Engineers for a Sustainable World

  • University of California, Merced (CA)

UC Merced's Engineer's for a Sustainable World talk to students, staff and faculty about current projects including aquaponics.

  • Posted April 23, 2018
  • Photographs
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Testing Ecocentric and Anthropocentric Attitudes toward the Sustainable Development (EAATSD) Scale with Bachelor Students

  • Leiden University
  • The Hague University of Applied Science

The Ecocentric and Anthropocentric Attitudes toward the Sustainable Development (EAATSD) scale is adapted from other scales measuring environmental concern with the aim of specifically targeting the subject of sustainable development ...

  • Posted April 17, 2018
  • Publications
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The Emergence of the Field of Sustainability Science: Influences on Faculty Behavior Related to Sustainability Work

  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)

This study investigates sustainability science as an emerging scientific field and the role of faculty members at higher education institutions as drivers of change in sustainability-science-based research, teaching, and community ...

  • Posted April 11, 2018
  • Publications
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Benchmarking Sustainability between Higher Education Institutes

  • Ghent University

As our population keeps rising and the boundaries of our ecosystem become more and more transgressed, a clear call for a transition towards sustainable development is heard. Higher education institutions ...

  • Posted April 11, 2018
  • Publications
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This tab provides access to data collected through AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS). STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. STARS enables meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions using a common set of measurements developed with broad participation from the campus sustainability community. Additional content and advanced benchmarking tools will be added to this tab over time.

Programs and Initiatives

The following links connect to specific Content Displays on the STARS website (AASHE membership and log-in required).

Scores

The following link connects to the Score Display on the STARS website (AASHE membership and log-in required).

Research Partners

Mary Ann Liebert Publishing

New York, NY
Business Affiliate

RRS

Ann Arbor, MI
Business Affiliate
RRS is a sustainability and recycling consulting firm that possess core strengths in recovery, organics and collaborative action development serving both public and private sectors.

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