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.
Featured Resources
New Resources
Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry (BCGC)
- University of California, Berkeley (CA)
The Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry (BCGC) is advancing green chemistry through interdisciplinary scholarship. It consists of faculty, researchers, and students in the College of Chemistry, School of Public Health ...
- Posted April 20, 2016
- Research Centers & Institutes
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Establishing sustainability science in higher education institutions: towards an integration of academic development, institutionalization, and stakeholder collaborations
- University of Tokyo
- University of Zurich
- Lund University
- Erasmus University Rotterdam
The field of sustainability science aims to understand the complex and dynamic interactions between natural and human systems in order to transform and develop these in a sustainable manner. As ...
- Posted April 20, 2016
- Publications
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International Centre for Integrated assessment and Sustainable development (ICIS)
- Maastricht University
ICIS, based in Maastricht University's Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, addresses complex issues facing the planet and its inhabitants. It aims to conduct research and provide education in the ...
- Posted April 20, 2016
- Research Centers & Institutes
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Interdisciplinary Environmental and Sustainability Education and Research: Institutes and Centers at Research Universities
- Global Council Science and the Environment (DC)
Interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability (IES) academic and research programs have an important and unique role in higher education. IES programs study the interfaces and interactions of coupled social-nature systems using ...
- Posted April 15, 2016
- Publications
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Yale Center for Business and the Environment
- Yale University (CT)
The Yale Center for Business and the Environment provides a platform for generating, incubating and launching innovative action at the intersection of business and the environment.
- Posted April 14, 2016
- Research Centers & Institutes
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Centre for Environmental Arts and Humanities
- University of Exeter (Devon)
The Centre for Environmental Arts and Humanities (CEAH) is an independent, interdisciplinary initiative which brings together researchers who share an interest in the relationship between the environment and the human ...
- Posted April 13, 2016
- Research Centers & Institutes
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Center for Energy Research/Education/Service
- Ball State University (IN)
The Center for Energy Research/Education/Service (CERES) at Ball State University, is an interdisciplinary academic support unit focused on issues related to energy and resource use, alternatives and conservation ...
- Posted April 12, 2016
- Research Centers & Institutes
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Academic Librarians and the Sustainability Curriculum: Building Alliances to Support a Paradigm Shift
- University of Massachusetts Amherst (MA)
Sustainability is a fast evolving movement in higher education demonstrated by a proliferation of academic programs, co-curricular initiatives, and campus projects. Sustainability is now viewed as vital to the mission ...
- Posted April 12, 2016
- Publications
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Engagement of Academic Libraries and Information Science Schools in Creating Curriculum for Sustainability: An Exploratory Study
In 2010, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education released, “Sustainability curriculum in higher education: A call to action,” encouraging infusion of sustainability topics into universities' teaching ...
- Posted April 12, 2016
- Publications
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Focus on Educating for Sustainability: Toolkit for Academic Libraries
Academic libraries must respond to the increasing focus on educating for sustainability and go beyond greening libraries to become active partners in advancing education and research for sustainability. This edited ...
- Posted April 12, 2016
- Publications
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Center for Religion and Environment
- Sewanee - The University of the South (TN)
The Center for Religion and Environment’s threefold mission is to help students and the broader community integrate religious belief with care for the environment, to prepare students across the ...
- Posted April 12, 2016
- Research Centers & Institutes
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Berkeley Energy and Climate Institute (BECI)
- University of California, Berkeley (CA)
Berkeley Energy and Climate Institute (BECI) is the coordinating hub for energy and climate research at UC Berkeley. BECI fosters collaboration between UC Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL ...
- Posted April 11, 2016
- Research Centers & Institutes
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Precourt Energy Efficiency Center
- Stanford University (CA)
The Precourt Energy Efficiency Center promotes economically efficient reductions in energy demand through research, education and dissemination of information. PEEC is an independent research lab that works with all seven ...
- Posted April 11, 2016
- Research Centers & Institutes
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Internal Carbon Accounting at a Small Liberal Arts College
- Vassar College (NY)
As colleges and universities pursue greenhouse gas reductions, it has become clear that some
approach is necessary for putting a price on carbon emissions and communicating that cost to energy ...
- Posted April 6, 2016
- Publications
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The Impact of Environmental Science Research
The 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) assessed the impact of research undertaken by UK universities for the first time. Universities submitted case studies to demonstrate their research impacts on “the ...
- Posted March 15, 2016
- Publications
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One World One Water (OWOW) Center for Urban Water Education and Stewardship
- Metropolitan State University of Denver (CO)
The One World One Water Center for Urban Water Education and Stewardship at Metropolitan State University of Denver strives to prepare an educated, empowered, solution-oriented Colorado citizenry to protect and ...
- Posted March 14, 2016
- Research Centers & Institutes
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Boston University Institute for Sustainable Energy
- Boston University (MA)
The Institute for Sustainable Energy is a university-wide center for research, academic program enhancement, and engagement with industry and the energy policy community.
We work with faculty in many departments ...
- Posted March 8, 2016
- Research Centers & Institutes
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University of Maryland Center for Global Sustainability
- University of Maryland, College Park (MD)
Global sustainability depends on a robust global economy, a healthy environment, clean energy services, and a stable climate. Yet these issues are major policy challenges on which progress has been ...
- Posted March 8, 2016
- Research Centers & Institutes
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Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship
- Wesleyan University (CT)
The PCSE supports students and alumni interested in creating and sustaining programs, businesses, and organizations that advance the public good. It offers workshops and trainings, specialized counseling and networking services ...
- Posted March 3, 2016
- Research Centers & Institutes
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The University’s Role in the Dissemination of Research and Scholarship — A Call to Action
- Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) (DC)
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Association of American Universities (AAU), the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), issued ...
- Posted March 2, 2016
- Publications
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Registry of Open Access Repository Mandates and Policies (ROARMAP)
- University of Southampton
The Registry of Open Access Repository Mandates and Policies (ROARMAP) is a searchable international registry charting the growth of open access mandates and policies adopted by universities, research institutions and ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Tools
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Transdisciplinary research in sustainability science: practice, principles, and challenges
- Arizona State University (AZ)
- Stellenbosch University (Western Cape)
- Maastricht University
- Leuphana University of Lüneburg
- Aberystwyth University
There is emerging agreement that sustainability challenges require new ways of knowledge production and decision-making. One key aspect of sustainability science, therefore, is the involvement of actors from outside academia ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Publications
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From the Porcupine Caribou to the San Francisco Peaks: Applied Holistic Sustainability in North America
- Sierra Nevada College (NV)
A framework of Holistic Sustainability sheds light on understanding past failures and informing present realities that pave the way for future opportunities. The current state of sustainable development is flawed ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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Building Change Agent Competencies Through Community-Based Research
- Dickinson College (PA)
- Portland State University (OR)
Community-based research (CBR) is a powerful pedagogy that engages students with community partners in authentic research that benefits the community while supporting students' development of change agent competencies and dispositions ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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Successes & challenges of a Community-University experiment in local food system development in Southeast Minnesota
- Hamline University (MN)
- University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)
Highlighting cohort experiences & research outcomes of the Southeast MN Foodshed Planning Initiative (SEFPI), our panel will engage participants in a broader discussion about effective practices for community-university partnerships that ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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New Research About Bin Set-Up to Increase Recycling In Offices
- Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) (IN)
- Keep America Beautiful (CT)
This presentation will review a new study commissioned by Keep America Beautiful that shows how the arrangement recycling and trash bins in office settings can lead to a 20% increase ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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UCLA Action Research Teams: student-staff-faculty collaborative research on campus sustainability
- University of California, Los Angeles (CA)
The UCLA Action Research Team (ART) program is part of the student-led Education for Sustainable Living Program offered for credit through the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. The ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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Encouraging social norms when there are none: promoting unpopular sustainable behaviors
- Michigan State University (MI)
Research has shown the importance that social norms hold in influencing a person's behavior. Our own research has found this positive influence specifically in regards to undergraduate students and ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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Measuring and Reducing Campus Nitrogen Footprints
- University of Virginia (VA)
- Brown University (RI)
- Colorado State University (CO)
- Eastern Mennonite University (VA)
- University of New Hampshire (NH)
- Dickinson College (PA)
Humans have substantially altered the nitrogen cycle, releasing reactive nitrogen to the environment at an annual rate twice that of natural fluxes. Increased releases of reactive nitrogen have cascading adverse ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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Campus Sustainability in Christian Higher Education: Symbolic Value Claims or Substantive Organizational Change?
- Carroll University (WI)
Environmental activism about climate change and sustainability-related issues is increasing on conservative Protestant campuses in the U.S. Highly religious Christian students are engaging their peers to increase sustainability awareness ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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Teaching and Learning Sustainable Chemistry K-16: From Classroom Application and Analysis to Assessment and Refinement
- Colorado State University (CO)
This presentation explores aspects of 'sustainable chemistry.' The research assesses the challenges of 'teaching sustainable chemistry' in K-16 classrooms through an experimental course, CHEM/EDUC580 at Colorado State University with ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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Integrating Chemistry and Sustainability Using Guided Inquiry Learning and Project Based Labs
- Stony Brook University (NY)
With support from a National Science Foundation (NSF) Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (TUES) grant and working with three colleagues from Stony Brook University's Sustainability ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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The Institute for Green and Sustainable Science: An EPA model program in cross-disciplinary sustainability education
- Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) (IN)
- Marian University (IN)
The Institute for Green and Sustainable Science (IGSS) is a research, education, and outreach center engaging in the study of sustainability issues, particularly in ecology, green chemistry, and energy science ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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Integrating Environmental Issues Into Social Sciences, Business, And Humanities Courses Using Ecological Worldview Principles
- University of St. Thomas (MN)
Environmental problems are actually human behavior problems. Social sciences and humanities are important contributors for addressing environmental sustainability as they investigate and explain human behavior. Yet for faculty, integrating sustainability ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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A Multiple Methods Approach to Exploring Conservation Decision Making on the Farm: From Theory to Application
- University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)
- University of Minnesota System Office (MN)
Balancing agricultural production and water resource protection is a major challenge across the U.S. In Minnesota, where both water and agriculture are fundamental to the state's heritage, modern ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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The Tiny House at the Tiny College: Design and Assessment of Sustainable Micro-Housing Alternatives
- Randolph College (VA)
The 'Tiny House' movement is an architectural and social phenomenon that promotes simple living in small homes. Depending on the design, a Tiny House may offer a sustainable housing option ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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Using Green Chemistry to Introduce and Promote Sustainability in the Chemistry Curriculum and Profession
- St. Olaf College (MN)
- University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)
- Minnesota Green Chemistry Forum (MN)
- Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NY)
- Beyond Benign (MA)
Through its guiding principles, green chemistry provides a means for introducing topics of sustainability, ethics, and human health and safety into chemistry and related STEM curricula. It is the science ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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Thinking Outside the Box: Evidence-based Data Collection for Sustainability Reporting
- Chatham University (PA)
- Florida Gulf Coast University (FL)
- University of Colorado Colorado Springs (CO)
- Sustrana LLC (PA)
This session will cover innovative and practical ways to gather meaningful data through real-world, applied scenarios. Specifically, the presenters will share methods for developing accurate heuristics for sustainability reporting in ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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A Doctoral Program in Sustainability Education: the Student Experience
- University of Mount Union (OH)
- Prescott College (AZ)
- Willamette University (OR)
Four recent graduates and a current student will describe their individualized approached to the PhD program in sustainability education. This panel discussion will include graduate experiences, descriptions of their individualized ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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Developing Energy Management Programs for a More Sustainable Campus
- California State University, Dominguez Hills (CA)
- Enlighted Inc. (CA)
In 2012, California State University Dominguez Hills' Central Plant Manager, Kenny Seeton, was tasked with finding a way to limit energy expenditures on campus in order to meet the university ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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Aligning sustainability education with the needs of business
- Global Council Science and the Environment (DC)
- International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) (OR)
How is higher education preparing students to be sustainability professionals? What sustainability skills do businesses look for? How can professional certification help businesses, academics and most importantly, the students themselves ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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Undergraduates in a Sustainability Semester: Agency and Structural Change for Sustainability
- Goshen College (IN)
- Michigan State University (MI)
Many Sustainability Education (SE) researchers are interested in understanding how our students envision the mechanisms of social change, and how to help them develop capacity to make the change they ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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Why students should shower with their phones: The call for shorter showers
- University of Rhode Island (RI)
- NORESCO (NC)
Do students know how long they are in the shower? Are students able to mentally time their shower? How can we encourage students to decrease their time in the shower ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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The Healthy Green Campus: Using Evidence Based Approaches to Integrate Health and Well-being into Campus Sustainability
- Harvard University (MA)
- Silent Spring Institute (MA)
The latest research in sustainable development is focused on human health and well-being as a driving force of holistic sustainability efforts, and Harvard University sees this as a critical topic ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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The Real Food Calculator: Real Metrics, Transparency, & Accountability for Tracking Sustainable Food Procurement
- University of Massachusetts Amherst (MA)
- Real Food Challenge (MA)
What is just or sustainable food? How do we thoroughly and appropriately assess it in our cafeterias? Dig into the complexities of labels, certifications, and standards for 'real food' as ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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Embedding undergraduate-led ecology experiments into temporary public art to transition vacant urban spaces
- University of St. Thomas (MN)
- Public Art Saint Paul (MN)
Over 50% of the global population currently lives in urban areas, and 3.2 billion more urban residents are predicted by 2050. Urbanized areas already produce most human-associated carbon emissions ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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The Sustainable Agriculture Project at Univ of MN Duluth: A Site-Based Land Lab for Sustainability
- University of Minnesota, Duluth (MN)
This proposal presents multiple perspectives on the creation and use of the Sustainable Agriculture Project (SAP). Founded in 2009, the SAP Farm is a site based laboratory for sustainability with ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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Bridging the Gap: Building High Performing K-12 Schools That Ready Students for Sustainability in Higher Education
- Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
Healthy school environments are an important part of maintaining the safety, health and well-being of students in their everyday lives in both K-12 and higher education. Higher education institutions have ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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Assessing Sustainability Attitudes: A New Multi-Dimensional Measure
- Central College (IA)
The rise of sustainability curricula in higher education has coincided with increasing calls for academic assessment, and a variety of tools have been developed to measure sustainability literacy and attitudes ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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The effect of Infiltration basins and raingardens to clean snowmelt: An integrative learning project in sustainability
- Concordia College (NY)
Infiltration basins and raingardens have growing popularity for their effectiveness as well as being aesthetically pleasing. In 2012, Concordia College in Moorhead, MN put in an infiltration basin in an ...
- Posted Feb. 26, 2016
- Conference Presentations
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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.
All responses reference content from reports under the latest version of STARS, version 2.2. AASHE membership and log-in is required.
AC 9: Research & Scholarship
- Percent of research employees that conduct sustainability research
- Percent of research departments that conduct sustainability research
- Sustainability research inventory (upload)
- Sustainability research inventory (description)
- Website URL - Sustainability research
AC 9: Support for Sustainability Research
- Description of the student sustainability research program
- Description of the academic staff sustainability research program
- Website URL - Support for sustainability research
AC 10: Open Access to Research
- Website URL - Open access repository
- Open access policy (upload)
- Open access policy (description)
- Description of the open access article processing charge (APC) fund
- Description of the open access journal hosting services
- Website URL - Support for open access
Additional analysis on scores and quantitative fields can be conducted using the STARS Benchmarking Tool.