Maria Coca Ascencio felt destined to study sustainability.

“I grew up surrounded by mountains, volcanos, calderas, trees, rivers, and dark skies viewing millions of stars with the naked eye,” Coca said. “Nature was my first love.”

Following her heart, she applied to the School of Sustainability and was accepted into the Executive Master of Sustainability Leadership program, from which she graduated in 2019. She is currently the Academic Senate Manager and Secretary of the ASU Chicano/Latino Faculty & Staff Association (CLFSA). In the following Q&A, learn more about Maria, her passion for sustainability and her role on the CLFSA.

Continue Reading

Water is a critical issue in Arizona, and a new water-mapping tool created by the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University has collected a vast array of maps and data sets to show a wide-ranging view of water in the state.

The Arizona Water Blueprint visualizes information on groundwater, rivers, agricultural irrigation, dams, ocean desalination, critical species and other concepts that are important not only to policymakers but also to any Arizonan concerned about water.

The first-of-its-kind map creates a holistic view of water in Arizona that was missing, according to Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy.

This blog post was written by Arizona State University graduate student Kelly McClelland. In addition to studying Food Policy and Sustainability Leadership at ASU, Kelly is a food leader in Flint, Michigan where she works as a nutrition program manager at the Crim Fitness Foundation, oversees Flint FoodCorps members, and serves on the board of Edible Flint.  

Continue Reading

View the latest newsletter from the Sustainable Cities Network:

SCN INFO OF INTEREST: 6/24/2020 (PDF)

A town hall event hall hosted by ASU’s Construction in Indian Country program brought together tribal and business leaders to discuss the economic outlook and address the current situation in Indian Country as they continue fight COVID-19.

The event was hosted by Arizona State University’s Marcus Denetdale, program manager for Construction in Indian Country. Panelists included sustainability scholars Jacob Moore, associate vice president for tribal relations at ASU, and Traci Morris, director of ASU's American Indian Policy Institute; Jonathan Nez, president of the Navajo Nation; Brian Howard, research and policy analyst, American Indian Policy Institute; James Murphy, chief executive officer, Willmeng Construction; Larry Wright Jr., tribal chairman of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska; and Martin Harvier, president of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.

Continue Reading

Join by Zoom on July 15 for a robust discussion on an ASU/Tempe research project to detect the presence of coronavirus in wastewater and identify hotspots.The City of Tempe has created a website (best viewed using Chrome) to explain the new field of wastewater epidemiology.

In an innovative partnership to prevent and reduce the spread of COVID-19, the City of Tempe is working with scientists from Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute to study the city's wastewater. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is the science of studying community sewage for public health information.

To better understand the science behind the wastewater data, this dashboard displays emerging research about the “COVID-19 gene copies per liter” measured within collection areas throughout the city. An example of “gene copies per liter” measurement is similar to measuring the amount of salt in water. The more salt in the water, the saltier the mixture. Similarly, the more COVID-19 genes copies per liter, the stronger the virus’ signal.

Rosa Inchausti leads Tempe's Office of Strategic Management, which identifies and adopts new technologies that advance the quality of life for the community. Sustainability scientist Rolf Halden is expert in determining where in the environment mass-produced chemicals wind up, their impact on health, and how to remove them.

Arizona State University Executive Vice President and Chief Research and Innovation Officer Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan has been named the 15th director of the National Science Foundation, unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 18 after his December 2019 nomination by President Donald J. Trump.

During his six-year appointment, Panchanathan will be responsible for overseeing NSF staff and management, program creation and administration, merit review, planning, budget and day-to-day operations. He also will direct the federal agency’s mission, including support for all fields of fundamental science and engineering, keeping the U.S. at the leading edge of discovery.

Continue Reading

This blog post was written by Arizona State University graduate student Dr. Angel Cruz. In addition to studying Food Policy and Sustainability Leadership at ASU, Angel is the academic and extension initiatives manager at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) at NC State University where she champions sustainable ag education and career development across North Carolina. 

Continue Reading

Ten years ago, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, triggering the largest marine oil spill in history. Marcia McNutt was the director of the US Geological Survey at the time. She led the agency’s response efforts and helped bring the disaster to an end. Now the president of the National Academy of Sciences, she is again leading the response to a major catastrophe—this time to the coronavirus pandemic.

Her experience with the Deepwater Horizon spill informs her thinking on the special role of science in a crisis. As she writes in a new article for Issues in Science and Technology, delivering actionable, strategic, and irreplaceable science will help the research enterprise confront COVID-19. Employing this kind of science will not only assist in developing a vaccine and therapies, but support a stronger and more resilient nation and world.

Continue Reading

Tyler DesRoches, an assistant professor in the School of Sustainability and the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies at Arizona State University, was recently elected president of the International Network for Economic Method (INEM), the largest professional organization for philosophy and methodology of economics in the world.

DesRoches, who is also a project director in philosophy of economics at the Center for the Study of Economic Liberty, said he is one of a few philosophers and methodologists of economics working on sustainability issues.

“My own research has focused on the social-scientific approach to modeling sustainable development, human well-being in economics, the normative foundations of behavioral welfare economics, and the concept of ‘natural capital’ in ecological economics,” he said.

As president of INEM, DesRoches aims to “improve INEM’s constitution, grow the membership and host a top-notch conference at ASU during the fall of 2021.”

Survivor Link, a team of Arizona State University educators, students, faculty and community members who work to promote healthy relationships and provide domestic violence interventions, will receive the 2020 President’s Medal for Social Embeddedness.

ASU Now I June 17, 2020

As a follow-up to her recent article, ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Founding Director Leah Gerber presented a webinar to address the link between natural habitat destruction and pandemics.

This webinar, titled “A Global Strategy for Preventing the Next Pandemic,” took place on June 11, 2020 and was co-sponsored by the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes. A recording of the webinar is available here.

Continue Reading

A new paper in the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences is the result of Fulbright Scholar Paul Bolger's work at Arizona State University, Cornell University and Columbia University. Bolger was hosted in 2019 by sustainability scientist Rob Melnick.

The paper, A study of faculty perceptions and engagement with interdisciplinary research in university sustainability institutes, provides robust evidence for the powerfully beneficial role that research institutes can play as enablers on interdisciplinary research within their university.

The abstract follows.

Continue Reading

This blog post was written by Arizona State University graduate student Liz Broussard. In addition to studying Food Policy and Sustainability Leadership at ASU, Liz serves as a project coordinator at the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), where she supports the Mississippi Food Justice Collaborative, a network of organizations working to improve access to healthy food and transform Mississippi food systems.