GFL Appendices 2023 - Centers/Programs

Centers/Programs | Discovery

ASU-SFI Center for Biosocial Complex Systems

Program lead: Manfred Laubichler

A partnership between ASU and the Santa Fe Institute to discover the fundamental principles underlying complex systems.

https://complexity.asu.edu/asu-sfi

ASU-Starbucks Center for the Future of the People and the Planet

Program lead: Nathan Johnson

The ASU-Starbucks Center for the Future of People and the Planet will advance Starbucks’ transformative agenda by leveraging ASU’s applied research, networks, expert faculty, and innovation through our shared aspirational commitment to the betterment of people, the planet and our global communities.

https://starbucks.corporate.asu.edu/ center-for-the-future

Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences

Program lead: Bill Curry

As one of the longest-serving research institutes dedicated to studying ocean processes in the Western Hemisphere, the mission of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) is to seek and share fundamental knowledge of the oceans through state-of-the-art scientific research, world-class field expeditions and comprehensive educational experiences. Programs are conducted in partnership with local schools on Bermuda as well as with higher education institutions globally. In 2023, BIOS will celebrate 120 years of excellence in ocean science research and education.

http://www.bios.edu

Biomimicry Center

Program lead: Dana Baumeister

The Biomimicry Center is a joint partnership between ASU and Biomimicry 3.8 that facilitates biomimicry education and research endeavors locally and globally. The Center brings together the established infrastructure and progressive approach of ASU with the biomimicry experience and expertise of Biomimicry 3.8.

https://biomimicry.asu.edu

BRIDGES

Program lead: Steven Hartman

BRIDGES is an inclusive coalition of intergovernmental, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, institutes and formal networks organized within UNESCO’s international science program Management of Social Transformations (MOST). The coalition is committed to helping higher education and research institutions, in collaboration with non-academic partners to address the greatest challenges facing societies during the UN Decade of Action (2021-2030) to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

https://hfe-observatories.org/bridges

Center for Behavior, Institutions and the Environment

Program lead: Marco Janssen

A transdisciplinary endeavor to improve our understanding of effective governance of social-ecological systems.

https://complexity.asu.edu/cbie

Center for Biodiversity Outcomes (CBO)

Program lead: Leah Gerber

The Center for Biodiversity Outcomes brings together individuals and groups — from academic, nonprofit, policy and corporate sectors — to achieve common goals of biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of natural resources in the 21st century.

https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/ biodiversityoutcomes

Center for Energy and Society

Program lead: Clark Miller

The Center for Energy and Society was established to put people at the center of the conversation about the future of energy. Over the next few decades, a global energy revolution will fundamentally transform energy systems and infrastructures all over the planet. That revolution—the German word for energy transition, "energiewende", means transformation or peaceful revolution—has profound human implications. Our job at the ASU Center for Energy and Society is to understand those implications and ensure that they are fully accounted for in the decisions made by energy business and policy leaders between now and 2050 as they redesign the world’s energy systems.

https://ifis.asu.edu/content/center-energy-and-society

Center for Energy Research and Policy

Program lead: Timothy James

The Center for Energy Research and Policy provides research and baseline information to enable the debates and guide the policy that will shape the future of the energy sector in the Southwest. The center delivers research and analysis drawn from internal expertise in engineering, environmental science, economics and public policy. Its array of multidisciplinary experts allow the center to evaluate current and proposed energy policy from all perspectives and create unbiased research to inform stakeholders.

Center for Evolution and Medicine

Program lead: TBD

The Center for Evolution and Medicine is a university-wide initiative to improve human health using evolutionary biology. Its goal is to establish evolutionary biology as an essential basic science for medicine and bridge the gap between these two disciplines. Through research collaborations and curricula development, the Center for Evolution and Medicine seeks to demonstrate the power of evolutionary biology to address problems in medicine and public health as well as to educate the next generation of scientists and health care professionals.

https://evmed.asu.edu

Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science

Program lead: Greg Asner

The Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science leads spatially-explicit scientific and technological research focused on mitigating and adapting to global environmental change. The research unit has ten labs across Arizona and Hawaii to further discovery, conservation and action.

https://gdcs.asu.edu

Center for Innovation and Development in Society

Program lead: TBD

The Center for Innovation and Development in Society is a transdisciplinary applied research center reimagining the goals and pathways of global development to improve human well-being through innovation. Housed in the Institute for the Future of Innovation in Society at the School for the Future of Innovation in Society, the center is factoring in the scientific, technological, institutional, and policy innovations designed to improve human life and working toward a future where such innovations are equitably distributed across society.

https://ifis.asu.edu/content/center-innovationand-development-society

Center for Innovation in Informal STEM Learning

Program lead: Paul Martin

The Center for Innovation in Informal STEM Learning is dedicated to improving how people across generations learn science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The center works with informal learning organizations, such as museums and libraries, to facilitate public education and conduct applied research. Center projects examine space exploration, climate and environment, sociotechnical change, responsible innovation, citizen science, and storytelling. With strong expertise in science communication, the center animates STEM learning, builds literacy among participants, and democratizes science and technology education.

https://pit.asu.edu/center-innovation-informalstem-learning

Center for Negative Carbon Emissions

Program lead: Klaus Lackner

The Center for Negative Carbon Emissions is advancing carbon management technologies that can capture carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from ambient air in an outdoor operating environment.

https://globalfutures.asu.edu/cnce

Center for Smart Cities and Regions

Program leads: Diana Bowman and Erik Johnston

The Center for Smart Cities and Regions’ mission is to advance urban and regional innovation to make more inclusive, vibrant, resilient and sustainable communities. We collaborate with researchers, policymakers, planners, entrepreneurs, industry and the public to enhance the ability of cities and regions to responsibly use emerging technological infrastructures and improve quality of life.

https://ifis.asu.edu/content/center-smartcities-and-regions

Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity

Program lead: TBD

The Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity (CSDC) is an interdisciplinary research center that spans life, behavioral and social sciences to build Arizona’s scientific and educational capacity in a dominant research area of complexity science. Over the past decade, the CSDC has created immediate and lasting global impacts in this new and rapidly expanding domain of knowledge. Future discoveries in complexity science will require transdisciplinary teams with the intellectual breadth to determine the algorithms of social dynamics across diverse contexts, ranging from genomes to entire organisms, and from individuals to cultures.

https://complexity.asu.edu/csdc

Center for the Study of Futures

Program lead: Cynthia Selin

The Center for the Study of Futures builds a crossdisciplinary capacity to imagine a rich variety of plausible futures, reflect on what those futures demand from us, and design pathways toward positive outcomes. By investigating and inventing new theories and methods for creating better futures, the center aims to nurture and amplify future-oriented scholarship and practice.

https://ifis.asu.edu/content/center-study-futures

Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER)

Program lead: Dan Childers

The Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) program is one of 28 long term ecological research sites funded by the National Science Foundation. Launched in 1997 as one of the first urban LTER sites, CAP LTER has been instrumental in establishing urban ecology as a recognized and important area of ecological inquiry.

https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/caplter

Complex Systems Research Group

Program lead: Michael Barton

The Complex Systems Research Group unites convergent research and expertise in complexity thinking and scientific computation to address urgent transdisciplinary questions about the future habitability of the planet and of sustainable social structures.

https://complexity.asu.edu/research/csrg

Complexity Economics Lab

Program lead: TBD

The Complexity Economics Lab embraces a newly emerging paradigm to better understand economic processes.

https://complexity.asu.edu/cel

Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes

Program lead: Arthur Daemmrich

The Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes (CSPO) is an intellectual network aimed at enhancing the contribution of science and technology to society’s pursuit of equality, justice, freedom and overall quality of life. CSPO creates knowledge and methods, cultivates public discourse, and fosters policies to help decision-makers and institutions grapple with the immense power of science and technology as society charts a course for the future.

https://cspo.org

The Unit for Data Science and Analytics

Program lead: Michael Simeone

The Unit for Data Science and Analytics connects researchers university-wide to pursue research that leverages machine learning, data analytics, visual storytelling, network analysis, and text and data mining.

https://lib.asu.edu/data

Decision Center for a Desert City

Program lead: Dave White

Decision Center for a Desert City (DCDC) was established in 2004 with an investment from the National Science Foundation through the Decision Making Under Uncertainty program. DCDC’s mission is to advance knowledge about decisionmaking under uncertainty in the context of water sustainability and urban climate change adaptation.

https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/dcdc

Digital Innovation Group

Program lead: Manfred Laubichler

The Digital Innovation Group pushes the boundaries of computational analysis in the humanities by developing and deploying innovative research software and analytic methods.

https://diging.asu.edu

Global Drylands Center

Program lead: Osvaldo Sala

ASU’s Global Drylands Center engages key actors of dryland stewardship to develop use-inspired research, training and solutions for arid ecosystems around the world.

https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/ global-drylands

Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation

Program lead: Dave White

The Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation is the hub of ASU's sustainability, complexity, marine and responsible innovation research initiatives. The institute advances research and business practices for an urbanizing world. Its mission is to articulate and exemplify ASU's university-wide commitment to thriving global futures and connect scientists, scholars, humanists, engineers, technologists, policymakers, business leaders, students and communities to enhance the capacity to address challenges that impact humanity’s ability to thrive.

https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu

The Global KAITEKI Center

Program lead: George Stephanopoulos

The Global KAITEKI Center is a university-industry partnership between ASU and the KAITEKI Institute of Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corporation. Its mission is to become the premier research center for the advancement of sustainable wellbeing of people, society and earth.

https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/kaiteki

Global Locust Initiative (GLI)

Program leads: Arianne Cease and Rick Overson

ASU’s Global Locust Initiative engages key actors in locust research and management to develop partnerships and solutions for transboundary pest management in agroecosystems around the world.

https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/ global-locust-initiative

Healthy Urban Environments

Program leads: Matthew Fraser and Charles Redman

Healthy Urban Environments is a collaborative initiative which combines the power of ASU's entrepreneurship, research and innovation infrastructure with partnership, support and collaboration from Maricopa County and its communities.

https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/hue

LightWorks ®

Program lead: Gary Dirks

LightWorks pulls light-inspired research at ASU under one strategic framework. It is a multidisciplinary effort to leverage ASU’s unique strengths, particularly in solar-electric energy, sustainable fuels and products, and energy and society.

https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/lightworks

Pacific RISA

Program leads: Victoria Keener and Laura Brewington

Funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the center supports research into how Pacific Island communities can build resilience to extreme climate events.

https://www.pacificrisa.org

Laboratory for Regional Dynamics and Development

The Laboratory for Regional Dynamics and Development is uncovering the fundamental properties of regional systems and translating that knowledge into practical, data-driven tools to support decision-makers. The laboratory aims to develop a knowledge base that can enhance the well-being, sustainability, and future prosperity of cities and regions.

https://complexity.asu.edu/lrdd

Risk Innovation Lab

Program lead: Andrew Maynard

A unique transdisciplinary “think lab” where creativity, collaboration, education, engagement and scholarship, come together to transform how we see, think, and act on risk within society.

https://riskinnovation.asu.edu

Center for Science and the Imagination

Program lead: Ed Finn

The Center for Science and the Imagination brings writers, artists and other creative thinkers into collaboration with scientists, engineers and technologists to reignite humanity’s grand ambitions for innovation and discovery. It serves as a space for productive collaboration between the humanities and the sciences, bringing human narratives to scientific questions, and exploring the full social implications of cutting-edge research.

https://csi.asu.edu

Sustainable Phosphorus Alliance

Program lead: Jim Elser

In early 2014, participants at the Phosphorus Sustainability Research Coordination Network proposed to create the Sustainable Phosphorus Alliance in order to implement sustainable solutions. The Alliance is North America’s central forum and advocate for the sustainable use, recovery and recycling of phosphorus in the food system.

https://phosphorusalliance.org

Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems

Program lead: Kathleen Merrigan

The Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems develops innovative ideas and solutions to the many challenges of current food systems. Taking a holistic and transdisciplinary approach, the center’s work encompasses water and energy use, carbon footprint and nutrition, innovations in agtech, and the well-being and livelihood of farmers and others working in food systems.

https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/food

UREx Sustainability Research Network

Program lead: Charles Redman

The vision of the UREx Sustainability Research Network is to promote the transition to cities of the future that are resilient by virtue of their flexible, adaptable, socially equitable, and ecologically based infrastructure in the face of a higher incidence of extreme events, more culturally diverse communities, and continued urbanization pressure. This will be a comprehensive network that will build the scientific basis to support existing and emerging city initiatives and incorporate fundamental and practical strategies to promote urban resilience from a social-ecological-technical/infrastructural system dimensions and sustainability approach.

https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/ urbanresilience

Centers/Programs | Engagement

Global Futures Conference

Program lead: Peter Schlosser

Co-convened by the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory and the Earth League, the Global Futures Conference brings together members of the public and private sectors, scientists, youth and activists from around the globe to formulate a bold and actionable agenda to push the boundaries of discourse on what can and must be done now. It is an opportunity to shape the agenda for governments, corporations and multilateral institutions.

https://globalfuturesconference.org

Just Energy Transition Center

Program leads: Katharine Batten, Amanda Ormond

The Just Energy Transition Center works to assist communities, workers and states facing the difficult economic and social consequences of closing coal plants.

https://globalfutures.asu.edu/justenergy

Narrative Storytelling Initiative

Program lead: Steven Beschloss

This university-wide effort advocates for the power of narrative and the necessity of compelling writing in multiple forms. This includes coaching faculty and other leaders, developing original research-and-writing projects, building teams to advance knowledge, advising on compelling narratives and storytelling forms, and raising the level of public discourse. The intention is nothing less than cultivating and accelerating the people and projects that are transdisciplinary in scope, transformational in potential, and can produce maximum societal impact.

https://news.asu.edu/narrative-storytelling-initiative

Seize the Moment

Program leads: Sally Kitch, Diana Ayton-Shenker

Shaping tomorrow today requires path-breaking, creative solutions. In an alarming syndemic of intersecting crises—the coronavirus pandemic, racial injustice and accompanying civil unrest, and cascading environmental hazards—Seize the Moment addresses the grand challenges of the day through transdisciplinary arts, science, technological, and humanities collaborations in research, pedagogy, and public engagement. Seize the Moment is an initiative of Leonardo, the Humanities Lab, and the Global Futures Laboratory.

https://leonardo.asu.edu/seize-the-moment

WE Empower

Program lead: Amanda Ellis

WE Empower is the first-of-its-kind global competition for social entrepreneurs who are advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals and inspiring entire communities to act to create the world we want by 2030. The WE Empower Challenge honors innovative women leaders from around the world who are pushing the SDGs forward through sustainable business practices and inspiring others to follow suit.

https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/we-empower/

Centers/Programs | Learning

College of Global Futures

Vice Provost and Acting Dean: Peter Schlosser

The College of Global Futures prepares students to address some of the greatest challenges of our time, from ensuring the social benefits of powerful new technologies and creating just and sustainable futures, to exploring solutions to emerging issues that transcend the limitations of conventional thinking.

https://collegeofglobalfutures.asu.edu

School of Complex Adaptive Systems

Interim Director: Manfred Laubichler

The School of Complex Adaptive Systems was established as a foundational institution within the College of Global Futures, ASU’s center of experiential learning, engaged research, and real-world problem-solving dedicated to the present and future well-being of our planet.

https://scas.asu.edu

School for the Future of Innovation in Society

Interim Director: Eusebio Scornovaca

The School for the Future of Innovation in Society (SFIS) is a transdisciplinary unit at the vanguard of ASU’s commitment to linking innovation to public value. SFIS is pursuing a vision of responsible innovation that anticipates challenges and opportunities, integrates diverse knowledge and perspectives, and engages broad audiences. By examining the ways we translate imagination into innovation — and how we blend technical and social concerns along the way — we learn to build a future for everyone.

https://sfis.asu.edu

School of Ocean Futures

Director: Susanne Neuer

The School of Ocean Futures is ASU’s newest academic home for studying and teaching about the current and future states of the ocean, and it addresses the challenges our oceans experience due to increasing pressure from human activities. It combines research and teaching facilities in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans with the cuttingedge research facilities within the Rob and Melani Walton Center for Planetary Health.

https://oceans.asu.edu

School of Sustainability

Director: Diane Pataki

The School of Sustainability is the first comprehensive degree-granting program of its kind in the United States, with a focus on finding real-world solutions to environmental, economic, and social challenges. Established in 2006, the School is part of the College of Global Futures. The School of Sustainability offers undergraduate and graduate programs and minors, as well as doctoral and professional leadership programs.

https://schoolofsustainability.asu.edu

Executive and Professional Education

Program lead: Ryan Johnson

The College of Global Futures is a global leader and innovator in executive and professional education, leveraging more than 500 world-renowned scientists, scholars and practitioners, working across disciplines to create unique learning experiences and programs. Executive education in the college leverages the pioneering School of Sustainability, School for the Future of Innovation in Society and the School of Complex Adaptive Systems.

https://collegeofglobalfutures.asu.edu/ executive-professional

Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Teachers’ Academy

Program lead: Molly Cashion

The Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Teachers’ Academies provides educators with the knowledge and resources you need to bring the science of sustainability into any K-12 classroom. Their approach leverages the expertise of education professionals from across the nation to cultivate a community of sustainability change makers. Together, they work to develop innovative strategies addressing the economic, social and environmental challenges we face.

https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/ sustainabilitysolutions/programs/teachersacademy

Centers/Programs | Networks

Conservation International

Program lead: Jack Kittinger

ASU through the Global Futures Laboratory, and Conservation International are partnering to harness each institution’s strengths to design and shape a future in which Earth will thrive. All too often, a lack of collaboration between researchers and practitioners inhibits the valuable research from world-renowned academic institutions from informing work in the field. Together, Conservation International and ASU will generate research on critical environmental issues to inform impactful global policy and practice.

https://globalfutures.asu.edu/asu-ci

The Earth League

Program lead: Peter Schlosser

The Earth League aims at providing stakeholders and actors with robust information for decision making concerning a wide range of global change issues that need immediate and long-term action. While addressing existing and emerging problems created by resource use beyond our planet’s capacity, The Earth League explores how problems can be anticipated and avoided through strategic design and innovation.

https://the-earth-league.org

Global Futures Scientists and Scholars Network

Program lead: David Guston

A network of ASU researchers from a spectrum of disciplines who are accelerating the pace of discovery and making a meaningful contribution to ensuring a habitable planet and a future in which well-being is attainable for all humankind.

https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/ scientists-scholars

New Carbon Economy Consortium

Program lead: Peter Schlosser

The New Carbon Economy Consortium is an alliance of universities, national labs, and NGOs working in partnership with industry leaders to build a carbonconscious world. It evolved from the premise that rapid development, assessment and deployment of carbon capture technologies and practices requires a new way for universities, national laboratories and NGO’s to work together. Through a robust network, the NCEC continues to build the intellectual basis for engineered, biological and social solutions, and – most importantly – their implications for society.

https://newcarboneconomy.org

The Sustainability Consortium

Program lead: Christy Slay

The Sustainability Consortium is a global nonprofit organization transforming the consumer goods industry to deliver more sustainable consumer products. It works to enable a world where people can lead fulfilled lives in a way that decouples their impacts on people and the planet. Consortium members and partners include manufacturers, retailers, suppliers, service providers, NGOs, civil society organizations, governmental agencies and academics.

https://sustainabilityconsortium.org

Sustainable Cities Network

Program lead: Anne Reichman

The Sustainable Cities Network is a vehicle for communities to share knowledge and coordinate efforts to understand and solve sustainability problems. It is designed to foster partnerships, identify best practices, provide training and information, and create a bridge between ASU’s research and frontline challenges facing local communities.

https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/ sustainable-cities

Centers/Programs | Solutions

Arizona Water Innovation Initiative

Program lead: Dave White

The Arizona Water Innovation Initiative was established through funding from the Arizona Governor’s Office to provide immediate, actionable and evidence-based solutions to ensure that Arizona will continue to thrive with a secure future water supply. Through this initiative, ASU researchers will work with industrial, municipal, agricultural, tribal and international partners to rapidly accelerate and deploy new approaches and technology for water conservation, augmentation, desalination, efficiency, infrastructure and reuse.

Knowledge Exchange for Resilience

Program lead: Elizabeth Wentz

The mission of the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience is to support Maricopa County, Arizona, by sharing knowledge, catalyzing discovery, and building solutions to catalyze change in order to build community resilience. We work to support profound and enduring change across organizations to bring resilience dividends.

https://resilience.asu.edu

Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Service

Chair: Michael Dorsey

In 2012, Rob and Melani Walton, through the Walton Family Foundation, invested in Arizona State University to initiate programs that will develop use-inspired knowledge to solve sustainability problems, educate leaders and implementers, and engage people globally to innovate and take risks to create a more sustainable world.

https://sustainabilitysolutions.asu.edu

SolarSPELL

Program lead: Laura Hosman

SolarSPELL at Arizona State University is a global educational initiative that combines curated digital libraries, solar-powered, offline technology, and the training to build information literacy and internet-ready skills.

https://solarspell.org

Stardust Center for Affordable Homes and the Family

Program lead: Meredith Green

The Stardust Center for Affordable Homes and the Family, founded by philanthropist Jerry Bisgrove in 2004, was established to address the urgent needs for afforable housing in the Valley of the Sun — recognizing that affordable, quality housing is critical to healthy and sustainable communities. When Bisgrove originally funded the center, he was not thinking about real estate as much as “family and community well-being.” Bisgrove was fond of stating, “I want to give families a hand up, not a handout.”

https://sustainability-innovation.asu.edu/stardust