5-YEAR PROGRESS REPORT ON THE PITT SUSTAINABILITY PLAN

The 2018-2022 Progress Report on the Pitt Sustainability Plan summarizes the University of Pittsburgh’s progress on each of the 68 goals in the 2018 Pitt Sustainability Plan

MCSI’s leadership and contributions helped advance significant progress on Exploration goals, including the following:

Teaching & Learning

Core to the University’s mission, sustainability teaching and learning are essential to Pitt’s preparation of students to lead lives of positive impact. MCSI engages undergraduate advisors, leads incorporation of sustainability into first year seminars and experiences, initiates sustainability-focused service learning, and creates and supports faculty tools, workshops, and funding opportunities.

Annually since 2017, MCSI has also increased the number of students applying for & graduating with the Undergraduate Certificate in Sustainability, keeping that goal on track,

Research

MCSI helps raise the visibility of Pitt’s sustainability-related research and tracks University-wide progress on sustainability research goals, including by providing research seed grants and supporting interdisciplinary research. MCSI also helps cultivate circular economy and environmental justice research, nurture research and operational collaborations that help make

Pitt’s campus a living laboratory, support oncampus sustainability internships, and confer conference grants

Via donated and endowed research funds, MCSI supports undergraduate and graduate research.

Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Pitt thrives to ensure that research translates into positive innovations that benefit our community and the environment, including via MCSI’s co-hosting of the Pitt Sustainability Challenge , which will award $300,000 this year to an innovation that advances carbon neutrality to the benefit of the Pitt community.

MCSI also encourages student innovation through the Student Prototyping Fund and by co-advising the Pitt Green Fund MCSI is also partnered with many across the University to develop a Innovation transcript distinction, including the Big Idea Center, Business, Engineering, SCI, and others

Partnerships

MCSI’s partner network of nonprofit organizations, local and regional governments, and industry abound, including the Covestro Circular Economy program, interdisciplinary projects through the Sustainability Capstone course, and a variety of K-12 and community collaborations These partnerships are imperative to accelerating the transfer of sustainability ideas from classrooms and laboratories into implementation.

Global Outreach

The University’s global engagement through sustainability abounds. MCSI offers Global Engagement in Sustainability grants in collaboration with the University Center for International Studies. MCSI faculty are also directly engaged through teaching and service opportunities across the globe