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Advancing Faculty and Educational Excellence in Sustainability
Dr. David Sanchez, Assistant Director
UNIVERSITY SUSTAINABILITY CERTIFICATE ENROLLMENT BEYOND CAPACITY
Since its creation in 2016, interest in the Undergraduate Certificate in Sustainability continues to grow; enrollment has not leveled-off. In Spring 2020, we certified 26 students across Pitt to receive the certificate upon graduation. The two bookend courses “Current Issues and Sustainability” and “Sustainability Capstone” are at peak capacity. Our Fall 2020 enrollment is over 60 students (initial limit of 25), creating the need to add an additional section of “Current Issues and Sustainability,” to cover student interest and need. Because each bookend course is currently offered only once per academic year, student participation has been limited by annual offerings. We would like to remove these barriers to participation by adding a section of each course in its opposite semester.
SUSTAINABILITY DISTINCTION
A collaborative team of faculty, staff, and students are working together to create one of Pitt’s five inaugural distinctions (alongside Civic Engagement, Creativity, Global Studies, and Honors). The “Sustainability Distinction” aims to provide students with a mechanism to gain recognition and “credit” for their out-of-theclassroom endeavors, thus broadening the number of undergraduate students participating in sustainability activities throughout campus and our community. The Sustainability Distinction team has developed a list of requirements for students alongside an evaluation mechanism -- and is currently working to develop the online infrastructure to track and support student attainment. DISTINCTION COMMITTEE
Danielle Andrews-Brown, Undergraduate Advisor & Coordinator,Environmental Studies Program Zach Delaney, Undergraduate Student Shenay Jeffrey, Assistant Director,Student Affairs Chaz Kellem, Director,Student Affairs Gena Kovalcik, Co-Director,MCSI Anfernee La Cruz, Undergraduate Student Alyssa Martinec, Sustainability Coordinator, Center for Sustainable Business Erika Ninos, Sustainability Coordinator, PittServes David Sanchez, Assistant Director,MCSI Aurora Sharrard, Director of Sustainability
SUSTAINABILITY COURSE ATTRIBUTE CODES
Course attribute codes provide a way for pairing Pitt courses
and Faculty expertise with student interest in Sustainability. Specifically, these new course attribute codes allow students to quickly identify Sustainability courses as they select their classes each semester. In Fall 2019, the Provost’s Office approved TWO (2) course attribute codes for to Sustainability-focused and Sustainability-related course offerings. This important step enables students to easily filter and identify classes with sustainability content. The Mascaro Center is actively working to create a broad and complete listing of sustainability course options available university-wide. These attributes and course map will serve our students, celebrate faculty expertise, and better represent our impact externally through higher education rankings including AASHE STARS (from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education).
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH SUMMER PROGRAM
“The Mascaro Summer Research Program has been fantastic in bringing exceptionally motivated and intellectually curious students into my labs. Clearly, this program is extremely effective in engaging students and pulling them in to the fascination with research on sustainable engineering. For my lab, these students also often have been the ‘scouts;to explore new research ideas, which, in some instances, has resulted in new research projects.”
Goetz Veser, Professor,Chemical Engineering
Since 2004, MCSI has supported 274 students through our Summer Research Program.
In response to COVID-19, Gena Kovalcik and David Sanchez re-created the URP experience so it could still operate virtually. In Summer 2020, 19 students are working remotely on sustainability-related research projects. They engage in virtual Lunch and Learns through a weekly seminar series on a broad range of topics aimed at broadening their understanding of sustainability on topics including Corporate Sustainability, Sustainability Through a Social Justice Lens, Communicating the Science of Sustainability, and Community Engaged Research.
Another core requirement of the program is service. This year’s URP participants will be serving as mentors for the Swanson School of Engineering Pre-College summer enrichment program, where they will spend four weeks mentoring young people on engineering projects.
John C. Mascaro, Chairman, Mascaro Construction
Our MS program continues to gain interest among young college graduates and industry professionals. Current MSSE students are interning at the State Department; 3R Sustainability; continuing research here at Pitt; and working full-time. In response to COVID-19, we accelerated our efforts to increase our engagement with prospective students both internally and externally through the following programs: Pitt2Pitt (Pitt 2020 graduates), EaGr (Pitt SSOE juniors and seniors), and Compass (non-engineering students). Additionally, we are shifting our admissions system to provide a better user experience for prospective students nationally and internationally.
Current Students examples include:
Michael Gross Renewable Energy Project Manager,Partner Engineering and Science Sustainability Track: Energy under advisor Dr. David Sanchez MSSE ‘21
Sabrina Nguyen Pursuing a dual MS in Electrical Engineering and Sustainable Engineering. Sustainability Track: Smart Grids under advisor Dr. Bob Kerestes MSSE ‘21
Joseph Zappitelli Graduated with MSSE; currently pursuing PhD at Pitt Sustainability Track:Water under advisor Dr. David Sanchez MSSE ‘20
INCREASINGLY DIVERSE DEPARTMENTS AND CAMPUSES ADDED TO FACULTY PROGRAM
“It has been a real privilege to continue Len's commitment to sustainability as aLeonard Peters Fellow. When teaching sustainability topics to students, my goal is to empower students to be the agents of change society will demand of them. I want them to be steadfast in their commitment to sustainability when faced with new intellectual and ethical challenges over their careers. The Leonard Peters Fellowship has helped me continuedeveloping and improving the educational resources I use in the classroom.”
–Mike Blackhurst, Len Peters Fellow and Professor,UCSUR
FACULTY PROGRAMS
The John C. Mascaro and Len Peters Faculty Programs were created in 2016 and 2019 respectively to enhance the University’s mission of interdisciplinary excellence in research and education. Awardees are expected to contribute to the intra- and interdisciplinary sustainability research and education. Through this effort we have supported 23 faculty. In 2020, we supported 10 faculty with awards to individuals ranging from Ecomusicology at the Bradford Campus to Anthropology, Engineering, Biological Sciences, and the Graduate School of Public Health at our Pittsburgh campus.
2020 FACULTY AWARDEES
Len Peters Faculty Fellows in Sustainability Mike Blackhurst, University Center for Social and Urban Research
Danielle Andrews-Brown, Environmental Studies
John C. Mascaro Faculty Fellows in Sustainability David Finegold, Graduate School of Public Health
John C. Mascaro Faculty Scholars in Sustainability Tony Kerzmann, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Sara Kuebbing, Department of Biological Sciences
John C. Mascaro Faculty Lecturers in Sustainability Joshua Groffman, Division of Communication and the Arts, Pitt Bradford Katherine Hornbostel, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Robert Kerestes, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Pamela Stewart, Department of Anthropology Andrew Strathern, Department of Anthropology
