News Release

National Science Foundation selects University of Colorado Denver team to study city sustainability

Grant and Award Announcement

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Denver (Oct. 10, 2011) - The National Science Foundation (NSF) has selected a team of University of Colorado Denver researchers to be part of the new Sustainable Cities - People, Infrastructures and the Energy-Climate-Water Nexus project. Professor Anu Amaswami, PhD., is leading the project, which includes 20 U.S. universities, two national labs and three international partners. The $750,000 grant aims to bring together scientists from all over the world whose work will lead to greater progress and wider exposure for new developments in sustainable cities.

Professor Ramaswami is the director of the Center for Sustainable Infrastructure Systems (CSIS), which will manage the project. CSIS is in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and aims to design and analyze sustainable urban infrastructure and integrate new, sustainable technologies with the general public.

The NSF has a new emphasis on science, engineering and education for sustainability. One of its focus areas is to create what the NSF is calling Research Coordination Networks (RCN) that study sustainability. Sustainable Cities - People, Infrastructures and the Energy-Climate-Water Nexus is one of 94 RCNs funded on sustainability. The focus of CU Denver's RCN is on reducing energy use, carbon emissions and mitigating climate-risks to water supply and public health in cities.

Ramaswami's co-principal investigators are Larry Baker (University of Minnesota), Larry Bank (City College New York), Marian Chertow (Yale), and Paty Romero-Lankao (National Center for Atmospheric Research). A unique aspect of this RCN is broad-based integration of urban ecology, industrial ecology, atmospheric sciences, infrastructure engineering, architecture, urban planning, behavioral sciences, public affairs and public health toward the goal of sustainable cities. This grant seeks to develop harmonized methods, open datasets and shared curriculum on the topic of sustainable cities across 20 U.S. universities.

The project is scheduled to last four years, starting in January 2012. CU Denver's CSIS team is fortunate to lead a fantastic group of faculty collaborators from across the U.S. and the world to coordinate work on the over-arching theme of sustainable cities.

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The University of Colorado Denver offers more than 120 degrees and programs in 13 schools and colleges and serves more than 28,000 students. The University is located on two campuses: the Denver Campus in downtown and the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colo. This and other news can be found on the university's online newsroom.


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