Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 70.79
Liaison Barbara Queen
Submission Date June 20, 2022

STARS v2.2

California State University, Los Angeles
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 4.00 Jeffrey Underwood
Associate Vice President for Research
Office of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Student sustainability research incentives 

Does the institution have an ongoing program to encourage students in multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
Yes

A brief description of the student sustainability research program:
Cal State LA has four programs that encourage student research in sustainability:
1. Data Intensive Research and Education Center in STEM: Students will focus on collaborative research and training in areas of hydrology and climate change, computational physics, and cloud computing that directly contribute to NASA’s mission.
2. Center for Energy and Sustainability: CEaS, involves a multi-disciplinary effort to address issues of making existing energy technologies more efficient while pursuing emerging alternate energy technologies that are not reliant on fossil fuels.
3. Cal State L.A. Hydrogen Research and Fueling Facility (H2 Station): The station is capable of producing hydrogen onsite from renewable energy sources, using the process known as electrolysis.
4. CSULA EcoCAR3: EcoCAR3 is a 4-year competition in which a team of future leaders, engineers, businessmen and communications professionals work together to meet the challenge of transforming a Chevrolet Camaro into an environmentally friendly automobile.

Faculty sustainability research incentives 

Does the institution have a program to encourage academic staff from multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
Yes

A brief description of the faculty sustainability research program:
The above mentioned programs that support student research (CEaS, Data Intensive Research and Education Center in STEM, H2 Station, and EcoCAR3) also support faculty research. CEaS and Data Intensive Research and Education Center provide assigned time and funds to carry out research.

In addition, the Sikand Faculty Endowment for Research in Urban Sustainability has gifted $1.25M to Cal State LA to fund faculty member research on environmental problems afflicting large urban areas. This contribution serves as a cornerstone for the Institute for Urban Sustainability, focusing on climate change, drought, urban sprawl, earthquake resiliency, transportation and other issues. The institute involves faculty and students from across the campus in connecting with each other and the region through dialogue, community-based projects, annual symposia, seminars, short courses and relevant research projects.

Recognition of interdisciplinary, transdisciplnary and multi-disciplinary research 

Has the institution published written policies and procedures that give positive recognition to interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research during faculty promotion and/or tenure decisions?:
No

A copy of the promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:
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The promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:
N/A

Library support

Does the institution have ongoing library support for sustainability research and learning?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s library support for sustainability research:
The library subscribes to databases, reserves, journal collections and other services that do provide support for those researching sustainability.

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s support for sustainability research is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.