Are you working on a Sustainability Project? Do you need to find information? The Georgia Tech Library is here to help! Georgia Tech Librarians are here to support the research of the GT community. In response to Georgia Tech's new Strategic Plan, with its emphasis on the Sustainable Development Goals, Leslie Sharp, dean of libraries, wanted the Sustainability Research Guide, which was created in 2019 when the Kendenda Building had its opening symposium, updated. Bette Finn updated the guide to include information about the UN SDGs. Isabel Altamirano, the librarian who serves as the primary point of contact for SLS and sustainability resources, announced the updated resource for students and faculty.
In this type of interdisciplinary work, the updated Research Guide serves to provide resources that can jumpstart any search, and now includes an explanation and information about the United… more
The following is a 2021 interview with Georgia Tech student, Alex Ip. Alex is an Environmental Engineering major and Editor in Chief of The Xylom, a student-led newsroom exploring the communities influencing and shaped by science. Using skills he learned at Tech, including through SLS-affiliated courses and programs, he focuses on telling personal stories of sciences and humanity. More information on The Xylom’s mission and recent posts can be found on the outlet's website: https://www.thexylom.com/… more
SLS is excited to share that we have expanded our work with Georgia Tech faculty to integrate community sustainability and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into courses and course modules. We are leading a collaborative initiative to expand SDG teaching tools and training opportunities throughout the RCE Greater Atlanta area—and beyond!
Going Global: A Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Curriculum Design Workshop
Georgia Tech’s Strategic Plan 2020-2030 states that the Institute “is redefining what it means to be a leading public technological research university in this new era, committed to empowering people of all backgrounds and to integrating our resources across disciplines to create a better future for our community — locally, nationally, and globally.” To… more
A big THANK YOU to all who participated in the 2021 SLS teaching award selection by reading through the entries and voting!
We invited faculty who have been teaching SLS-affiliated courses during the pandemic to submit short write-ups describing how they successfully pivoted their courses in the context of COVID-19. We received eleven entries across four colleges that described challenges, joys, and victories experienced while incorporating sustainability and/or community engagement into teaching amidst the challenges of the pandemic.
The submissions reflect creative, compassionate, and flexible teaching that enhanced learning and supported student well-being under very trying circumstances. Did you miss the reflection? Read through the SLS faculty teaching award entries here.
We published these faculty stories in an SLS reflection on February 1st and invited… more
We’re traveling less and staying at home more. Is it helping or hurting the environment? This past fall, MPR News host Angela Davis spoke with Dr. Kim Cobb, Georgia Tech professor of earth and atmospheric sciences and Paul Huttner, MPR's chief meterologist, on how the pandemic is affecting climate change. Listen to that interview HERE.
The biggest concern I had in 2019 when planning my SLS English 1101 class—"This is fine: Humor, Media, and Climate Change”—was climate change. I hardly expected the focus on humor would also serve to help my students and I weather one of the worst pandemics in recent memory. But the class’s emphasis on humor as a persuasive tool gave us another way to think through the pandemic and its parallels to climate change, especially as we discussed environmental justice.
The class used Nicole Seymour’s concept of “Bad Environmentalism” to analyze climate change memes and think about environmental justice. Switching the class to a hybrid—where most of the learning would take place asynchronously online with a handful of in-person meetings—was a challenge. I recorded my lectures with PowerPoint. We used… more
Teaching over the past several semesters has looked very different than in years past. Faculty at Georgia Tech and around the world have invested enormous energy and endless hours in reshaping courses, pedagogy, and community engagement to support student learning safely during the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, at SLS we felt it appropriate to do some re-designing ourselves with respect to this year’s teaching awards. We invited faculty teaching SLS-affiliated courses over the past year to submit short write-ups described how they successfully pivoted their courses in the context of COVID-19. We received eleven entries across four colleges that describe challenges, joys, and victories experienced while incorporating sustainability and/or community engagement into teaching amidst the challenges of the pandemic.
All entries appear below, and we invite readers to review them and reflect upon ideas and lessons learned that may be transferable. We also invite you to help… more
History and Sociology Assistant Professor Todd Michney reflects on his SLS affiliated Fall 2020 Semester in the City course, focused on helping students understand the experiences of residents in the Westside Atlanta communities that border the Georgia Tech campus. Although students in the course, which has been taught for over 10 years, would normally do in-person field work with residents in these communities, Dr. Michney was able to pivot the course and have students interview residents virtually and learn more about the English Avenue community firsthand. Read the full article HERE and listen to the podcast created by the students.
SLS Launches Public Interest Technology Student Fellows Program
We are so excited to introduce our inaugural cohort of SLS Public Interest Technology Student Fellows! Funded by a grant through the Public Interest Technology University Network and the New America Foundation, this program seeks to support undergraduates, especially underrepresented students, in learning to work with community partners on public interest technology projects, and through that experience, identify and embark upon public interest technology… more
In the wake of racial justice protests this past summer, countless organizations, institutions, and important figures in our society have responded and made commitments, Georgia Tech included. Different units of the Institute responded to this peak in social unrest with action. Why is it important that we identify and recognize these efforts? The answer is twofold.
- We must recognize where work is being done to ensure sufficient support is being given internally to those doing it. This support can come from any Georgia Tech affiliate: students, faculty, staff, even fans!
- Georgia Tech’s motto is “Progress and Service.” The initiatives that will be recognized are this motto exemplified. Additionally, our motto complements the overall mission of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In seeking institutional transformation, Tech can find a useful framework in the UN Sustainable Development Goals; the… more