Undergraduate Sustainability Education Innovation Grants

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) wheel

Undergraduate Sustainability Education Innovation Grants

Funded through Sustainability Next and managed by USEC, these awards advance the Institute Strategic Plan (ISP) goal to connect globally and amplify impact by contributing “to global collaborative efforts that advance the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through our education, research, and service.” With many of the first and second-round projects featuring high enrollment and core courses, these “seed grants” will significantly expand the reach of Georgia Tech’s sustainability-across-the-curriculum initiatives.

Faculty winning second round awards are invited to join a Community of Practice on Transformative Teaching with the SDGs, facilitated by Rebecca Watts Hull, Assistant Director, Faculty Development for Sustainability Education Initiatives in the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). More than 30 faculty members participate in the Community of Practice, meeting regularly to present and get peer feedback on works in process, share resources, and develop strategies for engaging more faculty and students in transformative teaching and learning with sustainability and the SDGs.

2025 Undergraduate Sustainability Education Innovation Grants Awarded

The Center for Teaching and Learning is pleased to announce the recipients of the third round of Undergraduate Sustainability Education Innovation Grant. Recipients from this round represent four colleges and 13 schools, with total support exceeding $144,000. The grants aim to transform instruction using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

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Grant Recipient Unit Project Title
Alberto Fuentes Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts – International Affairs Revamping the Puerto Rico Planning Studio
Danielle Willkens College of Design – Architecture Live Oak Studio: Tradition + Reinvention
Gregory F. Randolph College of Design – City and Regional Planning Urban Sustainability in the Cities of Tomorrow: A View from the Global South
Michael Lehman Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts – Literature, Media, and Communication Climate Migration: Narrating Sustainability
Stacey J. Doremus Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts – Public Policy Undergraduate Sustainability Education | A Real-World Case Study and Action Plan
Flavio Fenton & Emily Alicea-Munoz College of Sciences – Physics Empowering Tomorrow’s Innovators: Integrating Sustainable Development Goals into a Computational Physics Course
Allen Hyde Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts – History & Sociology Sustainable Cities Past and Present: Focus on Atlanta, GA and Fes, Morocco through Urban Sociology
Lu Liu Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts – Modern Languages Chinese Food Culture: Historical, Local, and Global Perspectives
Jing Wen College of Design – Building Construction Green-BIM Initiative: Integrating Sustainable Construction and Digital Technology in Higher Education
Cristina Riso College of Engineering – Aerospace Engineering Integrating the Sustainable Development Goals into Undergraduate Aeroelasticity Education
Michael Nitsche Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts – Literature, Media, and Communication Community-based Course and Module Development as part of a revised CM UG course
Joe Frank Bozeman & Noura Howell College of Engineering – Civil and Environmental Engineering Community-Engaged and Visceral Art Components for Smart and Sustainable Cities
Pamela Pollet & Jenny L. Houlroyd College of Sciences – Chemistry and Biochemistry Chemical Equity Initiative
Roger MacLaren Ball College of Design – Industrial Design Design for Climate Change
Juan Rodriguez Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts – Modern Languages Incorporating SDGs and Community Engagement into Span 4405: Latin American Documentary

Past Undergraduate Sustainability Education Awards

Sustainability Next and the Undergraduate Sustainability Education Committee (USEC) are pleased to announce the second set of Sustainability Education Innovation Awards. A total of $81,334 will support nine projects transforming instruction in eight schools (across four colleges) at Georgia Tech. A third Call for Proposals is expected to be announced during Spring Semester 2024.

These awards, together with the first round of 21 awarded last spring, enable faculty to invest time and resources to transform their courses using sustainability challenges and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). When completed, the new and redesigned courses will include core, elective, lab, and capstone offerings in 16 schools and all six colleges at Georgia Tech.

Fall 2023 Winners

  1. Transforming ChBE 4535: A Sustainable, Frugal Science Approach to Global Challenges – Saad Bhamia (ChBE / CoE)
  2. Introduction to Sociology and Environmental Sociology through the UN SDGs – Kate Pride Brown (HSOC / IAC)
  3. Course Redesign of ML 2500: Think Globally, Act Locally: An Introduction to Cross-Cultural Studies & the UN SDGs – Kelly Comfort (ML / IAC)
  4. Problem-Based Learning of Statistical Models for Undergraduate Economics Students – Roberto Gonzalez (ECON / IAC)
  5. Teaching Sustainability in the Arabic Language Classroom – Natalie Khazaal (ML / IAC)
  6. Proposing a New Undergraduate Elective on Creative Reuse of Useless – Hyun Joo Ch (ID, IC / CoD, CoC)
  7. SDGs for Business Communication – Christopher Peace (LMC / IAC)
  8. Sustainable Tourism: Engaged Digital Documentation and Interpretation Seminar – Danielle Wilkens (ARCH / CoD)
  9. Redesigning the “Language and Life in Asia” course and “Intro to Linguistics” course – Hongchen Wu (ML / IAC)

Spring 2023 Winners

  1. Incorporating Energy Efficiency into the CS Core Curriculum – Rodrigo Borelo (CI / CoC)
  2. SDG 8 – Speculative Fiction and Work: Histories, Futures, and Resilience – Sagnika Chanda (LMC / IAC)
  3. Transforming Construction Management and Real Estate Development Education at Georgia Tech for a More Sustainable Built Environment – Ece Ergodmus (BC / CoD)
  4. Enhancing Place-based Learning in EAS 1600 – Introduction to Environmental Sciences – Jennifer Glass (EAS / IAC)
  5. Including UN SDGs in Aerospace Education through a Sustainability-focused Urban Air Mobility Module – Kelly Griendling (AE / CoE)
  6. Creating a New Interdisciplinary Course: Georgia Climate Project – Zachary Handlos (EAS / CoS)
  7. Project-based Learning for Intensive, Expert-informed Co-design of Technology Targeting Sustainability – Josiah Hester (IC / CoC)
  8. Incorporating the UN SDGs in Introduction to Sociology – Allen Hyde (HS / IAC)
  9. Re-designing a Work, Equity, and Wellness Course with the “Three Es” – Tiffany Johnson (Scheller)
  10. Re-making the Collaborative Design Workshop Course to Incorporate the UN SDGs and Increase Class Size – Sabir Khan (ID / CoD)
  11. Developing a New Course in Accounting and Reporting for Sustainable Business – Robbie Moon (Scheller)
  12. SDG-focused Socio-Technical Project-based Learning in a Core Engineering Course – Raghu Pucha (ME / CoE)
  13. Designing and Nurturing a Sustainable World of Materials: Integration of UN SDGs into the MSE Curriculum – Mary Lynn Realff (MSE / CoE)
  14. Re-designing an Ibero-American Cities Course: SDGs in Latin American Cities – A Comparative Analysis of the Voluntary Local Reviews – Juan Carlos Rodriguez (ML / IAC)
  15. Sustaining Ethics in Large AI Classes – Mahdi Roozbahani (CI / CoC)
  16. Integrating Sustainability Modules Into Software Engineering and Capstone Courses – Nimisha Roy (CI / CoC)
  17. Course Re-design: Laboratory-based Project on the Chemistry of Alternative Energy Sources – Deborah Santos (ChB / CoS)
  18. Course Re-design to Implement Project-based Learning for Social Change – Teresa Snow (Bio / CoS)
  19. Economic Models for Better Polocies on Equity, Economy, and Environment for Economics and Non-economics Courses – Aselia Urmanbetova (Econ / IAC)
  20. Sustainability Next: Taking a Sustainable Open-Educational Resource and SDG-ing It – Emily Weigel (Bio / CoS)
  21. Developing and Enhancing Experiential Learning in a New EAS Course – Samantha Wilson (EAS / CoS)

    Sustainability Next: Georgia Tech's Sustainability Plan

    “Taking its cues from our strategic plan, Sustainability Next provides our community with a blueprint for an Institute that teaches and embodies sustainability in everything we do. Connecting Georgia Tech’s education, research, and operations, Sustainability Next represents a comprehensive collaboration among units and leaders across campus to address and advance the full range of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.”  

    – President Ángel Cabrera

    View the SN page here ➤

    Undergraduate Sustainability Education Committee

    The Undergraduate Sustainability Education Committee is comprised of  school representatives and is charged with developing a comprehensive sustainability curriculum and implementation strategy, including cross- and discipline-appropriate approaches in close collaboration with the respective units. The USEC directs the allocation of Institute Strategic Plan (ISP) funds to support curriculum development and to document and share sustainability and SDG education successes. This work is carried out in alignment with other ISP initiatives such as Transformative Teaching and Learning.  

    View the USEC page here ➤