The Global Institute of Sustainability (GIOS) at Arizona State University conducts research, education, and problem-solving related to sustainability, with a special focus on urban environments. Many of the research initiatives under GIOS, such as the Central Arizona–Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) project, focus on the Phoenix metropolitan area. Greater Phoenix is one of the fastest-growing urban environments in the United States and, as such, is a preeminent laboratory for solving problems that face urban areas around the globe. Here, water, energy, heat-island, transportation, and immigration issues are exacerbated by the fast pace of growth and the limitations of an arid climate. Research on these issues cuts across many disciplines on the four campuses of the university and involves collaboration with other academic institutions, governments, businesses, industries, and community groups locally, nationally, and globally. The degree-granting arm of GIOS is the School of Sustainability, established in 2007 as the first of its kind in the United States. Its mission is to bring together multiple disciplines and leaders to create and share knowledge, train a new generation of scholars and practitioners, and develop practical solutions to some of the most pressing environmental, economic, and social challenges of sustainability, especially as they relate to urban areas.

For more information see:   http://sustainability.asu.edu/