Sustainable Cities Doctoral Research Initiative

(PI: Elizabeth Mueller)

The Center for Sustainable Development, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and the School of Architecture, in partnership with faculty in the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Cockrell School of Engineering, have recently launched a new initiative aimed at providing doctoral training and research in sustainable metropolitan development and building design and technology.

The Sustainable Cities Doctoral Research Initiative focuses on the integration of cutting-edge research and practice in the fields of urban planning, architecture, environmental and architectural engineering, landscape architecture, urban design, community engagement and public policy. Current thinking in these fields emphasizes the need for a holistic understanding of the complex relationships between the form, functionality and governance of human settlements in this period of global change and environmental challenge. Across these fields, scholars are rethinking current practice and working across disciplinary lines to forge new approaches to research, policy and practice.

A grant from the UT System will support doctoral students working in three interdisciplinary teams, each tacking sustainability at a different scale. The grant will also provide teams with seed funding for the development of interdisciplinary research proposals to be submitted to federal funders such as the National Science Foundation.

Graduates of the proposed program will be prepared to teach and conduct research on a set of seminal questions of considerable importance to society:

In addition, funds were committed from the Snell Endowment to match the Sustainable Cities Initiative grant to bring in excellent students. Doctoral fellowships will be offered to one student per year for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 academic years. Each fellowship will provide the fellow with a half time graduate research assistantship and a tuition scholarship for one year (possibly two). To be eligible for this funding, students must apply to an existing doctoral program in either community and regional planning or transportation engineering and indicate their interest in this scholarship.

For more information, please visit the website of the Center for Sustainable Development: http://soa.utexas.edu/csd/index