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Prospective Students |
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Overview of the
Sustainable Futures IGERT program
The Sustainable Futures IGERT scholars develop
knowledge, methods, and tools that promote and
enable environmental, industrial, and societal
sustainability. Faculty and students participate in
an innovative education/research program focused on
understanding and communicating new
technology/policy, and exploring and developing the
Sustainable Futures Model. Key aspects of the
Sustainable Futures IGERT include synergistic
inter-university education and research initiatives,
domestic internships, international experiences, and
the exploration of the Sustainable Futures
meta-discipline itself.
IGERT Program is designed to build a knowledge base
for students to help them make sustainable
decisions. Education provided by student's home
discipline is enhanced with complementary courses
from the other Sustainable Futures areas and other
key topics: risk, reliability, decision analysis,
modeling, citizen participation, and social
diffusion of knowledge.
IGERT trainees must be enrolled in a doctoral
program and be citizens, nationals or permanent
residents of the United States of America. There are
opportunities for International students interested
in the program as IGERT associates.
Program
Requirements:
Students in the IGERT program are required to engage
in multidisciplinary research. This is achieved
through research collaboration and the use of
faculty mentors and committee members. All
engineering students will be required to incorporate
a social science perspective into their
dissertations, and all social science students will
be required address engineering components in
theirs.
IGERT Trainees will be required, and IGERT
Associates encouraged, to fulfill several program
requirements: |
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EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS |
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Coursework in Discipline |
Student will take
coursework specified by their department |
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Graduate Certificate in
Sustainability |
This Certificate
formally recognizes curricular breadth in
the following areas: i) policy, societal,
and economic systems, ii) environmental
systems, and iii) industrial systems. The
student has the opportunity to achieve
specialized education in engineering,
forestry, science, social sciences,
humanities, business, and economics. |
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Required Courses: |
Sustainable Futures
I:
Covers introductory to advanced concepts of
Sustainable Development. Explores methods /
tools for assessing sustainability
(economic, environmental, societal impacts)
of current and emerging technologies.
Provides advanced training in life cycle
assessment (LCA) of technologies, processes
and products. Explores the uses of LCA and
other sustainability assessment tools in
decision making in government and industry. Sustainable Futures
II:
Covers sustainability in developed and
developing countries. Topics include policy
analysis, regulatory impact & cost benefit
analyses, trade & markets, laws &
regulations, international disasters, GIS
applications, green manufacturing, and
evolution of environmental policy in U.S.
and other countries. Graduate Colloquium
in Sustainability:
Students and faculty will meet to discuss
policy implications related to technological
innovations for sustainability ED 5100:
Introduction to College-Level Teaching |
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INTERNSHIPS / INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCES |
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Internship |
The internship, related
to sustainability, will occur at a company,
government/university laboratory, or
nongovernmental organization (NGO).
This experience will
provide the student an appreciation for the
practical, real world issues resulting from
the complex interplay of often competing
concerns (e.g., company mission, government
regulations, and societal norms). |
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International Experience |
IGERT Students will have
the opportunity to participate in an
international experience that may come from
one of two mechanisms: an international
internship in an industrialized country or
international fieldwork in the developing
world.
In the past, students
have conducted research at a university in
Finland, Santiago, Chile, and remote areas
of Bolivia. Students have also traveled to
conferences in Africa, Belgium and Brazil. |
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UNIVERSITY EXCHANGE |
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Exchange to Michigan
Tech/ SUBR |
IGERT trainees are
required to spend two weeks collaborating on research at the partner institution. This expands the
trainee's interaction with faculty and
students as well as allows them to experience
the cultural difference the regions have to
offer. |
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Funding Information:
The IGERT program is supported by the NSF grant.
IGERT Trainees receive an annual stipend of $30,000
and a cost of education allowance for tuition and
fees. IGERT Associates are supported as graduate
research or teaching assistants and receive an
annual stipend and payment of their tuition and fees
as set by the host university's Graduate School.
Graduate School Links
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