Tamsui River Bank, Taiwan

CCNY Research and Education in Sustainability

Sustainability in Education, Research and Development at the City College of New York

Sustainability is a major focus at the City College of New York, reflected in its academic programs, research activities, and social efforts. CCNY's strategies in the area of Sustainable Outreach and Education are designed to foster leadership in creating a culture of sustainability on campus and within the community. This makes sustainability an integral part of the academic curriculum, research practices, and all extracurricular activities. The goal is to incorporate the understanding of sustainability issues into general coursework and offer new curriculum. Starting in the Fall 2009 semester, CCNY added a new course on global climate change requirement of the core program for all non-science majors. Engineering and Science majors are exposed to environmental coursework through the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and Biology departments.

To respond to the increasing demand for a workforce equipped to meet the sustainability challenges of the 21st century, City College of New York offers the Sustainability in the Urban Environment graduate program. This innovative, interdisciplinary program draws upon emerging approaches in  the disciplines of architecture, engineering, science, and social sciences.  The Sustainability Masters degree program consists of 30 credits of coursework. All students who successfully complete the program requirements receive a Master of Science in Sustainability degree from CUNY/The City College of New York. As a rule, earning the degree requires at least three semesters of full-time study (typically Fall-Spring-Fall), and more for those who study part-time. Costs of the program will differ depending on whether a student is a New York state resident or nonresident. For more information, please visit Sustainability in the Urban Environment page. 

CCNY addresses sustainability across the curriculum in two ways.  First, a new general education requirement ensures that all undergraduates – not only those in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines –receive a foundation in issues related to climate change.  Second, we have been developing interdisciplinary academic programs designed to prepare students for the opportunities that a "green" economy will produce.

Starting in the Fall 2009 semester, CCNY added a new course on global climate change requirement of the core program for all non-science majors. Engineering and Science majors are exposed to environmental coursework through the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and Biology departments.

For Spring 2010, the College introduced a new masters program, Sustainability in the Urban Environment, which leads to an M.S. degree in Sustainability.  It draws on multiple disciplines such as architecture, engineering, science and economics.  Students trained in the program work in teams to design and implement strategies for the development of sustainable water, land, air, food, energy, waste, construction, and transportation practices.  In addition, they are prepared to work in a diverse professional setting involving collaboration, interaction, and communication with teams of scientists, engineers, architects and others.

For the Fall 2010 semester the Division of Science introduced an elective course, Science 31350, Health and Wellness Service Learning.  The course objective is to educate students to become more involved in the effort to reduce campus carbon emissions.

Currently, the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science and the Department of Business are developing a new interdisciplinary Bachelors of Arts program in Environmental Studies.  The program will provide a broad foundation in the sciences and allow students to follow a specific track that will emphasize economics, social policy, or environmental regulation.  They will be trained to work in interdisciplinary teams.  Students who complete the program will gain an advantage for entry into graduate programs.

The Spitzer School of Architecture (SSA) draws together Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, and Sustainability to address issues about urban environments. Students in Undergraduate and Graduate programs at SSA are encouraged to research and incorporate sustainable design into all studio projects. SSA also offers a lecture series during which renowned academic scholars often provide insight into green design practices.

Sustainability-related Degree Programs

  1. Sustainability in the Urban Environment, MS 
  2. Earth System Science and Environmental Engineering, BE 
  3. Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, BS or BA 
  4. Environmental Earth Systems Science, BS  
  5. Bachelor of Architecture, BArch 
  6. Earth Systems and Environmental Engineering, MS 
  7. Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, MS 
  8. Master of Architecture, MArch 
  9. Master of Landscape Architecture, MLA 
  10. Urban Design, Master of Urban Planning, MUP(UD) 

Sustainability in Research and Development

CCNY faculty are also successful in establishing their research focus areas related to climate change and sustainability. Most notably, CCNY received a major NOAA-sponsored grant to establish a Center for Earth Systems Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies (NOAA-CESSRST) to support and engage both undergraduate and graduate students in research associated with four research themes, namely, Coastal Resilience, Atmospheric Hazards, Water Predictions, and Surface Processes, including Arctic Environment. The effort is to encourage student engaging research and study in support of NOAA-CESSRT priorities concerning climate, weather and water, and ecosystems. Under this program, it conferred more than 84 undergraduate and graduate degrees, with about 120 students in the pipeline.

There are many other major research groups within CCNY engaging students of all levels in the research activities related to sustainability. For example, the Institute for Municipal Waste Research is a University-Wide institute formed in finding and implementing solutions to the problems of municipal waste; The CUNY Energy Institute produces cutting-edge research and develops innovative sustainable energy technologies that have practical and economical applications; Founded in 2006, the mission of the CUNY Institute for Urban Systems (CIUS) Building Performance Lab (BPL) is to advance high-performance building operations and practices in existing commercial and public buildings; and through the education and research programs at CCNY’s Spitzer School of Architecture, a wide range of diverse questions related to creating a more resilient and equitable planet are addressed.

CCNY affirms its strong commitment to sustainability through rigorous and meaningful academic programs, research activities and social events aimed to encourage and engage both undergraduate and graduate students in the study, understanding and research on sustainability. Through a major NOAA-sponsored grant to establish a Center for Earth Systems Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies (NOAA-CESSRST) to support and engage both undergraduate and graduate students in research, more than more than 84 undergraduate and graduate degrees have been conferred, with about 120 students in the pipeline. Students of all levels have research opportunities related to Sustainability in many other major research groups within CCNY. The Institute for Municipal Waste Research is a University-Wide institute formed in finding and implementing solutions to the problems of municipal waste. The CUNY Energy Institute produces cutting-edge research and develops innovative sustainable energy technologies that have practical and economical applications; Founded in 2006, the mission of the CUNY Institute for Urban Systems (CIUS) Building Performance Lab (BPL) is to advance high-performance building operations and practices in existing commercial and public buildings. Through the education and research programs at CCNY’s Spitzer School of Architecture, a wide range of diverse questions related to creating a more resilient and equitable planet are addressed. The ORCA program - Opportunities in Research and Creative Arts - is a CCNY program that seeks to engage undergraduate students in cutting-edge research, scholarship, and creativity at City College. The program provides an opportunity to work closely with a member of the City College full-time faculty on the faculty's research or creative project during a 10-week summer immersion program.

Sustainability and the College-wide Research Vision 

The Office of Research of the City College of New York announced in late 2021 a competition for seed funding and invites the CCNY community to harness paradigm shifting fundamental research to address challenging real-world problems by connecting diverse disciplines, techniques, and ways of thinking.  To achieve these objectives, faculty from different disciplines must share knowledge, ask questions from multiple angles, collaborate on research, and tear down academic barriers. The College-wide Research Vision (CRV) aims to remove academic silos and foster research that addresses the toughest questions facing humanity and that has practical implications for New York City, the nation and the world, such as sustainability and/or other pressing issues that presents challenges to humanity.  The College committed $600,000 in 3 years to support researchers as they form inter-divisional teams tasked with investigating urgent issues, the results of which will have direct impact.  We are looking for work that may portend solutions attainable in less than a decade.  These projects must be rooted in collaboration to produce practical solutions to social, environmental, economic, cultural, political and humanitarian challenges.

CCNY Research Highlights in Sustainability

Center for Earth Systems Sciences and Remote Sensing Technologies

Fred Moshary, Professor of Electrical Engineering, Director

This NOAA-sponsored project supports and engages both undergraduate and graduate students in research in support of NOAA-CESSRT priorities concerning climate, weather and water, and ecosystems. Under this program, it conferred more than 84 undergraduate and graduate degrees, with another 120 students in the cohort pipeline. (Featured article: https://thericc.com/innovative-climate-research-and-training-the-next-generation-of-scientists-and-engineers-noaa-cessrst/)

 

Research and Development Projects to Optimize Wastewater Treatment Plant Operations

John Fillos, Professor of Civil Engineering

Dr. Fillos’ research activities in an NYC DEP-sponsored project to optimize wastewater treatment plant operation by providing sampling and analytical services for the evaluation of plant operations and various treatments. It also provides 3D computational fluid dynamics modeling to enable the NYCDEP to verify the performance of the final settling tanks and design new baffling systems for enhanced solids removal, among many other improvements on wastewater treatment process. (Featured article: https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dep/downloads/pdf/environment/science-research/dep-research-summary-2019-2020.pdf, page 27)

 

Masking Planet Earth Greener using Waste-to-Energy Conversion Techniques

Marco Castaldi, Professor of Chemical Engineering

The members of The Grove School of Engineering’s Combustion and Catalysis Lab actively strive to produce innovative solutions to our nation’s waste and energy problems. Dr. Castaldi’s work has shown that waste-to-energy residuals can reduce NOx and sulfur dioxide emissions from combustion systems. NOx, a compound some scientists consider to be a pulmonary carcinogen, contributes 300 times more to ozone depletion than carbon dioxide and can stay in the atmosphere for over 100 years. In a research collaboration with ConEdison, Castaldi says, “is quite dramatic. You may have seen videos, maybe on YouTube, of manholes, in New York City, that explode, and they’re trying to figure out why.” In Steinman Hall, a 6,000 pound blast chamber that can sustain the high pressures generated from combustion was recently installed. ConEdison can insert their conduits and equipment into this chamber, which is capable of replicating the real-world pressures that might cause projectile manholes. This enables ConEdison’s engineers to better think about how they can modify the manholes or what they can insert to prevent these explosions from happening. Blast chambers are instrumental in rigorously testing how effective ConEdison’s solutions are so that fewer people are injured. (Featured article: https://thericc.com/making-planet-earth-greener-using-waste-to-energy-conversion-techniques-marco-castaldi/)

 

Zinc Anodes Development for High-Energy-Density Rechargeable Aqueous Batteries

Sanjoy Banerjee, Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, Grove School of Engineering and Director, CUNY Energy Institute

Sponsored by the Sandia National Laboratories, Dr. Banerjee is leading the team in the CUNY Energy Institute to develop stable zinc anodes for high-energy-density rechargeable aqueous batteries, identifying new materials and their benefits toward this objective. (Featured article: https://thericc.com/city-college-spin-off-urban-electric-power-revolutionizes-the-electric-storage-sanjoy-banerjee/)

 

 

Last Updated: 06/22/2026 03:38