• Cluster Requirements
• Cluster Curriculum

The awareness of energy and sustainability problems is already high, and is growing rapidly, among our graduate students and faculty members, stretching across the whole academic spectrum.  It is driven by our society’s requirements for energy, and by the environmental, social and geopolitical toll taken by current energy and industrial practices, including global climate change, ecosystem disruption, population growth and unsustainable use of water and other natural resources.  These pressing issues, which are also of great intellectual interest independently of their societal importance, are inherently interdisciplinary in nature.

The mission of the Energy and Sustainability Cluster Program is  to create, advance and communicate new science, technology and policy for sustainability and energy.  Its particular focus is on sustainable energy  supply, demand and use. 

As part of Initiative for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN), the cluster’s task is to promote energy and sustainability research, development, education, outreach and communication at NU.  The proposed Cluster represents ISEN’s graduate teaching program, which parallels another ISEN undergraduate teaching program.

Other Contacts

• David Dunand
  ISEN Co-Director
  Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
  2220 Campus Drive, Room 1129
  Evanston, IL 60208
  email: dunand@northwestern.edu
  phone: 847-491-5370
• Bridget Calendo
  ISEN Director of Operation and Outreach
  Technological Institute, Room L550
  Evanston, IL 60208
  email: bridget@northwestern.edu
  phone: 847-467-0863

Events

Cluster activities will be funded and supported through ISEN as described below:

• A summer abroad exchange program with global partners for undergraduates and graduate students will be developed, in collaboration with Prof. Chang. 
• A graduate student task force will be established for focused projects in energy and sustainability. The students will have a webpage connected to the ISEN website. 
• A “living” Web site will be constructed, which will be comprehensive, user-friendly, and constantly up to date. The website will include links to the Cluster teaching program, data pages, and outside sites. A possible model is Prof. Hammond’s “News at Seven”2. Graduate students will have an opportunity to provide content to the website. 
• Three or four conferences/symposia will be held yearly at Northwestern University on various topics connected to Energy and Sustainability, and will be integrated into the Cluster teaching schedule. Conference proceedings (either full papers or abstracts) will be made available on the website.
• Distinguished scholars in the field of energy and sustainability will be invited to visit Northwestern University and will contribute to the Cluster graduate teaching program.

Faculty

The primary appointment for those faculty with joint or affiliate status in another program is noted in parentheses.