IGERT POSTER

ATTENTION STUDENTS:

The Pittsburgh IGERT Sustainable Engineering Fellowship program seeks students wishing to study for a PhD in engineering with a focus on sustainable design.  The curriculum and research projects provide the interdisciplinary basis for attacking problems in sustainable engineering.  To promote the cross cultural skills needed to address the global issues of sustainability, students will conduct 8-month international research rotations in Sao Paulo, Brazil through a partnership with the University at Campinas.

Through the Mascaro Sustainability Initiative at Pitt, we have created an engineering curriculum for students interested in sustainability that emphasizes team-based design and truly crosses departmental lines (involving all seven University of Pittsburgh engineering  programs).  A capstone sustainable design course is included so that students from the various specialties can not only learn a common framework for sustainable design, but also acquire the multi-disciplinary team skills needed to address significant problems.  Further, because sustainability is a global issue an appropriate technology for the US may be inappropriate for another region.  Consequently, a centerpiece of our program is a two-term study and  research experience in Brazil that will enable students to live and work cross -culturally.  To accomplish this latter component we are partnering with the University of Pittsburgh's nationally recognized center of excellence in Latin American Studies (CLAS) and the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Sao Paulo, Brazil which will host the eight-month international experience for all 24 IGERT fellows.  UNICAMP houses one of the best engineering schools in South America, and its faculty currently maintain extensive research programs in both green construction and sustainable water use.