Â鶹ÊÓƵ plays a leading role in addressing critical sustainability challenges through its research, academic mission, and physical footprint. We celebrate Earth Month all year long through our dedication to solving big problems in collaboration with the local, regional, and international community to foster healthy people, a healthy planet, a healthy economy, and a healthy society.
Sustainability is one of George Â鶹ÊÓƵ's core values.
We educate leaders, conduct interdisciplinary research, invest in sustainable infrastructure, and promote and support socially conscious entrepreneurship. Join us in solving the complex challenges of today to create a better world tomorrow.
Rescuing our future to ensure a healthy planet, healthy people, healthy economies, and healthy societies will be the central organizing cause of the rest of our lives. It is our job to conduct research to find solutions to our overlapping grand challenges – and to educate students to solve them.â€
Dr. Gregory Washington
George Â鶹ÊÓƵ's Campuses are a Living Lab
From the canopies of the trees in our accredited arboretum to the stormwater running into Â鶹ÊÓƵ Pond, George Â鶹ÊÓƵ experts are conducting research locally that can and will have an impact globally. Learn more.
George Â鶹ÊÓƵ researcher Daniel Smith is combining engineering and social science to bring safe water solutions to communities from Northern Virginia to Uganda. Learn more.
George Â鶹ÊÓƵ students led hands-on restoration in the Chesapeake Bay—building oyster reef structures that advance environmental stewardship and real-world learning. Learn more.
George Â鶹ÊÓƵ Impact Fellows gained hands-on insight into social-impact careers during a weeklong residency in New York City.
Access to Excellence Podcast
The modern grid: the intersection of energy and the environment
On this episode of Access to Excellence, Leah Nichols (left) and Liling Huang join President Gregory Washington to discuss George Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s capabilities as a living laboratory for students, faculty, and staff to find solutions to our Grand Challenge of preserving and protecting humanity's ability to build the future of its choosing. Listen now.
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Follow George Â鶹ÊÓƵ
Â鶹ÊÓƵ puts research and scholarship into action to support a just, prosperous, and sustainable world. George Â鶹ÊÓƵ launched its (ISE) to lead this applied research. The ISE supports interdisciplinary research by connecting experts in various fields with each other and to policymakers, businesses, civic organizations, and communities.
In addition to the and the university-wide , nine of our have affiliated research centers that focus on an aspect of sustainability. George Â鶹ÊÓƵ is one of the top research universities in the nation, holding an R1 designation from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
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Institute for Sustainable Earth
Center for Climate Change Communication
Smithsonian-Â鶹ÊÓƵ School of Conservation
Potomac Science Center
(PEREC)
- PEREC focuses on Potomac River restoration and local sustainability practices, so that the local ecosystem will be healthy for years to come. We translate our research into award winning and engaging field programs for K-12 students and the larger community.
- PEREC faculty and students have researched a large number of watersheds within the northern Virginia area including many in Fairfax County, Prince William County, and Clarke County.
Â鶹ÊÓƵ Research Centers
George Â鶹ÊÓƵ has a variety of degree programs, minors, and classes in the field, such as , , and . Many are designated focusing on sustainability. George Â鶹ÊÓƵ provides with an immersive experience that will allow them to craft a career in any field.
Buildings
Our practices include: constructing buildings; managing stormwater runoff; growing food in our ; planting and teaching apiary management; making carbon-neutral/green purchases; being energy efficient; composting; and reducing waste.
Fuse at Â鶹ÊÓƵ Square will be a LEED Platinum, smart, net-zero-ready building with Fitwell 2-star and RELi resiliency. It will feature a green roof for energy-efficient heating and cooling, an agile floor design to enable responsive team or project growth, and specialized labs for robotics, virtual reality, simulation, security and data visualization.
is a destination for environmental science research along the Chesapeake Bay watershed and meets LEED Silver certification standards.
Food Sustainability
Our food system produces approximately 2,000 pounds of fresh produce every year, which supplies our dining halls and raises $20,000 to pay for supplies, staff, and utilities.
