Use ASU's Class Search tool to search for classes that are being offered through the School of Sustainability each semester. The School's prefix or "subject" is "SOS".
Introductory Core Courses |
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| ASU 101- SOS |
The ASU Experience (1) Students will learn about ASU's mission as the New American University, the importance and benefits of an entrepreneurial approach to problem solving, solutions to sustainability challenges, and the importance of social embeddedness. Additionally, through various course discussions and assignments, students will examine the concept of academic integrity and its potential impact on their future, gain awareness of the value of engaging in research activities, and learn about taking an interdisciplinary perspective. *For New Incoming Freshmen |
| SOS 110 | Sustainable World (3) Lays the groundwork for understanding the fundamental geological, biological, and social processes that gave rise to the world we live in and continue to maintain its viability for human life. |
| SOS 111 | Sustainable Cities (3) Introduces technological, social, and cultural principles and innovations for cities under the notion of sustainability and sustainable development within the global, regional, and local contexts. *Satisfies General Studies – (HU or SB) & G |
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Challenge Area CoursesSOS 320-326 have the following pre-requisites: Completed SOS 110, and SOS 111 (or PUP 190), with a grade of C or better. |
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| SOS 320 | Society and Sustainability (3) Establishes an understanding of the human, social, and cultural dimensions of sustainability from multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives and at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. *Satisfies General Studies – SB |
| SOS 321 | Policy and Governance in Sustainable Systems (3) Explores the wide array of political questions that are raised when we view the Earth's environment as an integrated, global system. |
| SOS 322 | International Development and Sustainability (3) Historical roots of the idea of development; economic theories of growth and their implications for sustainability; interrelationship among population growth, food security, poverty, inequality, urbanization, technological change, international trade, and environmental change at local, regional and global scale. |
| SOS 323 | Sustainable Urban Dynamics (3) Human and physical processes shaping urban ecologies and environments; human-environment interactions in the context of an urban region; effect of the institution and regulatory framework on the ability of social and urban-ecological systems to be resilient and sustainable; urban design, materials, transport, planning, and regulation. |
| SOS 324 | Sustainable Energy and Material Use (3) Sustainable engineering; overall energy needs and impacts; thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid mechanisms; atmospheric energy systems; field investigation; current and future urban energy systems. |
| SOS 325 | The Economics of Sustainability (3) Application of economic principles to the allocation of environmental goods and services, external environmental effects, and environmental public goods; decision-making under uncertainty, adaptation to and mitigation of environmental change. |
| SOS 326 | Sustainable Ecosystems (3) How human activities and management practices alter biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and the provisioning of ecosystem services; use of economic and other social science perspectives to estimate the value of ecosystem services; evaluation of options for achieving the sustainable flow of services from ecosystems. |
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Challenge Area ElectivesView the approved list of challenge area electives. Most of these courses are not offered through the School of Sustainability. They are sustainability-related courses offered through other departments that fulfill undergraduate challenge area electives. Selection of these courses should be done in consultation with an advisor. |
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Upper Division SOS ElectivesNot all courses listed below are regularly offered – please check the current schedule of classes for courses that are being offered. * Intended for juniors and seniors only (some may have prerequisites). |
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| SOS 394 | History and Philosophy of Sustainability (3) |
| SOS 394 | Inequality and Sustainability (3) |
| SOS 394 | Production, People, and Environments (3) |
| SOS 494 | Collective Action and Decision Making for Sustainability (3) |
| SOS 494 | Community of Undergraduate Research Scholars (3) |
| SOS 494 | Dynamic Modeling and Socio and Ecological Systems (3) |
| SOS 494 | Energy Conservation and Efficiency (3) * Pre-requisite: SOS 324 |
| SOS 494 | Environmental Sustainability and Global Climate Change Solutions (3) |
| SOS 494 | Renewable Energy (3) |
| SOS 494 | Sustainability Measures and Models (3) |
| SOS 494 | Sustainable Consumption (3) |
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Applied/Capstone ExperienceUndergraduate sustainability majors can select one of the following options for their applied/capstone experiences. These options are for majors only and have the following prerequisites: SOS 110 and 111 (or PUP 190) with a grade of "C" or better, 9 hours of Challenge Area courses, and 12 hours of Related Discipline/Minor courses must be completed. *Intended for seniors only and overrides are required. |
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| SOS 484 | Internship Applied/Capstone Experience (3) Students must have an internship opportunity lined up prior to enrolling in the class portion of the internship experience. Please contact Amy Lively (amy.lively@asu.edu) with any questions about the doing an internship for your applied/capstone experience. |
| SOS 494 | Research Experience (3) Students who are interested in doing a research experience as part of their applied/capstone experience should contact their advisor for more information about what may be available. |
| SOS 494 | Workshop (3)
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| Service Learning Course offered in the future | |
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Introductory Core Courses |
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| SOS 510 | Perspectives on Sustainability (3) Uses case studies; faculty and students from engineering, architecture, social sciences, and natural sciences exchange ideas on the major challenges faced in forming a sustainable future at the local, national, and global levels. * Enrollment restricted to sustainability graduate students |
| SOS 511 | Quantitative Methods in Sustainability (3) Provides a sense of when, where, and how quantitative methods are used in studying questions related to sustainability; a roadmap for furthering quantitative skill sets; and opportunities to refresh and build some basic mathematical skills from selected topics in differential and integral calculus, linear algebra, and probability and statistics that will be required for further study. * Enrollment restricted to sustainability graduate students |
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Perspective Core Courses |
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| SOS 512 | Sustainable Resource Allocation (3) Microeconomic principles of resource allocation applied to environmental goods and services; external environmental effects and environmental public goods; decision-making under uncertainty; adapting to and mitigation of environmental changes. |
| SOS 513 | Science for Sustainability (3) Carbon cycle; nutrient cycles; carbon and nutrients in the oceans; climate change; oxygen and ozone; solid-waste pollution; urban-air pollution. |
| SOS 514 | Human Dimensions of Sustainability (3) Concepts and definitions of the human dimensions of sustainability; the role of attitudes and values in shaping sustainability goals, practices, and programs; the diversity of values and socio-cultural contexts relating to sustainability; bottom-up and top-down sustainable policy development, social data collection methodologies. |
| SOS 515 | Industrial Ecology and Design for Sustainability (3) The conceptual, ethical, and practical challenges in the design, manufacture, and lifecycle performance of products; environmental evaluation via materials flow analysis and life cycle assessment; global economic, environmental, cultural, and social aspects of competitive and functional product development and manufacture. |
| SOS 516 | Science, Technology, and Public Affairs (3) Explores the political, economic, cultural, and moral foundations of science and technology policy and governance in democratic society. * Sustainability graduate students may count either SOS 516 or SOS 591 Uncertainty and Decision Making as a core course. |
| SOS 591 | Uncertainty and Decision Making (3) Explores uncertainty and its relation to decision making, with a particular focus on the ways that science is applied in order to improve decisions. A central theme will be the relation among uncertainty, scientific prediction, and decision making, especially in politically charged issues, for example as related to management of the environment. * Sustainability graduate students may count either SOS 516 or SOS 591 Uncertainty and Decision Making as a core course. |
| SOS 591 | Sustainability and Enterprise (3) Examines the evolving interface between sustainability and human enterprise. Explores and reviews key fundamental concepts in the sustainability arena. Delves into specific case studies of attempts by current businesses to become "greener" and "more sustainable." Alternative enterprise models and examples of businesses that are using the current context to redefine the sustainability and enterprise interface will be also explored and discussed. Explores and applies an integrated approach to sustainability and enterprise. |
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Challenge Area Courses |
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| SOS 530 | International Development and Sustainability (3) Historical roots of the idea of development; economic theories of growth and their implications for sustainability; interrelationship among population growth, food security, poverty, inequality, urbanization, technological change, international trade, and environmental change at local, regional and global scale. |
| SOS 532 | Sustainable Urban Dynamics (3) Human and physical processes shaping urban ecologies and environments; human-environment interactions in the context of an urban region; effect of the institution and regulatory framework on the ability of social and urban-ecological systems to be resilient and sustainable; urban design, materials, transport, planning, and regulation. |
| SOS 533 | Sustainable Water (3) Hydrological, legal, political, and ecological implications of alternative water management strategies; effect of institutional and regulatory frameworks; changes in water demand and supply due to human (population growth, economic changes) and natural (drought, climate change) factors. |
| SOS 534 | Sustainable Energy and Material Use (3) Sustainable engineering; overall energy needs and impacts; thermodynamics, heat transfer and fluid mechanisms; atmospheric energy systems; field investigation; current and future urban energy systems. |
| SOS 535 | Sustainable Ecosystems (3) How human activities and management practices alter biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and the provisioning of ecosystem services; use of economic and other social-science perspectives to estimate the value of ecosystem services; evaluation of options for achieving the sustainable flow of services from ecosystems. |
| SOS 598 | Food System Sustainability (3) Takes a broad view of food systems and the sustainability of such systems. Students are exposed to concepts, theory, methods and empirical analyses from diverse disciplines, including agro-ecology, agronomy, political science, agricultural economics, geography, anthropology and food and nutrition studies. |
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Applied Workshops |
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| SOS 594 | Workshop (3) Particular workshop classes will be offered each semester under the number SOS 594. Topics will change, so students should check with the graduate academic specialist for a current list of available workshops. Past workshops include:
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ElectivesGraduate students can take courses offered through other departments as electives. Below is a list of classes that can be taken as electives through the School of Sustainability. |
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| SOS 550 | Introduction to Sustainability and Organizational Strategies (3) Focuses on organizational strategies for technology companies competing in a global environment. Strategic and tactical decision implications of a life cycle value proposition; modeling and analysis for strategic decisions about product/service bundles and delivery mechanisms; innovation; technology, including the linkages to the firm strategy and empirical evidence; supply, demand, and value chain; research of laws, guidelines and international agreements. |
| SOS 551 | Water Policy and Management (3) Covers water policy and management focused on Arizona. Useful to anyone looking for a general background on water issues in Arizona or considering a career in water resources and environmental engineering, planning, or public policy. Divided into three major sections: the history of water resources development and hydrology of Arizona; water management in Arizona; and an examination of current issues and controversies. |
| SOS 552 | Advanced Earth Systems Engineering and Management (3) Advanced introduction to earth systems engineering and management, and the technological, economic and cultural systems underlying the terra-formed Earth. |
| SOS 559 | Sustainable Technology and Management Capstone (3) Provides opportunity to demonstrate comprehension of the fundamental aspects that have been introduced in the classroom and the synthesis of these fundamental aspects into a demonstrable project that can be presented and defended. *Enrollment restricted to CSTM certificate students |
| SOS 579 | Proposal Writing (3) This practice-oriented seminar assists doctoral students in preparing requests for funding from different agencies, and preparing dissertation proposals for a doctoral committee and defense |
| SOS 590 | Graduate Brown Bag Discussion Group (1) * Enrollment restricted to sustainability graduate students |
| SOS 590 | SOS Reading Group (1) * Enrollment restricted to sustainability graduate students |
| SOS 590 | Urban Remote Sensing Reading Group (1) |
| SOS 591 | Community of Graduate Research Scholars (1) |
| SOS 591 | Dynamic Modeling and Socio and Ecological Systems (3) |
| SOS 591 | Ecosystems Engineering (1) |
| SOS 591 | Environmental Justice and the City (3) |
| SOS 591 | Institutions, Environment, and Society (3) |
| SOS 591 | IGERT Intellectual Issues (3) |
| SOS 591 | Legal Issues in Sustainability (3) |
| SOS 591 | Social Dimensions of Science (3) |
| SOS 591 | Social Science Climate Change (3 |
| SOS 591 | Water Resources: Geography and Policy (3) |
| SOS 591 | Urban IGERT Grad Mentoring (3) |
| SOS 598 | Energy Conservation and Efficiency (3) |
| SOS 598 | Statistical Modeling for Sustainability (3) |
| SOS 598 | Socio-Ecological Research Methods (3 |
| SOS 598 | Sustainable Transportation Systems (3) |
| SOS 598 | Urban Ecological Systems (3) |
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