Sustainability studies connect fields for solving problems

Keenan Norton spent a summer studying challenges that indigenous people in Bolivia and Guatemala face when accessing water. He has also written about water management in connection to the economic and ecological role of coffee in Costa Rica.

Norton's interest in waterway conservation is supported by his three majors: chemical engineering, environmental and sustainability studies (ESS), and Hispanic studies.

"The solutions to so many of our problems, particularly environmental problems and problems related to water, are not in advancing special technologies, but rather reverting to the processes that the world uses naturally," Norton said. Through Carnegie Mellon's Summer Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship program, he earned credit for his research with Abigail Owen, associate professor of history and the ESS program's director.

Norton said that while implementing water conservation methods won't remove existing pollution in waterways, he also is investigating ways to remove those pollutants. As part of the Institute for Green Chemistry, he works with Terry Collins, Teresa Heinz Professor in Green Chemistry. Collins created catalysts, chemical agents that can accelerate reactions, to remove various chemicals from wastewater.

"These catalysts are designed to mimic natural enzymes that are found in the body to break down the ugly chemicals we see," Norton said. "We've taken that general structure and improved on it to make it really effective in getting rid of all kinds of nasty stuff."

The environmental and sustainability studies additional major is a joint program offered by the Mellon College of Science and the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The ESS major and minor offer an interdisciplinary environmental education that complements any Carnegie Mellon student's primary major.

Neil Donahue, Thomas Lord University Professor of chemistry, chemical engineering, and engineering and public policy, said the program provides sustainability courses to students, regardless of major. "We want the technical students looking toward the environmental humanities," Donahue said. "Likewise, we want the humanities students to really learn something about the underpinnings of the Earth's systems."

Donahue is director of the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research, which houses the ESS program. The Steinbrenner Institute was established in 2004 with a lead gift from CMU alumnus W. Lowell Steinbrenner and his wife, Jan, whose vision and support made the ESS minor and major a reality.

While students can declare the major or minor at any point in their college career, current students and alumni recommend starting early. Kara Scully (ChemE '22), an alum of the ESS minor and program assistant at the Steinbrenner Institute, said that beginning sooner makes it easier to apply the concepts learned through the program.

Owen added, "I'm always thinking about what it is like for an architecture student who cares about sustainability, a mechanical engineering student who cares about creating the next generation of energy technology, or a business student trying to understand corporate social responsibility. My goal is to get them to find common vocabulary so they can communicate about these problems."

Read the full story for more real-world research from ESS students in other departments.