Office of Sustainability

The College of Architecture, Design, and Construction’s Environmental Design (ENVD) program focuses on the interconnected nature of all design and construction disciplines. Many courses provide students with the opportunity to initiate and complete a project focusing on community engagement and utilizing integration of research and collaborative methods. Students have the opportunity to enhance their education with skills in design and design thinking that foster innovation and entrepreneurship. Students who acquire an ENVD degree are adaptable in the real world, possess the ability to approach issues from many different angles, and offer innovative, constructive, and effective human-centric problem-solving methods in the built environment.

The United States Green Building Council Auburn University Chapter (USGBC) is a student organization that seeks to provide students a platform to explore and promote sustainable building practices. Students are also able to obtain LEED accreditation through the chapter and participate in monthly service projects. The USGBC AU Chapter is an interdisciplinary organization, as all degree seeking students are encouraged to join and contribute their perspective on designing, building, and operating more sustainable buildings. This coalition of students is committed to the development of buildings that are more environmentally and socially responsible, and healthier for all people, making this level of performance standard practice for buildings everywhere.

The purpose of the Auburn University chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is to work with communities in developing countries to promote sustainable solutions to practical problems. EWB aims to build a better world through engineering projects that empower communities to meet their basic human needs and equip leaders to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. EWB offers students hands-on learning experiences in conjunction with opportunities for service. While EWB conducts engineering projects, the organization is open to students of all majors. EWB teams work in Alabama, Bolivia, and Rwanda, developing sustainable solutions locally and globally.

The Center for Construction Innovation and Collaboration (CCIC) at Auburn University provides quality research across the built environment from an interdisciplinary perspective. The CCIC’s mission statement is to focus on “innovative approaches to construction-related problems and processes, including those involving construction education, while maintaining core values centered on sustainability and impact on built environments.” The center strives to promote academic excellence and facilitate a collaborative process to form strong relationships with students, industry, product manufacturers, and other academic institutions through innovations in construction products and processes.

Associate Professor Rusty Smith of the College of Architecture, Design and Construction is the Associate Director of Rural Studio with research in both project-based teaching and learning as well as in equitable housing access and the design and construction of community-oriented infrastructure. By studying the intersections of housing affordability and socioeconomics, Professor Smith is able to examine poverty origins relative to housing, income, energy, food, health, and education resources. Over the past three decades, Rural Studio had evolved to include the planning, design, and construction of community projects; the development of more equitable, affordable, and accessible high-performance homes; and a comprehensive approach to addressing the low-wealth stressors that are unique to persistently impoverished rural communities.

College of Engineering’s NCAT is focused on evaluating and developing new technologies that make roads smoother, quieter, safer, longer lasting, and more economical. NCAT’s research centerpiece is a high-speed, full-scale accelerated asphalt pavement testing facility. NCAT’s research findings are used to improve materials, tests, specifications, and design policies. Agencies use this research to preserve their roadway networks and maximize their budgets. NCAT is committed to its mission of providing innovative, relevant, implementable research, technology development, and education that advances safe and economically sustainable asphalt pavements.