Using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to Train Tomorrow's Sustainability Leaders

When: Wednesday, October 26th, 2022 at 12 noon CDT
Where: In-person and via livestreaming ​
Speaker: Dr. David Cwiertny ​
​In Collaboration with Johnson County UN Association

The University of Iowa recently launched a new MS degree program built around the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sustainability is inherently interdisciplinary. The technical skills necessary for developing a more sustainable society draw from multiple disciplines including the natural and social sciences, engineering and beyond. Technical skills, however, are not sufficient and developing a more sustainable society will require additional skills including communication and cultural competency to translate training outcomes to communities and the public at large. As such, sustainability focused training programs cannot thrive within the traditional structure of academic silos. Rather, preparing the next generation of sustainability professionals requires a bold, interdisciplinary training approach that is not just technically rigorous, but also builds expertise in community engagement, cultural awareness, and communication with diverse stakeholders. The SDGs provide such a framework upon which to train tomorrow's sustainability leaders. This presentation will introduce the SDG MS program at the University of Iowa and talk more broadly about the skills and competencies needed to turn the SDGs into reality.  
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Dr. Cwiertny is the William D. Ashton Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Iowa, as well as the Director, Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination; Director, Environmental Policy Research Program, Public Policy Center;  
Researcher, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Institute; Researcher, Environmental Health Sciences Research Center; and Faculty Research Engineer, IIHR--Hydroscience & Engineering. His special fields of knowledge include environmental chemistry, and waste and wastewater treatment and reuse. His research areas include Materials-based treatment strategies for water and wastewater, and Chemical transformation pathways for emerging contaminant classes in a natural aquatic systems. He has a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University (2006), and a B.S.E. degree in Environmental Engineering Science from the  University of California, Berkeley (2000). 
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