Thomas Jefferson University’s Department of Sustainable Environments leads education and research in solving some of the most challenging problems we face today. Research centers such as the Institute for Smart & Healthy Cities, and the Lab for Urban & Social Innovation, provide students the opportunity to pursue a PhD and engage in cutting edge research or community outreach programs. The Department of Sustainable Environments is housed in the Sustainability, Energy Efficiency and Design Center (SEED) on our East Falls campus, where students and faculty work together in creating a better future to improve life for all.
Mission
The Department of Sustainable Environments educates tomorrow’s leaders and changemakers in designing and developing sustainable buildings, cities, and landscapes to create a better future for all.
Welcome to the Department of Sustainable Environments
Dean and Acting Department Chair:
Barbara Klinkhammer, RA (DEU), Dipl.-Ing.
Department of Sustainable Environments Highlights
- Focus on resiliency and sustainability
- Transdisciplinary research opportunities with expert faculty in labs, research centers and institutes
- Hands-on, collaborative experiences
- Real-world projects and community engagement
- Wide network of industry partners and non-profit organizations
- Multiple study abroad opportunities
- Internship opportunities and STEM designation of all programs (3-year Optional Practice Training for international students)
Expert Faculty
Our department’s expert faculty offer a wide-range of programs and graduate certificates to achieve professional goals for future leaders and change-agents. Climate change, rapid urbanization, and social inequality require solutions co-developed by highly trained experts with an understanding and analytical acumen of the complexity of today’s problems alongside stakeholders.
Degree Programs
We offer award-winning programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels up to the PhD that offer students the opportunity to become leaders and change-agents in their fields. Home of the renowned and award-winning Jefferson MS in Sustainable Design program, one of the nation’s first, the department is comprised of expert faculty in addressing sustainable environments across our programs:
Accelerated Dual Degrees
Research
Students and faculty collaborate across dozens of disciplines to perform significant research that advances the built environment.
Institute for Smart & Healthy Cities
Supporting the research innovation and education across the university, focusing on transforming urban environments into smart and healthy cities.
Promoting user-driven, transdisciplinary research leveraging creative technologies for social change.
Malawi Health & Design Collaborative
Leveraging academic and professional partners to strengthen health infrastructure with innovative programming, environmental performance analysis, and human-centered, evidence-based design.
Center for the Preservation of Modernism
As steward of the Hassrick House, Thomas Jefferson University is serving as the public face of the Center and a learning laboratory.
Promoting architectural innovation through material experimentation and performance-based design strategies — bridging research, education and practice.
Lab for Urban & Social Innovation
Uniting communities, students, faculty and stakeholders in collective action through real-world design, construction and environmental projects.
Synesthetic Research & Design Lab
Serving as a collaborative research and prototyping platform where interactive design and emergent health sciences meet.
