Arizona State University Rob Walton College of Global Futures 6 courses 86 total credits
The Doctor of Philosophy program in sustainability prepares you to become a scientist and leader in research who investigates the urgent sustainability challenges of this century. The flexible, transdisciplinary nature of the program allows you to focus on problems of interest to you, drawing upon relevant knowledge from sustainability science and a variety of disciplines. This full-time program includes a high degree of faculty interaction and collaboration. As a sustainability doctoral student, you gain a better understanding of the need for a transdisciplinary approach to solving sustainability challenges as well as the ability to communicate your research effectively to academic and nonacademic audiences alike. In addition to the common learning outcomes, you are able to conduct research on particular sustainability challenges using theoretical lenses and methods from sustainability science and a range of complementary disciplines. You learn to translate sustainability challenges to tractable research questions, develop a portfolio of quantitative and qualitative research methods to address these research questions, formulate and test hypotheses, utilize rigorous elicitation methods to gather qualitative and quantitative datasets, learn to engage with stakeholders to coproduce knowledge, use statistical and other analytic techniques to analyze data, and build and apply models of social-ecological systems. You develop expertise in the analysis of institutional policies and regulations, as well as the design of the built environment and technologies, to support sustainable development. You also develop the foundational knowledge of concepts and methods required to conduct interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research and effectively communicate your findings across academic disciplines, as well as to policymakers and the general public.
| Required Core | 11 credits |
| Solutions Workshop Electives | 6 credits |
| Open Electives | 45 credits |
| Research | 12 credits |
| Culminating Experience | 12 credits |
| Total Credits | 86 credits |
Required Core
| Code | Course Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| SOS 510 | Perspectives on Sustainability | 3 |
| SOS 520 | Research Design and Methods for Sustainability | 3 |
| SOS 525 | Social-Ecological-Technical Systems: Domains and Interfaces | 3 |
| SOS 589 | Community of Graduate Student Scholars | 2 |
| Total Required Core | 11 credits | |
Solutions Workshop Electives
Open Electives
Culminating Experience
| Code | Course Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| SOS 799 | Dissertation | 12 |
| Total Culminating Experience | 12 credits | |
Additional Curriculum Information
Students take SOS 589 twice for one credit hour. For electives, students should see the academic unit for the approved course list. Other coursework may be used with the approval of the academic unit. Only six credit hours of 400-level coursework can be included in the plan of study. When approved by the student's supervisory committee and the Graduate College, this program allows up to 30 credit hours from a previously awarded master's degree to be used for this program. If students do not have a previously awarded master's degree, the remaining coursework is to be made up of appropriate electives.
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