Princeton University offers a wide range of sustainability-related and sustainability-focused courses across multiple disciplines, some of which specifically integrate the campus environs or infrastructure into the curriculum.
Current Course Offerings - Spring 2022
COURSE | TITLE | INSTRUCTOR(S) | DETAILS |
The Environmental Engineering of Buildings, Part II | Mahadev Raman | Opportunity to use Princeton buildings as a living lab | |
COS333 | Advanced Programming Techniques | Bob Dondero | Opportunity to design an app that solves a campus sustainability challenge |
EGR360 | Policy Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century | Jacob Shapiro | Opportunity to use case studies from Princeton's campus and surrounding communities as examples of how to solve the world's biggest problems |
MAE 228/EGR 228/CBE | Energy Technologies in the 21st Century | Lamyaa El-Gabry | Opportunity to explore Princeton's energy systems |
FRS152 | Nuclear Princeton: An Indigenous Approach to Science and the Environment | Ryo Morimoto | Revolves around the Nuclear Princeton Project. The assignments for the course will task students to engage with different parts of campus and reflect on its space and place, imagining its past, present, and future |
WRI116-7 | Sustainable Futures | Andrea L. DiGiorgio | |
EGR250-1/ EGR350-1/ EGR450-1 | Community Project Studios | Jessica J Leung Michael G. Littman Robert B. Van Varick | |
CEE477/ENE477 | Engineering Design for Sustainable Development | Siavash Isazadeh | |
ENV327 | Investigating an Ethos of Sustainability at Princeton | Shana Weber |
Examples of past projects: |
Additional Courses
For additional sustainability-related course information, consult course listings of the High Meadows Environmental Institute and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment
Research Questions
Browse our list of research questions for project ideas.
Fall 2021 Course Offerings
Course | Title | Instructor(s) | Details |
The Environmental Engineering of Buildings, Part I |
Opportunity to use Princeton buildings as a living lab | ||
Advanced Programming Techniques |
Offered annually in the Fall and Spring Spring 2018: Multiple waste-reduction apps Spring 2015: Campus Heat Map |
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Ecology: Species Interaction, Biodiversity, and Society |
Students have the opportunity to analyze species diversity, abundance, and interactions in several landscapes across campus with varying degrees of human disturbance such as campus green roofs, the Washington Stream, West Windsor Wildflower Garden, and Forbes Garden |
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ENV 200 |
The Environmental Nexus |
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Policy Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century | |||
Thermodynamics |
Opportunity to explore Princeton's energy systems |
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Energy Technologies in the 21st Century |
Lamyaa El-Gabry |
Opportunity to explore Princeton's energy systems |
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FRS 161 | How Green is Your Campus? | Adam C. Maloof, Frederik J. Simons |
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FRS 151 | Time Capsules for Climate Change, to be Opened at Your Reunions | Robert H. Socolow | |
WRI 116-7 | Sustainable Futures | Andrea L. DiGiorgio | |
ARC 573 | Pro Seminar: Computation, Energy, Technology in Architecture | Forrest M. Meggers | |
EGR250-1 / EGR 350-1 / EGR 450-1 | Community Project Studios | Jessica J Leung Michael G. Littman Robert B. Van Varick |
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EGR 488 / ENT 488 | Designing Ventures to Change the World | John D. Danner | |
ENE 321/ CEE 321/ENV 371 | Resource Recovery for a Circular Economy | Z. Jason Ren |
Past Course Offerings
Course | Title | Instructor(s) | Details |
The Environmental Engineering of Buildings, Part II |
Opportunity to use Princeton buildings as a living lab | ||
Exhibiting 'Nature's Nation': American Art, Ecology, and Environmental History |
Fall 2018 | ||
The Energy Water Nexus |
Opportunity to use Princeton water and energy systems as a living lab |
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Environmental Engineering and Energy |
Catherine Peters |
Opportunity to use Princeton's energy systems as a living lab |
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Hydrology |
Offered annually in the Spring A problem set involves analyzing hydrologic cycles and climatology through flux and surface exchange measurements from data loggers around campus. |
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Environmental Engineering Laboratory |
Spring 2017: Students explored the spatial and temporal variability of precipitation within a local watershed by conducting rainfall measurements across Princeton's campus. Although specific trends could not be reliably identified, data collected by rain gauges indicated a noticeable amount of variation in the amount of rainfall over the 2 kilometer span of campus. |
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Materials in Civil Engineering |
Spring 2018: Students experimented with sustainable concrete solutions. Spring 2017: Students experimented with sustainable concrete solutions. Cylindrical molds have been placed outside on campus and are being monitored for structural resiliency over time. |
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CEE 477/ENE 477 | Engineering Design for Sustainable Development | Z. Jason Ren | Opportunity to use Princeton's green roofs and other stormwater infrastructure as a living lab |
Advanced Programming Techniques |
Offered annually in the Fall and Spring Spring 2018: Multiple waste-reduction apps Spring 2015: Campus Heat Map |
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Designing Sustainable Systems - Applying the Science of Sustainability to Address Global Change |
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The Psychology of Environmental Decision Making |
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Agriculture, Human Diets, and the Environment |
Uses real data from campus dining and area farms to analyze sustainability of our food systems. |
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ENV 327 | Investigating an Ethos of Sustainability at Princeton | Shana Weber | |
ENV 330/ART 342 | The Ecocritical Exhibition: Pursuing Sustainability at the Princeton University Art Museum | Alan Braddock | Spring 2017 |
FRS |
State of the Earth: Shifts and Cycles |
Multi-year projects in which students used campus as a training ground to learn key geophysical field techniques that they later apply in various locations around the world to study environmental change and ancient societies. |
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GEO | Analyzing Ecological Integrity | Adam Maloof |
This student-initiated seminar started by Artemis Eyster '19 developed a natural stewardship framework for the new campus sustainability plan. Students set up long term monitoring of Princeton-owned natural areas and performed quantitative field work on unprotected forest patches to test and modify the existing methodology for determining the relative importance of each undeveloped natural area. |
MAE 328/EGR 328/ENV 328/ENE 328 | Energy for a Greenhouse-Constrained World | Lamyaa El-Gabry |
Opportunity to explore Princeton's energy systems |
WWS Junior Policy Task Force | Sustainability at Princeton University: Lessons for Campus and the World | Denise Mauzerall | Spring 2017 |
WWS Junior Policy Task Force | Development of Policy Initiatives for the Sustainable Use of Energy at Princeton University | Denise Mauzerall | Spring 2007 |
WWS 527 | Topics in Domestic Policy Analysis - Implementing Urban Economic Development | Steven Strauss | Opportunity to use Princeton (University and town) as a case study in questions of policy and sustainability |