CAL Courses

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

ARC515

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:

Fall 2017

Fall 2016

 

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

ARC 514

The Environmental Engineering of Buildings, Part I

Mahadev Raman

Opportunity to use Princeton buildings as a living lab

COS 333

Advanced Programming Techniques

Bob Dondero

Offered annually in the Fall and Spring

Spring 2018:  Multiple waste-reduction apps

Spring 2015: Campus Heat Map

EEB 321

Ecology:  Species Interaction, Biodiversity, and Society

Rob Pringle

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 StreamWest Windsor Wildflower Garden, and Forbes Garden

ENV 200

The Environmental Nexus

Steve Pacala

Spring 2018

Spring 2017

ERG 360

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 221/ENE 221

Thermodynamics

Lamyaa El-Gabry

Opportunity to explore Princeton's energy systems

MAE 228/EGR 228/CBE 228/ENE 228

Energy Technologies in the 21st Century

Lamyaa El-Gabry

Opportunity to explore Princeton's energy systems

FRS 161 How Green is Your Campus? Adam C. Maloof,
Frederik J. Simons
 
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
 
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

ARC 515

The Environmental Engineering of Buildings, Part II

Mahadev Raman

Opportunity to use Princeton buildings as a living lab

ART 470 / AMS 470 / ENV 470 (LA)

Exhibiting 'Nature's Nation': American Art, Ecology, and Environmental History

Karl E. Kusserow

Fall 2018

CBE 335/MAE 338/ENV 335/ENE 335

The Energy Water Nexus

Eric Larson

Opportunity to use Princeton water and energy systems as a living lab

CEE 304/ENE 304/ENV 300

Environmental Engineering and Energy

Catherine Peters

Opportunity to use Princeton's energy systems as a living lab

CEE 306

Hydrology

James Smith

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.

CEE 308

Environmental Engineering Laboratory

Elie Bou-Zeid

James Smith

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.

CEE 364/ARC 364

Materials in Civil Engineering

Claire White

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.

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

COS 333

Advanced Programming Techniques

Brian Kernighan

Offered annually in the Fall and Spring

Spring 2018:  Multiple waste-reduction apps

Spring 2015: Campus Heat Map

ENE 202/ARC 208/EGR 208/ENV 206

Designing Sustainable Systems - Applying the Science of Sustainability to Address Global Change

Forrest Meggers

Spring 2015

Spring 2017

ENE 561/WWS 586C

The Psychology of Environmental Decision Making

Sander van der Linden

Spring 2016

Spring 2015

ENV 303/ EEB 303

Agriculture, Human Diets, and the Environment

Dan Rubenstein

Uses real data from campus dining and area farms to analyze sustainability of our food systems.

Spring 2018 projects

ENV 327 Investigating an Ethos of Sustainability at Princeton Shana Weber

Fall 2017

Fall 2016

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

Earth’s Environments and Ancient Civilizations

Earth's Changing Surface & Climate

Adam Maloof

Frederik Simons

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.

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