Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 51.51
Liaison Kirk Hemphill
Submission Date Feb. 12, 2024

STARS v2.2

Florida Institute of Technology
AC-9: Research and Scholarship

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 12.00 / 12.00 Ken Lindeman
Professor, Sustainability Studies
Ocean Engineering & Marine Sciences
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total number of employees that conduct research:
265

Number of employees engaged in sustainability research:
184

Percentage of employees that conduct research that are engaged in sustainability research:
69.43

Total number of academic departments that include at least one employee who conducts research:
11

Number of academic departments that include at least one employee who conducts sustainability research:
11

Percentage of departments that conduct research that are engaged in sustainability research:
100

A copy of the inventory of the institution’s sustainability research (upload):
Inventory of the institution’s sustainability research:

See attached Excel file.


A brief description of the methodology the institution followed to complete the research inventory:

- This information is for Academic Year 2020-2021 to 2022-2023. Faculty representing all academic units (including departments and colleges) on the Academic Workgroup of the Univ. Sustainability Council coordinated to build the list using criteria from the Terms and Conditions for credit AC-9.
- The workgroup examined their academic unit's faculty lists and web-based faculty profiles, queried faculty and department heads as needed, and/or examined other university research web resources for sustainability research as defined below. Total number of employees doing research was estimated by counting all faculty and research faculty in each academic unit in the university catalogs for 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23, and dividing by three.
- Per STARS guidance, any level of sustainability research was sufficient to be included for this credit, and faculty who conduct both sustainability research and other research were included.
- We used the following definitions from the STARS Technical Manual for AC-9 (in terms of sustainability challenges, we considered UN SDG targets):
a) Sustainability research: research and scholarship that explicitly addresses the concept of sustainability, furthers our understanding of the interdependence of ecological and social/economic systems, or has a primary and explicit focus on a major sustainability challenge.
b) Sustainability challenges: AASHE defines sustainability in a pluralistic and inclusive way, encompassing human and ecological health, social justice, secure livelihoods, and a better world for all generations. Major sustainability challenges include (but are not limited to) climate change, global poverty and inequality, natural resource depletion, and environmental degradation. To identify additional sustainability challenges, it may be helpful to reference the principles outlined in the Earth Charter and/or the targets embedded in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Academic Workgroup members: K. Lindeman, T. Reza, G. Nelson, J. Wildman, B. Wheeler, T. Muth, H. Hatfield-Edwards.


Website URL where information about the institution’s sustainability research is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

This information is for Academic Year 2020-2021 through 2022-2023, see methods above. Data from Melbourne campus only, not Online or Extended Studies programs.


The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.