University of California, San Diego
AC-9: Research and Scholarship

The 2024 Sustainability Research Inventory presented in this section is a compilation of all sustainability research performed during the 2023-2024 academic year.  

The methodology for identifying the total number of faculty members engaged in sustainability research was updated and enhanced from earlier report submissions and involved a thorough review of UC San Diego’s previous inventories; multiple internal delegations and with UC San Diego’s Tableau Team; and a rigorous comparison between recommended sustainability keywords.

Initially, UC San Diego staff thoroughly filtered and reviewed previous research inventories to establish a working, foundational database. This involved both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to ensure standards parallel those described in the relevant technical manual section. Qualitative methods such as document analysis and related best practices were performed. Similarly, quantitative research approaches included collecting and analyzing relevant data, while performing best practices regarding structured data collection and similar efforts; this ensured an organized and accurate initial dataset.  

Alongside the review of previous inventories, staff established a working relationship with the UC San Diego Tableau Team, allowing the validation and visualization of metrics throughout the research process. Tableau is an interactive data visualization software, which is utilized by UC San Diego to consolidate and display data related to information such as research and grants.  

Because the above metrics do not capture the full range of sustainability research at UC San Diego, the efforts described were then supplemented by a review of faculty websites; and news releases associated with various on-campus organizations and departments were examined to identify additional faculty. The official AASHE STARS sustainability keywords were used during the Tableau phase, along with this one, to identify how the research addresses sustainability. Additionally, each faculty's research was evaluated to determine to what degree it incorporated the ecological, social, and economic components of sustainability, and/or whether it addressed a sustainability challenge. Because of the novel methodology described above regarding the use of keywords in Tableau, staff were able to ensure consistency within the respective inventory. For the sake of time, staff deliberated and chose to only use keywords in this context, maintaining the three required columns in the AC-9 Inventory: researcher name, department affiliation, and research. 

During the research period, UC San Diego Staff had multiple meetings with School of Medicine (SOM) representatives. These meetings allowed Staff to clarify how to best represent the SOM for STARS purposes. After careful and calculated research and discussion, it was deemed best practice to represent the UC San Diego SOM as one department in the information presented herein. Within the SOM sub-departments, universal courses are offered to all medical students, spanning all SOM disciplines. Similarly, longitudinal courses allow fluidity for medical students and build upon the interdisciplinary, comprehensive education offered by the SOM. These points highlight the flexible nature of the SOM experience at UC San Diego, ultimately guiding Staff to represent it as one department. 

Similarly, because of its interdisciplinary and interconnectedness between sub-departments, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) is indicated as one department herein. Indeed, students within relevant SIO departments have the same fluidity described above for SOM students, ultimately fostering an interdisciplinary, comprehensive education. Within the inventory, any sub-departments have been indicated and are expressed for detail, but ultimately fall under SIO as one department as described. 

Beyond the basic methods of data/information gathering described herein, staff also utilized and explored sources such as relevant news articles, committees, and the like to ensure key faculty leading in sustainability research at UC San Diego were identified and included appropriately. Once a draft of the AC-9 initial inventory was completed, staff had multiple delegations internally and with the Tableau Team described above to ensure its accuracy related to STARS requirements.