University of Houston
AC-9: Academic Research

See research inventory spreadsheet.

The Office of Sustainability staff started the inventory by using the existing sustainability research list, which was created by the student social media coordinator in the office because she was posting research projects regularly on social media. Then, the office staff searched the institution's website for additional sustainability research projects and compiled a list of possible projects for each college (based off of what was found on each department's webpage and the existing list). Each college was contacted individually to review the possible sustainability research projects that the team identified. Specifically, the staff in the Office contacted the dean, department chairs and the already identified faculty engaged in sustainability research or curriculum. Some colleges and departments appointed a liaison to review the research list, sent back the confirmed projects and added any additional projects that the Office staff missed. Other colleges and departments had individuals contact the Office staff directly regarding their specific sustainability research projects. (Departments were also contacted about sustainability courses during this process to avoid overlap since many faculty who teach in sustainability also conduct sustainability research.) After receiving responses from the colleges and departments, the Office of Sustainability staff compiled all of the feedback to create the complete sustainability research inventory. If a specific project was not confirmed by the dean, department chair or faculty member, the Office of Sustainability staff reviewed the project again and decided whether or not the research project could be considered sustainability research based off of the project description. The Office staff then met with the Division of Research and decided to only include ranked faculty (rather than also including lecturers, adjunct faculty and staff) for the total researchers count. A complete list of university researchers is not readily available and almost all ranked faculty are required to conduct research. Finally, the Division of Research pulled a list of grants from the university's research database based off of a list of sustainability keywords that the Office staff suggested. All of this information was compiled to produce the final research inventory.

The number used for all researchers include all ranked faculty (Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor). The average faculty headcount for the three years covered is 970.