University of Utah
IN-48: Innovation B

Innovation:
The Consortium for Dark Sky Studies, founded at the University of Utah in 2016, is the world’s first organization dedicated to the study of the night and the influence of human nighttime activities on the integrity of natural darkness. CDSS is creating a Journal for Dark Sky Studies, Dark Sky Curriculum and a Dark Sky minor.

Description:
Based at the University of Utah but affiliated with a number of colleges and universities, The Consortium for Dark Sky Studies (CDSS) is dedicated to the discovery, development, communication, and application of knowledge across a wide range of disciplines and professional fields pertaining to the quality of night skies, growing light pollution and the varied human, animal, and environmental responses to the “disappearing dark.” With its expansive institutional and disciplinary scope, CDSS examines both the science and culture of the night skies. CDSS hosted the International Dark Sky Association General Meeting (Nov 10-11, 2018) and the European research organization Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) conference (Nov 12-14, 2018) at Snowbird Resort. Projects of CDSS include launching a journal and developing a Dark Sky minor:

Journal of Dark Sky Studies
In August 2019, the University of Utah launched the first issue of The Journal of Dark Sky Studies (JDSS), a transdisciplinary journal that is the only academic publication In the world dedicated to understanding and protecting the night skies. JDSS made its debut at the 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference, Salt Lake City, UT Aug. 26-28, 2019. The journal will publish findings from the capstone cohort of students.
URL: http://epubs.utah.edu/index.php/jdss

Proposed Dark Sky Minor
URL: https://advising.utah.edu/majors/quick-look/dark-skies.php
CDSS has created three new dark sky courses that are the foundation for a proposed Dark Sky Minor withing the College of Architecture + Planning. In January 2019 the W. M. Keck Foundation awarded $250,000 to the University of Utah to establish a new undergraduate minor in dark sky studies, the first of its kind in the United States. The minor in dark sky studies seeks to expand a new pedagogical model for transdisciplinary undergraduate studies. While the minor is housed in the Department of Architecture + Planning, course instructors from across campus have formed a new cohort of scholars in dark sky studies, providing them a platform for collaborating with peers from other institutions. New core courses developed for the minor include
• CMP 3850: Dark Sky Studies: Lightscapes (Attribute: SUSC)
• CMP 3851: Dark Sky Studies: Nightscapes (Attribute: SUSC)
• CMP 3852: Dark Sky Studies: Capstone Seminar

ATTACHMENT
Journal of Dark Sky Studies Prologue, Summer 2019.

SOURCES
Lisa Potter, “University of Utah Launches First-Ever Journal of Dark Sky Studies, UNews, August 27, 2019, ”https://unews.utah.edu/journal-of-dark-sky-studies/

"Keck Foundation Funds U Dark Sky Studies", Imagine: The University of Utah Development Newsletter, Spring 2019. https://giving.utah.edu/imagine/keck-foundation-funds-u-dark-sky-studies/

Lisa Potter, “Dark Skies Studies: Utah’s Untapped Natural Resource,” Continuum, Spring 2019. https://continuum.utah.edu/features/dark-skies/

“World’s First Academic Center Dedicated to Dark Sky Studies,” International Dark Sky Association, February 14, 2017. https://www.darksky.org/worlds-first-academic-center-dedicated-to-dark-sky-studies/

RESEARCH
Adam, Dalton & Brian Pinkston, Fade to black: the impact of dark skies actions within the Colorado plateau region, CMP Capstone 2018 https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s67m4vs2

Barentine, John, David Kieda, Stephen Goldsmith, Bettymaya Foott, and Janet Muir. "The Consortium for Dark Sky Studies: A Transdisciplinary Institute for Understanding the Loss of the Night." In American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts# 231, vol. 231. 2018.

Jellen, Nathan, Rediscovering the Urban Nightscape: an inventory of Moab and Grand County's Publicly-owned lighting fixtures, CMP Capstone 2018, https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s63v441p

Kyba, Christopher CM, Sara B. Pritchard, A. Roger Ekirch, Adam Eldridge, Andreas Jechow, Christine Preiser, Dieter Kunz et al. "Night Matters–Why the Interdisciplinary Field of “Night Studies” is Needed." J: Multidisciplinary Scientific Journal, 2020, 3(1), 1-6; https://doi.org/10.3390/j3010001

Mendoza DL, Kieda DB, Harwood SA, Seth A, Ganesan V, Magargal K, Tsoutsounakis E, Cleeves JJ, and Goldsmith S, "Consortium for Dark Sky Studies Efforts Towards Improving Astronomical Observations", presented at the 235th American Astronomical Society Annual Meeting, January 8, 2020.