Academics & Research
Sustainability in Research
At USF, research is a creative and ongoing collaboration between faculty and students, administrators, business and academic partners and our local community. Together we are an ever-stronger national research university that explores uncharted terrain, generates knowledge, unleashes innovation and changes lives. Check out on-going sustainability research below.
Greening our Lawns and Protecting the Bay
Student and faculty at USF are investigating using the nutrient rich effluent recovered from the university’s aerobic biodigester commonly known as The ORCA as a substitute to chemical fertilizers. This is a step towards closing the campus’ food life cycle and reduces our solid and liquid waste footprint. Initial work, at the USF Greenhouse, has shown that ORCA water contains enough nutrients to support growth of healthy grass. This research is partly funded by ORCA and The College of Arts & Sciences.
Contact John Osegovic or Jim Ivey to learn more / get involved with this research project.
Affiliated Sustainability research centers.
USF System is home to numerous research centers and institutes. Below is a list of research centers located at the Tampa campus that focus on sustainability issues.
Clean Energy Research Center
CERC pursues research and development of environmentally clean energy systems, such as photovoltaics (PV), concentrating solar power (CSP), energy storage (thermal storage, batteries, supercapacitors), photocatalytic detoxification/disinfection technologies, hydrogen production and solid state storage, new efficient thermodynamic cycles, solar energy conversion/rectifying antenna (rectenna), and biomass conversion/biofuels.
Center for Urban Transportation Research
CUTR is an internationally-recognized resource for transportation research, education and technology transfer/training/outreach. CUTR provides high quality, objective expertise in the form of insightful research, comprehensive training and education, effective technical assistance and in-depth policy analysis that assists and supports transportation agencies, communities, policymakers, and the public.
University of South Florida Center for Entrepreneurship
This is a multidisciplinary, campus-wide center focusing on entrepreneurial education, training, and research. By using innovative, interdisciplinary approaches, the center provides opportunities for graduate students in the fields of business, engineering, health sciences, and sustainability.
Center for Modeling Hydrologic and Aquatic Systems
The mission of the Center is to assist in the solution of water resource problems for local, state and federal governmental agencies, often working closely with or directly for private consulting firms with particularly challenging or specialized investigations. Center Director: Dr. Mark Ross