This article was originally published by Allison Sylte in The Source on July 31, 2026. Read the original article here.
Between the innovations happening on the Powerhouse Energy Campus, cutting-edge wildfire research and the host of environmental initiatives that happen on campus, Colorado State University is a global leader in sustainability.
That’s why the CSU School of Sustainable Futures and Climate Hub were logical co-hosts for the third annual National Sustainability Society Conference, which will take place Aug. 17-19 at CSU Spur.
More than 400 sustainability professionals from around the world will converge at this unique campus in the heart of the National Western Center for three days of discussions surrounding solutions to society’s most pressing problems.
“With over 500 faculty and staff dedicated to climate-related challenges, and top places in national and international sustainability and climate rankings, CSU is a recognized leader in this field,” said Veera Mitzner, the director of the Climate Hub at CSU Spur. “As an engaged land-grant university, we also have a long history in use-driven research and work with communities, which directly aligns with the efforts of the NSS to facilitate conversations across sectors.”
Two dozen researchers associated with CSU are slated to give presentations on topics ranging from AI to change management to wildfires.
Here’s a preview of what you’ll hear from three of those scientists.
How can AI be more sustainable?
Erika Gallegos, an associate professor of systems engineering at CSU, has spent her career pondering how humans and technology can co-exist.
Her previous research has focused on distracted driving and the use of self-driving vehicles, but with the explosion of artificial intelligence technologies, she’s pivoted into determining how to apply systems engineering concepts to the development of new AI models.
“We’re not necessarily thinking about how to create the most accurate, the most powerful AI, but instead, we’re taking a systems thinking lens and realizing that AI does not operate in isolation,” she said. “It has effects on people and privacy, not to mention ethical and environmental considerations.”
For her, making AI sustainable doesn’t just involve minimizing the energy and water use of data centers. It’s also thinking about how these facilities impact the people who live nearby, and the economic consequences of creating classes of people who have access to AI tools and those who don’t.
“I’m excited that people care about sustainability from an environmental standpoint, but we need to make sure decision makers consider the people side as well,” she said.
“For instance, think about the concerns that AI is going to replace jobs; from my perspective, our response has to be shifting humans into roles that we’re better at, and using AI for what it’s good at, but giving humans the final say since we’re better at making ethical judgments and thinking about the consequences of life-or-death decisions.”
The good news? Gallegos is adamant that “sustainable AI can exist if we’re thoughtful about it,” but that requires weighing all of the interconnected entities that get impacted by a rapidly changing world.
“We need to optimize our decisions so that fewer people are harmed,” she said.
What are the challenges associated with conducting the prescribed burns that are vital for forest health?
Wildfires are necessary for forest health, but uncontrolled blazes can cause property loss and impact air quality for thousands of miles. That’s why prescribed burns are an incredibly valuable tool for forest maintenance, though they come with their own set of challenges.
Michelle Greiner, a senior researcher for the Public Lands Policy Group at CSU, is focused on learning how to help agencies work together to better operationalize prescribed burns on public lands and minimize the health impacts of potential smoke. Her most recent research focused specifically on California, but she says her findings have applications across the American West.
“The thing we heard the most was the biggest barrier to prescribed burns wasn’t navigating regulations as much as it was the limited workforce,” Greiner said.
She added that in California, land managers had difficulty staffing prescribed burns because most firefighters were already responding to active wildfires. In addition, Greiner said it takes a lot of steps to gain approval for prescribed burns, including writing a detailed plan, obtaining air quality permits, hiring backup staff, getting a permit for the burn itself and finding someone to manage the operation.
“Prescribed burns are important, but making them happen takes a village,” she said. “This research highlighted the need for sustained investments in workforce development and the importance of maintaining strong interagency partnerships.”
Greiner’s most recent study involved conducting 24 interviews with prescribed fire and air quality experts, including land managers, regulators and different agency partners. She says future research will require additional conversations surrounding wildfire decision-making and forest governance.
“As a researcher, I’m grateful that we’re able to enter these spaces with federal agencies and state agencies and ask some tough questions, and I’m always thankful that people can talk with me and share their honest opinions,” she said. “Hopefully these conversations can continue to make meaningful change going forward.”
How can you make chemical processes better for the environment?
If you spend enough time talking to Reza Nazemi, you’ll hear a very similar refrain.
“We want to transform our industry from a linear economy to a circular economy,” said Nazemi, an assistant professor in CSU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and School of Materials Science and Engineering.
His research focuses on leveraging renewable energy sources to drive the chemical reactions needed to produce substances such as synthetic ammonia-based fertilizers, which pump three tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for every one ton that’s produced.
“That’s not sustainable by any means,” Nazemi said.
That’s why he works to create electrochemical systems that rely on solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric and even nuclear power to replace the current methods used to combine hydrogen and nitrogen to create ammonia, as well as innovate new ways to expand the lifecycle of these synthetic substances.
For instance, Nazemi says the use of fertilizer often leads to nitrates leaching into water systems, which, in addition to causing potential health issues for surrounding communities, also wastes a significant amount of the nitrogen that farmers rely on to nourish their crops.
His team is developing methods to leverage nitrogen in wastewater and turn it into useful compounds – like fertilizer – and bring it back into the cycle: once again, making a linear economy circular.
“We call this waste to wealth: It essentially means you’re turning something that was going into waste streams back into valuable compounds that help generate revenue for farmers and keep greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere,” he said.
Nazemi said he’s inspired by work that combines scientific discovery with real-world impact, and CSU’s Powerhouse Energy Campus has provided the perfect venue for just that.
“This research is really touching people’s lives,” he said. “It’s science, but we want to eventually bring it to life and into the real world to help the environment and make businesses more profitable by reducing waste.“
