The US-Brazil Sustainability Consortium (USBSC) promotes sustainability by sharing knowledge among universities, university- and community-based research centers and institutes, public agencies, not-for-profit entities, and communities. It implements the SFTA’s innovative consortia model that integrates diverse sectors (international experts, sustainably-committed universities, and local experts and community leaders), overlays local and international immersion sustainability experiences, and applies sustainability knowledge in local and international service learning projects. It also implements the SFTA model’s parallel academic and project funding streams; and its nested sustainability curriculum. The USBSC uses Ball State’s global media network and digital media classroom teleconferencing to provide introductory international experiences, teach sustainability course content to help acculturate students for upcoming international exchanges, and prepare Ball State students and students in partner institutions to participate effectively in USBSC international collaborative local-global partnerships
Its institution partners include Ball State University (BSU) and the University of Texas at Austin (UT) in the United States; and the Federal Center of Technological Education–Parana (CEFET-PR), the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS). Non-institutional partners include the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems (CMPBS) in the U.S. and the Technology Institute of Parana (Tecpar) in Brazil.
In 2004-2005, the USBSC (in its second year) provided exchange scholarships for four Ball State students exchanging in Brazil (approximately $4000 each). This included landscape architecture students Sara Wendelin (MLA), Thomas Fettig (BLA) and Joshua Smith (BLA), and Natural Resources student Chelsea Cohen. A parallel Brazilian Department of Education program funded CEFET student Rafael Lopez’s study in CAP in Spring 2005. In Spring 2006 (third year of FIPSE funding) five Brazilian students are expected to exchange at Ball State and two Ball State students are anticipated to exchange in Brazil.
Students at USBSC institutions who are interested in an international student exchange through the consortium are invited to apply to the program.
Project Overview
- Project Director: John L. Motloch, Professor and Director, BSU Land Design Institute
- Department/Faculty: Department of Landscape Architecture, Ball State University , R. Wayne Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning, Muncie, IN 47306, Tel: 765-285-7561, Fax: 765-285-1983
- Title: US-Brazil Sustainability Consortium
- Partners: Ball State University, IN; University of Texas at Austin, TX; Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, TX; Federal Center of Technological Education, PR; Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, RS; Technology Institute of Parana, PR.
- Grant No.: P116M030006
- Total Funding Estimate: 4 Years, $203,948
Project Details
A major challenge exists to produce (cities, communities, buildings, food, products) in ways that are sustainable (environmentally responsible, socially equitable, and economically viable). As societies embrace sustainability, those in developed regions focus most on environmental responsibility, while those in developing regions focus more on social and economic aspects. Sustainability requires that all three be addressed; and addressing all three becomes more challenging as physical planners and designers increasingly produce solutions for environments, people, and economies (within their country and globally) that are profoundly different than those in which they live. This program increases student abilities to make sustainable decisions in diverse contexts within their own country and in other countries. Through a hierarchically structured curriculum and project-based learning the US-Brazil Sustainability Consortium builds upon the education that students receive in their professional degree programs. It provides classroom content and community-based sustainability application experiences in the host country very different from their previous experiences. These include international experiences that prepare students for later work in diverse (physical, cultural, economic) environments in their own country, host country, or other countries. Students participating in the project will include advanced undergraduate planning, design, and engineering students (most in their last two years of study) and graduate students (most in their final year of study). Goals of the program include 1) improving the ability of academic programs to educate students to lead their professions and broader communities to sustainable and regenerative planning, design, and engineering solutions, 2) overcoming barriers to student accessibility, and 3) leveraging FIPSE-CAPES funding with project funding (by others) to recruit students, prepare them academically and with language skills, provide supervision, facilitate student and teacher exchanges, and extend existing inter-institutional relationships and exchange programs. This project includes assessment of student mobility, language learning, cultural engagement and the three levels of the program's sustainability curriculum.
Addressing Environmental and Social Needs of Metropolitan Region of Curitiba: An integrated solution of the US-Brazil Sustainability Consortium
Project Contacts
John L. Motloch (US Lead)
Professor and Director, BSU Land Design Institute
Department/Faculty: Department of Landscape Architecture
Ball State University
R. Wayne Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning
Muncie, IN 47306
Phone: 765-285-7561
Fax: 765-285-1983
David Gibson
Program Director for Fellows, Publications, and Conferences and
The Nadya Kozmetsky Scott Centennial Fellow
IC² Institute
The University of Texas at Austin
2815 San Gabriel
Austin, TX 78705
Phone: 512-475-8900
Fax: 512-475-8901
E-mail: dgibson@utexas.edu
Eloy Fassi Casagrande Jr.
Postgraduate Program in Technology (PPGTE - Master degree) and Civil Construction Department (DACOC)
Federal Center of Technological Education of Parana
Av. Sete de Setembro, 3165
Curitiba, Parana 80230-901
Phone: +55 (41) 310-4719
Fax: +55 (41) 310-4712
E-mail: fassi@ppgte.ainfo.cefetpr.br
Ivan Gilberto Borges Mizoguchi, Architect
Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism
Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio Grande do Sul - PUC-RS
Av. Ipiranga 6681, Predio 09
Porto Alegre, RS 90619-900
Phone: +55 (51) 3320-3547
Fax: +55 (51) 3320-3564
E-mail: arquitectura@pucrs.br