Sustainable Communities & Critical Infrastructure

In research that seeks to address the challenges of the urban population, the academic investigators of UTSA work to identify and address educational and social concerns that mire generations of Americans.

Working in the multicultural city of San Antonio, on a university campus that is diverse and reflective of the evolving population trends, UTSA researchers are uniquely positioned to effectively analyze and study these social and educational issues.

UTSA research in this area focuses on the following overarching themes:

• Immigration and border issues
• Global impacts
• Poverty, inequality and upward mobility
• Educational attainment
• Health disparity issues

The research compiled by the Bank of America Child and Adolescent Policy Research Institute funded in part through a $1 million endowment by the Bank of America Charitable Foundation in 2007, and the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research (IDSR) are examples of the kind of important studies led by faculty and students at UTSA.

UTSA researchers are working collaboratively and conducting research in a variety of areas:

• Life cycle analysis
• Water studies: treatment/re-use, conservation & drought
• Water-energy nexus
• Low impact developments
• Governmental structure
• Aspects of changing culture
• Anthropology
• Climate change, forecasting climate change
• Sustainable community and economic development
• Smart grids, cyber-physical systems/embedded security

The University is working with local, regional, state, and national organizations to identify and address the best ways to provide for the critical needs of communities while promoting sustainability and economic development now and in the future.