Christopher X J. Jensen
Professor, Pratt Institute

Marvin Charton, Pratt professor and renowned computational chemist, is dead at 80

Posted 15 Apr 2012 / 3

My most senior colleague in the Department of Mathematics and Science at Pratt Institute, Marvin Charton, died on Thursday, April 12th. He was nearly 81 years old and had been a professor at Pratt Institute for over 56 years. Marvin was a renowned computational chemist who used correlation analysis to study chemical structure-property relationships, and Read More

Chemistry, Department of Mathematics & Science, Obituary, Pratt Institute

Green Week events celebrate cycling and recycling

Posted 30 Mar 2012 / 0

This year’s Green Week celebration brought the return of two regular events, an Envirolutions project to help make Pratt’s campus more sustainable and the return of the NYC Department of Transportation to give away free helmets. Envirolutions’ latest project is a collaboration with the Student Government Association to purchase a series of outdoor recycling bins designed to separate waste destined for the Read More

Envirolutions, Pratt Institute, Resource Consumption, Sustainability, Sustainable Pratt, Sustainable Transportation

2012 Sustainability Crash Course at Pratt Institute

Posted 25 Mar 2012 / 1

For the second year in a row I participated in Pratt Institute’s Crash Course in sustainability, sponsored by the Center for Sustainable Design Studies. I once again gave my talk entitled “Ecosystems: Where they came from, how they work, and why they stick around“. Beyond speaking, I also got to attend a variety of interesting Read More

Art & Design, Biomes, Center for Sustainable Design Studies, Conferences, Conservation Biology, Ecology, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Justice, Green Design, Greenwashing, Life Cycle Analysis, Population Growth, Pratt Institute, Public Policy, Quantitative Analysis, Sustainability, Sustainable Pratt

Science in Art & Design: Justin Taylor’s “The Gospel of Anarchy”

Posted 07 Oct 2011 / 0

There are so many science books that I want to read that I frequently neglect to read fiction. This is too bad, because good fiction can be as rich with interesting hypotheses about human nature and evolution as any book illuminating evolutionary theory. Towards the end of thinking about how my field informs and can Read More

Books, Cooperation, Cultural Evolution, Evolutionary Psychology, Fiction, Group Selection, Happiness, Human Evolution, Human Nature, Multilevel Selection, Pratt Institute, School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Science in Art & Design, Superorganisms

Pratt Envirolutions trumpets green initiatives during Pratt’s Green Week celebration

Posted 01 Apr 2011 / 0

This week Pratt’s Envirolutions club took its campaign for waste reduction on campus to the annual Green Week celebration. Tabling for two days, the club had two main projects. The first was a continuation of a campaign kicked off earlier in the semester to promote CulinArt’s Green Container program and other sustainable cafeteria initiatives. The Read More

Envirolutions, Food, Resource Consumption, Sustainability, Sustainable Pratt

Pratt Envirolutions leads campaign for reusable containers

Posted 14 Feb 2011 / 0

Like many educational institutions, Pratt contracts with an outside vendor to provide its cafeteria services. Our vendor is CulinArt, which operates Pratt’s main cafeteria, the Pie Shop, and a series of smaller food stands across campus. If you want to cater an event on Pratt’s campus, CulinArt also provides these services. Since I joined the Read More

Center for Sustainable Design Studies, Envirolutions, Food, Resource Consumption, Sustainability

Steven Chillrud Visit to Pratt Institute

Posted 17 Sep 2010 / 0

Steve Chillrud with his Pratt host, Associate Professor Damon Chaky of the Department of Mathematics & Science Every year, Pratt Institute’s School of Liberal Arts and Sciences hosts a “scholar-in-residence” who spends a few days on campus giving talks and workshops to faculty and students. The honor of selecting a scholar-in-residence rotates between the three Read More

Data Limitation, Department of Mathematics & Science, Environmental Justice, Experiments (General), Pollution, Pratt Institute, Public Policy, Urban Ecology

Quantitative Sustainability and the practice of Life Cycle Analysis

Posted 01 Jun 2009 / 1

Pratt Institute, where my primary duties are to teach students about ecology and evolution, is undergoing a green revolution. In many ways this is not all that remarkable: many campuses are “greening” themselves and at least pitching the idea that they are becoming more sustainable. At Pratt, there’s something slightly different going on: we aren’t Read More

A Major Post, Center for Sustainable Design Studies, Greenwashing, Life Cycle Analysis, Pratt Institute, Quantitative Analysis, Sustainability