Education

The education component of the mission at the Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy includes undergraduate and graduate course offerings on the topics of sustainability and energy. The Institute also offers an undergraduate certificate, consisting of the three core undergraduate courses and four electives from a pre-approved selection of 60+ offerings.

The Institute's unique, interdisciplinary approach to education involves team teaching, drawing faculty from a variety of schools at the University. Institute courses attract students throughout the University, from the physical sciences and engineering to journalism, the social sciences, music, business, and communication.  

In addition to the current undergraduate sequence (ISEN 210, ISEN 220 and ISEN 230) and graduate sequence (ISEN 410, ISEN 430), ISEN offers "Special Topics" courses at both the undergraduate (ISEN 390) and graduate (ISEN 495) levels as they become available.

"ISEN has been central to my Northwestern experience, both as a student and an alum. I am lucky to have worked with and for ISEN in my coursework, research, study abroad, and extracurriculars."

- Mark Silberg, WCAS '14
Founder and Executive Director, Spark Clean Energy

A summary of energy and sustainability course offerings across all of Northwestern's schools is available here.