Of the 11 students in Engineering Prof. Steven Wright’s UC 275 course, only one is in the College of Engineering — a fact Wright said showcases the increasing interdisciplinary nature of sustainability efforts at the University.

In recent years, a growing number of students and professors from all fields of study have demonstrated an interest in environmental affairs, according to University professors and officials. To meet the increased demand for sustainable efforts, a variety of classes and programs have been instituted at the University that utilize skills from multiple disciplines.

Wright’s class includes a month-long trip to Liberia this July, where students will develop a sustainability assessment for a Liberian community and explore possible links between renewable energy sources and farming. This is Wright’s third year leading the program. He took students to Patagonia in southern South America to study hydropower in 2008 and 2009.

Despite the lack of engineering students in his class, Wright said he understands why students from across the University are inclined to enroll given its interactive approach and international component.

“You can talk about things in a lecture setting, and that’s a satisfactory way to learn,” he said. “But if you can learn something about a very particular issue and then go talk to people who might be directly involved in it on a day-to-day basis, it becomes a much more powerful learning experience.”

Apart from being a popular option for students to study abroad, the course emphasizes the University’s attention to sustainability research, which, according to University researchers and research administrators, is growing in scale and scope.

At the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute, integrated assessments — studies that devise solutions to directed environmental problems with the aid of policymakers — have expanded the scope of issues the University can address, according to Don Scavia, the Institute’s director.

Scavia said he is optimistic about the research the University’s faculty is currently conducting on sustainability.

“We’ve hit the sweet spot in where we ought to be going and what we ought to be doing,” Scavia said.

Scavia, who also serves as University President Mary Sue Coleman’s special counsel on sustainability, said one such assessment culminated in the $14 million sustainability plan Coleman announced last September.

Larissa Larsen, associate professor of urban planning and of landscape, is conducting research for two additional Integrated Assessments, including a study on how midsize cities in the Great Lakes region can adapt to climate change in the coming years.

Larsen — in collaboration with colleagues and students from the School of Natural Resources and Environment, the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, the School of Public Health and the College of Engineering — is surveying policymakers in Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Marquette, Mich. and Milwaukee, Wisc., about their concerns with environmental issues.

The team has also been canvassing random residents in the cities to seek their opinions on prominent environmental topics highlighted by legislators, including precipitation and temperature. Larsen said the team will then conduct research about the issues in those cities and analyze the input from lawmakers and citizens to make policy recommendations.

Larsen is also studying the links between transportation and sustainably grown food in parts of Ypsilanti. Since the areas of Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township are among the poorest in Washtenaw County, Larsen said she and Joe Grengs, associate professor of urban and regional planning, are looking at the feasibility of bringing local vendors of sustainably grown food to bus stops and stations.

“Working in this multi-disciplinary way is really important for these kinds of pressing concerns and questions for how these communities make good choices,” Larsen said.