From 21st to 24th April 2013, IESD was privileged to havet Prof. Slav Hermanowicz, from University of California, with an expertise in Civil and Environmental Engineering to give lectures for the students.

In the three-day intensive courses, Prof. Slav engaged the masters and PhD students in interactive lectures on Land, Water, and Soil, with key issues in the availability and protection of water resources, through case studies, lively debates and exercises. He proposed that the framework of sustainability needs to be explained from three angles: the sphere, time horizon and metrics. After listening to the elaboration of sustainability, students also put forward their own understanding of sustainable goals, and voted to select the most concerned six aspects of sustainable development. Finally, effective use of water resources, implementation of green building, ecological cultural education, solid waste management, green transportation with renewable energy, air quality control has been selected as the most concerned sustainable goals.

After the lecture, IESD students interviewed Prof. Slav on the International Student Conference on Environment and Sustainability held in Tongji University on 5th-8th June, 2013. Prof. Slav has expressed his expection and hope for the young generation, and also gave his wishes for the success of the conference.