Ramaswami recognized for pioneering study of sustainable urban systems and environments

Anu Ramaswami, an interdisciplinary environmental engineer and leader on the topic of sustainable urban systems, has received the 2022 Steven K. Dentel AEESP Award for Global Outreach from the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP).

Ramaswami, Princeton’s Sanjay Swani ’87 Professor of India Studies, civil and environmental engineering and the High Meadows Environmental Institute, was recognized by AEESP for her research, teaching and mentoring that have influenced “science, students and real-world policies that impact the lives of people in cities in the U.S., India and China.” The association went on to cite Ramaswami’s “technological advancements to transform cities to sustainable urban systems. She pioneered the field of sustainable urban systems science to draw the connections between the built environment” and multiple sustainability outcomes.

Ramaswami is the inaugural director of Princeton’s Chadha Center for Global India and leads the Urban Nexus Lab, which explores how seven key sectors — providing water, energy, food, buildings, mobility, connectivity, waste management, and green and public spaces — shape human and environmental well-being, from local to global scales. Her work integrates environmental science and engineering, industrial ecology, public health and public affairs, with a human-centered and systems focus.

Ramaswami is the lead principal investigator and director of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported Sustainable Healthy Cities Network and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s project on Sustainable Urban Food Actions at the Food-Energy-Water Nexus. She serves on the United Nations Environment Programme’s International Resource Panel and the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project, and chairs the upcoming Gordon Conference on Industrial Ecology. She has served on the NSF’s Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education. She is also the recipient of the 2022 Science Award from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists.

Ramaswami received her B.S. in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in Chennai and her Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. She was on the faculty of the Colorado School of Mines, the University of Colorado-Denver and the University of Minnesota before joining Princeton in 2019.