Policy makers at all levels of governance increasingly look to scientists and engineers to provide guidance in creating sustainable societies.  In response, the science and engineering communities are undertaking practical, place-based research to provide decision-support for addressing sustainability challenges.  Within academia, this research is increasingly emerging as its own field of study:  Science and Technology for Sustainability, or Sustainability Science.  There seems to be, however, little coherence in the development of this field across institutions and international borders.  Whether a program is well established and funded or just being conceived, all of these sustainability science programs have faced, or are facing, challenges and barriers to success.  Sharing experiences with these barriers and possible approaches for overcoming them is a critical prerequisite for large-scale development of this field.

To help encourage this dialogue, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) called on its international, multidisciplinary network of scientists and engineers who are engaged in sustainability science at the university-level.  This document contains empirical data about these these programs.

This document formed the basis for a roundtable discussion at the 2007 AAAS Annual Meeting to provide a forum for sharing experiences.  The notes from that discussion can be downloaded at:  http://sustsci.aaas.org/files/Roundtable_discussion.doc