Goal

The first goal of the CLDBES program was to develop a multidisciplinary and multicultural perspective of built environment sustainability—a subdiscipline focused on creating and managing buildings and infrastructure in such a way that enhances the well-being of people and places. To do so, we partnered with a professor in construction management at our university and a president of a professional society in engineering (i.e., American Society of Thermal and Fluid Engineers, ASTFE) to recruit graduate students who were diverse in terms of gender, race/ethnicity, and STEM discipline (e.g., human resources, engineering, architecture, kinesiology) to take part in a 9-month program that involved completing a research project on a topic broadly related to built environmental sustainability (e.g., building energy and automation, sustainable urban design and land use, indoor air quality, sustainable construction). Graduate students conducted their research in an international context (e.g., Singapore, Japan) while completing a series of leadership and professional development activities (e.g., training modules on interpersonal communication and team management) and received mentorship from a U.S. mentor and research advisor at a partnering international university where cultural/organizational site visits were hosted.

Lesson

In collecting feedback about their international research experiences, several students commented on the eye-opening and developmental nature of expanding their own disciplinary views by working in different national contexts and with colleagues from different cultural backgrounds. For example, some students of the third cohort were from social and environmental science backgrounds immersed in primarily engineering-focused disciplines at Kyushu University. One student noted:

This particular student—a doctoral student in leadership and human resource development—ultimately developed an interest in understanding the impact of green spaces on job satisfaction through her research on city employees in Japan.

Implication

As mentioned by Kühner et al., the topic of environmental sustainability has yet to realize its full potential, and as illustrated by the quote above, I-O psychologists can contribute toward that end if they open themselves up to do so. Our experience from the CLDBES program demonstrates that when I-O psychologists step out of their silos to partner with scholars and practitioners from different disciplines who prioritize sustainability, there are limitless possibilities to generate new disciplinary knowledge and culturally relevant practices can be developed to benefit to societies.

To illustrate this with a fun (but real) example, one of our engineering contacts at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, arranged a site visit for faculty and students to a company that provides green air solutions. In one instance, we were invited to an idea generation room where employees pitch ideas for new products. One of the I-O psychologists present privately asked a question that surprised our tour guide, “I know that you do research to test the effectiveness of the ideas generated in this room, but do you conduct research on the people and conditions that might enable more creative products?” The tour guide pondered for a second and then mentioned that he never considered it but would be very interested in doing so. What’s more interesting is that the tour guide was a top leader at the organizational location! It took an I-O psychologist to ask the question. This example also addresses one of the concerns raised by Kühner and colleagues regarding limited accessibility of research. I-O psychologists are better positioned to gain access to ask research questions if they are willing to partner with scholars and practitioners from other disciplines (e.g., engineering) who—in some cases—may have stronger connections in the realm of environmental sustainability.

Goal

A second goal of the CLDBES program was to conduct research-integrated professional development activities to strengthen science translation skills and communicate research implications to different stakeholder audiences (e.g., industry professionals, venture capitalists, policymakers). Our annual program also included students presenting their research at an annual event hosted by the aforementioned professional engineering society (ASTFE), which we modeled after the popular television show “Shark Tank” and titled the “Sustainability Tank.”

Lesson

Over 60% of U.S. STEM doctoral students have research assistantships awarded to them by their research advisors (NCSES, 2023) and tend to select research questions that align with their advisors’ research interests. They are well practiced in communicating their research interests “to the choir.” In contrast, most graduate students enrolled at the international host institutions receive financial sponsorship from their home governments to acquire training on topics of national concern (e.g., environmental sustainability). These students must effectively coax their research advisors toward the sponsoring government’s research priorities, an early assignment in persuasive scientific communications. For many U.S. STEM students, the Sustainability Tank was a somewhat novel experience in communicating research motivations to a not-already-subscribed audience. Learning to persuasively pitch one’s research ideas to a disciplinarily (and at times philosophically) unfamiliar audience was a crucial stretch assignment in learning to translate science and articulate its societal significance to a diverse stakeholder audience.

Implication

What we learned from the CLDBES program builds on the communication challenges noted by Kuhner et al. (Reference Kühner, Huffmeier and Zacher2025) but goes further to encourage a more concerted effort to bring I-O psychologists together with other researchers and practitioners with interest in environmental sustainability (e.g., through conferences, annual meetings, specific sustainability listservs). Such forums could be used to better understand the range of concerns and disciplinary languages around common constructs and to broaden the methodological skill sets and approaches for tackling important issues and effectively communicating insights to diverse stakeholder audiences.

Goal

A third goal of CLDBES was to increase awareness of cultural values and assumptions to create self-aware and culturally competent STEM professionals who are adaptable and open to learning from other people, cultures, and experiences. The program was intentionally designed to interface Eastern- and Western-trained researchers in the co-mentorship of CLDBES students. The juxtaposition of Eastern and Western philosophies about the natural environment came into stark contrast in the CLDBES context and profoundly inspired new understandings about built environmental sustainability.

Lesson

Eastern philosophical traditions tend to view nature as a harmonious system in which humans should live in symbiotic balance, whereas Western philosophical views often emphasize human dominion over nature and a separation between where we live and work and the natural world (Nakamura, Reference Nakamura1992). CLDBES students observed how these Eastern and Western philosophies were reflected in the built environments and sustainability solutions. Compared to U.S. offices, labs, and homes with climate control and artificial lighting, CLDBES students toured Asian public spaces and interiors that invite in gardens, ponds, natural light, and air for energy efficiency and aesthetics. Seeing examples of ancient architectures designed to adapt to harsh environmental conditions helped students understand how Indigenous wisdom about climate can inform modern environmental sustainability challenges. Students began to rethink their approach to environmental sustainability as one that can “work with” the environment as opposed to “work in protection against” the environment. As one student wrote, “Getting mentorship from an international mentor gave me the opportunity to gain new perspectives and put my project in a global perspective.”

Implication

For I-O psychologists to expand learning and generate creative environmentally sustainable solutions, we must seek developmental opportunities that brings together divergent worldviews and become critically aware of our own culturally embedded values and assumptions as we cultivate a globally competent, environmentally responsible future workforce. Through the CLDBES program, students not only gained technical knowledge but also learned to question dominant paradigms and embrace more ecologically integrated and culturally sensitive design practices.