David Sanchez is an Assistant Professor in the Swanson School of Engineering’s Civil & Environmental Engineering department, the Assistant Director for the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation at the University of Pittsburgh. He serves as the Program Director for the Master’s in Sustainable Engineering, the Undergraduate Certificate in Sustainability and the John C. Mascaro Faculty Fellows program.  

 

Focused on co-creating long term partnerships that synergize community vision with Pitt’s core competencies of research and education, Sanchez has built up Pitt Hydroponics in Homewood, founded Constellation Energy Inventor labs for K-12 students, and re-created the Mascaro Center’s Teach the Teacher sustainability program for science educators in the region. 
 

His research lab, Sustainable Design Labs,  focuses on fusing analytical chemistry, sustainability design principles and data analytics to address Water and Sustainability grand challenges. Current thrusts focus on Recirculating Aquaponic Systems, Real-time Environmental Quality wireless sensor networks, and Bio-Fuel Cells. 

 

As a teacher he designed and created the Sustainability capstone course which has annually partnered with community stakeholders to address sustainability challenges at all scales. Past projects have included evaluating composting stations in Wilkinsburg, studying infrastructure resilience in Homewood, enabling community solar in PA, improving energy efficiency in McCandless Township, and improving water quality in our rivers. He teaches core Sustainability courses, labs in the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, electives in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship program, the First-Year Engineering program, and International Study Abroad programs.