Highlights

Arizona State University launched a new Center for Heat Preparedness on May 8, backed by a $2.6 million federal investment announced by U.S. Reps. Greg Stanton and Yassamin Ansari alongside ASU leaders.

The funding was secured through Stanton's office as a community project funding request, with the money directed through the National Institute of Standards and Technology under the Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations subcommittee, according to Stanton's congressional funding request page.

As 12News and Yahoo News both reported, officials say the center will be the first of its kind in the nation. The center is designed to develop solutions to mitigate the dangerous effects of extreme heat, per the ASU announcement.

The launch adds institutional weight to a research area ASU has been building out: a separate NIH grant awarded in May 2026 funds a related project examining the intersection of environmental heat, health risk, and drug overdoses in the Phoenix metropolitan region.

No opening timeline for the center's first research outputs was included in the announcement.

Sources

Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.

  1. news.asu.edu retrieved 12/05/2026 19:11
  2. stanton.house.gov retrieved 12/05/2026 19:11
  3. 12News retrieved 12/05/2026 19:11
  4. yahoo.com retrieved 12/05/2026 19:11
  5. reporter.nih.gov retrieved 12/05/2026 19:11

Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 12/05/2026 19:11. Every claim traces to a source.