Given all of the commotion about LEED certification, green building and sustainable design, it's nice to see an academically oriented conference taking place on sustainable design, and in Chicago, instead of the traditionally more liberal/eco-friendly west coast.  My friend Ujjval Vyas, principal with the Alberti Group, recently shared this with me - they're collaborating with the DePaul University Real Estate Center to produce a two-day workshop featuring almost two dozen locally and nationally-renowned speakers.  Taking place in roughly one month, this workshop will likely be valuable for any real estate investors, property managers or corporate real estate executives eager to go beyond the buzzwords and truly understand the risks and benefits of sustainable design.  To learn more, visit the official website for the Managing Risk in Sustainable Building: Policy, Performance and Pitfalls event.