IU Office of Sustainability announces two grant opportunities
The Indiana University Office of Sustainability recently announced two opportunities in support of faculty research and teaching efforts related to sustainability: the Sustainability Research Development Grant program and the Sustainability Course Development Fellowships.
Photo by Chris Meyer
A study of invasive plants in Dunn's Woods on the IU campus was one of the projects funded for 2010-11 by a Sustainability Research Development Grant.
Now in its third year, the Sustainability Research Development Grant program provides opportunities for Indiana University faculty members and graduate students to develop new, externally funded research projects related to environmental sustainability. Applications are due by Friday, March 11.
The grant program is jointly sponsored by University Graduate School; the College of Arts and Sciences; the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation; the Center for Research on Energy and the Environment; the Center for Research in Environmental Sciences; and the IU Office of Sustainability.
"Sustainability is a collaborative pursuit, and I am excited about the joint support from these diverse disciplines to provide seed funding for research related to this vitally important issue," said Bill Brown, director of the IU Office of Sustainability.
The grant program is an outgrowth of a pilot initiative developed during the 2008-09 academic year as a collaboration between the IU Task Force on Sustainability and the School for Public and Environmental Affairs. Last year's program resulted in the funding of four interdisciplinary faculty-graduate student research projects focusing on agroforestry in southern Mexico, the impact on community sustainability of Home Depot's product donation program with Gifts In Kind International, remediation of exotic invasive species in Dunn's Woods, and food waste at IU.
The program makes $10,000 grants available for the 2011-12 academic year to support innovative, high-quality research on sustainability that can compete for external funding in the national arena. Sustainability research covers environmental science, public policy, social science and other approaches to address such issues as resource stewardship, assessment and mitigation of the environmental impacts of human activity, and institutional and societal responses to environmental challenges.
Full-time faculty and non-professional graduate students from IU Bloomington are eligible to apply for the awards. Award recipients will be expected to develop new lines of research, engage with other members of the sustainability community, submit a report on their work to the Office of Sustainability, and produce a proposal for external funding of continued research.
Also, the IU Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs is accepting applications for Sustainability Course Development Fellowships.
This program, also in its third year, supports faculty members' efforts to enhance teaching of topics related to sustainability and environmental literacy at the IU Bloomington campus. Service-learning courses and those that involve application of principles of sustainability to the IU Bloomington campus are of particular interest.
Recipients will be awarded $8,000, in exchange for which they will be expected to devote the equivalent of eight weeks full-time to their project during the summer of 2011. Applications are due March 1.
For more information about the research grant program and details on how to apply, see https://www.indiana.edu/~sustain/SustGrants/SustGrants.html. For more information about the course development fellowships, see https://www.indiana.edu/~vpfaa/awards/sustainabilitycourse.shtml.
For more information on sustainability initiatives at Indiana University, see https://www.indiana.edu/~sustain/.
This article was originally published on Jan. 26, 2011.
