Last modified: Thursday, February 23, 2012
Deadlines near for two IU sustainability-related grant opportunities
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 23, 2012
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University Office of Sustainability is reminding the IU Bloomington community of two opportunities for support of research and teaching related to sustainability: the Sustainability Research Development Grant program and the Sustainability Course Development Fellowships.
Now in its fourth year, the Sustainability Research Development Grant program provides opportunities for faculty members and graduate students to develop new, externally funded research projects related to environmental sustainability. Applications are due by Friday, March 23.
The grant program is jointly sponsored by the University Graduate School; the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation; the College of Arts and Sciences; 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.
Previous years' programs have resulted in the funding of interdisciplinary faculty-graduate student research projects focusing on projects including implementation of low-carbon distributed energy programs in developing countries and the use of urban forestry policy; 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 grants, typically in the amount of $10,000, available for the 2012-13 academic year to support innovative, high-quality research on sustainability. Proposals with budget amounts up to $20,000 can be submitted, with an expectation that these projects will be larger in scope and have greater potential for future external funding. 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 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 award program, also in its fourth 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 2012. Applications are due March 1, 2012.
For more information on sustainability initiatives at Indiana University, visit www.indiana.edu/~sustain/.
