Bowdoin College
AC-10: Support for Research

With over 190 Bowdoin students engaging in faculty-mentored research each year, Bowdoin is one of the most active research institutions among liberal arts colleges today. Bowdoin offers many opportunities for funded research, through institutional and departmental fellowships. Specifically, the Cooke Fellowship provides an opportunity for students to conduct community-based research with a faculty mentor within the field of environmental studies. An addition, Bowdoin offers a variety of programs that incentivize sustainability work and research over the summer months through the Psi Upsilon Community Matters fellowships. The fellowships pair students who have an interest in pursuing an environmental career with local non-profit organizations and governmental agencies. The 2015 organizations included the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, the Brunswick Department of Planning and Development, Stantec Environmental Consulting, and other various agencies. The Psi Upsilon Sustainability Fellowship provides students with the opportunity to explore the topic of sustainability by working directly with an organization, agency or company that is focusing on the transition to a more sustainable society. Placements could be with a community that is actively implementing a climate action plan, a nonprofit organization that is implementing weatherization or community energy systems, or a state agency that is developing alternative transportation systems.

While the College supports faculty scholarship, including that of faculty members interested in sustainability, the College does not explicitly encourage such work by offering fellowships, financial support, and faculty development workshops with a specific focus on sustainability.

Bowdoin librarians offer institutional support for sustainability research and learning by developing research guides for the Environmental Studies Program as well as the numerous disciplines whose courses are cross listed with the Environmental Studies program (e.g. Biology, Government, and Earth and Ocean Sciences). During the summer and fall of 2015 Bowdoin’s Librarians developed a unique resource guide for a day long teach-in at Bowdoin devoted to the intersections of racism, social justice, and climate change titled "Intersections: Making Connections, Moving Forward". The goal of the library’s resource was to support the discussions of and arising from the day long teach-in. http://libguides.bowdoin.edu/2015-ip3 Additionally, as part of the Bowdoin Library collection plans, the library includes access to books, journals, indexes, and data bases pertaining to the Environmental Studies curriculum.