Clarkson University
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research

Sustainability awards are presented at the 2-times a year Research and Project Symposium (RAPS) for graduate and undergraduate students. Awards are often presented to students that are not in sustainability programs, thus verifying that sustainability across all disciplines is supported (e.g., chemistry students' development of MOFs for carbon capture and sequestration. Clarkson faculty support several NSF funded REU programs. Three of the current programs include sustainability in their research opportunities.
Clarkson has hosted an NSF REU program for many years.
For example, the Aquatic Science, Engineering, and Technology (ASET): A 10 week summer research program to engage undergraduate students in research projects in this theme area. The three areas of research students can work on include 1) Aquatic Natural Sciences, 2) Aquatic Sustainability Sciences and 3) Aquatic Resource Engineering. ASET will focus on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River watershed environmental research. The program includes a programmatic emphasis on Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River with the community of Akwesasne (St. Regis Mohawk Tribe). These students work with faculty across many departments and present their research at the end of their program at the Research and Project Showcase (RAPS). These REU students often win the sustainability prize.

ISE is a hub for faculty, staff and students from all disciplines. The ISE Associate Director for Research, currently Andrea Ferro (professor of environmental engineering), is specifically charged with encouraging and enabling multidisciplinary sustainability research. To facilitate this work,she chairs the ISE Research Committee, a 6-person committee that includes at least one researcher from each of the schools. Based on identified opportunities, research capabilities, and needs, ISE connects researchers to respond to specific proposal solicitations, sits on the proposal team until the team is established, reviews draft proposals, etc. ISE also hosts regular events, organized by the ISE Research Committee, that are designed to facilitate multidisciplinary research in sustainability at Clarkson. For example:
1) Each semester, ISE hosts the ISE Affiliates Spring Research & Networking Reception for affiliates to meet with colleagues, share news, and talk about research. This reception features the research of a rotating handful of researchers to initiate conversations about collaboration and identify opportunities.
2) Each year, ISE hosts the ISE New and Early Career Faculty Lunch to introduce faculty to ISE as a campus hub, introduce the faculty to one another as well as to more senior researchers who are invited, as well as to discuss ISE affiliate benefits and responsibilities.
3) Twice per year, ISE awards the ISE Sustainability Prize to undergraduate and graduate student researchers who present their work at the on campus Research and Project Showcase. There are typically ~100 entries and 5 ISE Sustainability Prizes awarded. Most of these projects are multidisciplinary in nature.
4) Each year, the endowed ISE Distinguished Hopke Lecture brings an internationally renowned expert who has made significant contributions to our understanding of the environment and who uses this scientific understanding to guide policy. In addition to their lecture, the invited speaker typically spends 1.5 days in meetings with faculty and graduate students to encourage cross-disciplinary discussions and identify opportunities for future collaborations.
5) Each year, the ISE Clarkson Keynote lecture celebrates the achievements of a Clarkson faculty member who conducts research related to sustainability. Similar to the ISE Distinguished Hopke Lecture, the ISE Clarkson Keynote Lecture provides an opportunity to gather multidisciplinary faculty to discuss topics in connection with the celebrant's area of research.

Clarkson also has additional activities and groups that encourage academic staff from multiple disciplines to conduct sustainability research. The Research Advisory Committee is a university-wide committee that supports and helps direct the research enterprise. This committee initiated the Team Science Initiative on campus, which requires multidisciplinary teams. The awarded teams are overwhelmingly focused on sustainability topics. The Clarkson Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP) and the Center of Excellence in Healthy Water Solutions (HWS) regularly organize topic area meetings to facilitate multidisciplinary research, again, much of which is associated with sustainability.

"Operations Manual Section 5.3.A.4 reads, “Each tenurable faculty member should excel in disciplinary and/or interdisciplinary scholarship.”
The ISE Director provides letters of support for T&P files for faculty affiliates from many departments. The letters describe the individuals' contribution to the ISE and interdisciplinary research and teaching."

Research guides for several sustainability topics e.g., the Adirondack Park, Health, Wealth and Inequality. The Library provides direct support to Clarkson University's ADK Semester, holding webinars and allowing students to reach out with any questions while away at Paul Smiths College.

https://sites.clarkson.edu/library/sustainability/