Colorado College
AC-10: Support for Research

The State of the Rockies Project, now in its fourteenth year, offers students a valuable opportunity to work alongside faculty and staff to conduct state-of-the-art research throughout the American Southwest. Each summer, State of the Rockies hires a group of Colorado College students to gather data for, compose, and publish the project's annual State of the Rockies Report. The State of the Rockies Project seeks to increase public understanding of vital issues affecting the Rocky Mountain West through research, reporting, and public engagement via educational and outreach initiatives. The 2017 State of the Rockies Report continues the organization's commitment to conservation issues with the research focus of, "Inclusive River Governance for a Changing West.” This focus is part of a larger, two year investigation into western water issues. After the publication of the 2017 report, the State of the Rockies Project will transition to a new research focus titled “Western Forests in the Anthropocene,” which will examine the impacts of climate change on the health of forests and their surrounding communities. Students will undertake individual projects to study and understand the private, local, regional, state, and interstate challenges that a changing climate will pose to forested ecosystems. The backdrop of this research will be the complex array of diverse communities, economies, and environments in the Rocky Mountain West, and in particular the Pikes Peak region.

Tutt Library provides online research guides, known as LibGuides, for a variety of academic subjects. The Sustainability LibGuide offers recommendations for books, databases, and other resources related to sustainability. It also directs students to the Natural Sciences Liaison Librarian. In addition, the library has purchased several partial Ejournal packages useful for sustainability research and subscribes to and has available a number of journals, databases, ebook collections and print books relevant to sustainability and the environmental sciences.

Tess Powers, the director of faculty research support, has developed a resource guide to help faculty fund interdisciplinary sustainability research. While it does not constitute a college-wide program designed specifically to encourage faculty sustainability research, Ms. Powers is equipped to assist faculty in obtaining funding. https://www.coloradocollege.edu/offices/dean/faculty/grants/external/index-page-documents/working-with-the-director-of-faculty-research-support.html