Iowa State University
ER-18: Sustainability Research Incentives

The ISU College of Human Sciences funds summer internships for students to work with ISU Families Extension. Scholarships are awarded to students with a major in the College of Human Sciences, and are specifically for projects related to family life, nutrition and health and/or family finance. Each year a total of $3600 is awarded for one to four grants. The ISU College of Engineering also offers several research internships for students, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Iowa State offers three NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) funded programs, including ones in biorenewable chemicals (http://www.cbirc.iastate.edu/education/university/nsf-reu/); wind energy science, engineering, and policy (http://www.engineering.iastate.edu/eri/initiatives/strategies/wei/wesep-reu/); and sustainable production and processing systems for biomass-derived fuels (http://www.abe.iastate.edu/undergraduate-students/research-experience-opportunities/sbpp-reu/). In addition, graduate students can apply for ISU’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT), which provides funding and support for wind energy research.

ISU offers the following through the College of Engineering: The Bioeconomy Institute at ISU offers proposal preparation and submission assistance to faculty interested in applying for funding for research related to biorenewable resources. Furthermore, this center held a thermochemical biofuels processing workshop in December 2012 for both researchers and industry experts, including ISU faculty (http://www.biorenew.iastate.edu/2012/11/21/thermoworkshop/). The BioCentury Research Farm at ISU also provides funding opportunities, facility access, and staff support including grant development, clerical assistance, and communications and graphics services to faculty researching biorenewables (http://www.biocenturyresearchfarm.iastate.edu/partnerships/faculty.html). Another opportunity within the College of Engineering is through the Biopolymers & Biocomposites Research Team. Faculty members are able to participate in a Biopolymers & Biocomposites Workshop, with the last one held in August 2012 (http://www.biocom.iastate.edu/workshop/index.html). Finally, ISU has its Center for Biorenewable Chemicals, which is an NSF-funded research center. Involved faculty benefit from NSF multi-year funds, which target researchers from multiple disciplines (http://www.cbirc.iastate.edu/overview/). ISU offers the following through the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences: Through the Liberal Arts & Sciences Signature Research Initiative, faculty members can apply for grants for up to three years in duration to support research in one of the College’s Signature Themes. One of the targeted Themes is economic, environmental, and societal sustainability. This is an ongoing program with the possibility for additional funding after the first three years of a grant (http://www.las.iastate.edu/las-signature-research-initiative/, http://www.las.iastate.edu/signature-themes/).