Iowa State University
AC-10: Support for Research

The Center for Bioplastics and Biocomposites hosts an Research Experience for Undergraduates program for independent study in the area of biomaterials. http://www.cb2.iastate.edu/reu.html The Wind Energy Initiative hosts a Research Experience for Undergraduates program for research in the various components and factors that affect harnessing the wind for energy. https://www.engineering.iastate.edu/research/eri/initiatives/strategies/wei/wesep-reu/

The Vice President for Research Office has developed research grand challenges for campus. Included in those are sustainability. Additionally, to be eligible for VPR funding, research groups must address the ethical, legal, societal, environmental and economic impacts of their research. The Presidential Interdisciplinary Research Initiative is eligible for research teams that are addressing on of Iowa State's research grand challenges. In 2018, one of these $250,000/yr for 3 yr awards was given to C-Change, the Consortium for Cultivating Human and Naturally Regenerative Enterprises. This program seeks to catalyze new science and engineering breakthroughs to deliver abundant, affordable and safe food to 10 billion people without compromising the Earth’s supportive capacity in the long term.

There are no formal policies regarding the value of interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research during the P/T process. That said, the Senior Vice President and Provost is very supportive and encouraging of this work. Additionally, the Vice President for Research, who is part of the institutional tenure process, highly values this work. In order to receive funding from the VPR office, the research must be IDR, TDR, or MDR. The VPR will not fund single investigator/discipline research. Central funding for research is required to be IDR, TDR, or MDR in nature. These efforts have lead to many successes, including the NanoVaccine Institute, the National Institute for Anti Microbial Resistance Research and Education Institute, along with the Crop Bioengineering Center. All of these have resulted from IDR seed funding.

The library has many tools, guides and support for researchers looking to study various topics, including sustainability. Additionally, academic departments are assigned a liaison librarian to assist faculty in the scholarly endeavors. University librarians have compiled guides on various aspects of sustainability by topic. Each guide, by topic includes links to external sources of information, publications and other pertinent information.