| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 78.00 |
| Liaison | Katie Maynard |
| Submission Date | Feb. 29, 2024 |
University of California, Santa Barbara
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
3.00 / 4.00 |
Katie
Maynard Sustainability Coordinator Geography & Sustainability |
"---"
indicates that no data was submitted for this field
Student sustainability research incentives
Yes
A brief description of the student sustainability research program:
Climate Innovation Postdoctoral Fellows
The Climate Innovation Postdoctoral Fellows is a program to provide focused resources and training needed to successfully transform and deploy university innovations for societal and economic impact. In addition to performing translational research, Fellows will work with our Climate Action Innovation programs for customized support of the target innovation and will also participate in Regional Climate Action Innovation Symposia to understand climate change challenges faced by communities across the state and identify opportunities and solutions within their fields.
Eligible research can be in any discipline that supports climate resilience. The fellowships provide fifty percent of the Postdoctoral Fellow’s salary for two years along with benefits, with the remaining support provided by faculty engaged in highly translated Climate Action research.
Note* More information can be found at https://www.cnsi.ucsb.edu/programs/climate-innovation-fellows
Besides the Climate Innovation Postdoctoral Fellows, the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management also offers several fellowship opportunities that are categorized into three following groups.
General Recruitment Fellowships: Each year the Bren School is able to offer general Recruitment Fellowship funding to a percentage of its top MESM applicants. Recruitment Fellowships provide incoming students with support for their first year in the MESM program. Recruitment Fellowship recipients are selected by the faculty-led Admissions Committee and demonstrate professional and academic promise. All MESM applicants are automatically considered for these general Recruitment Fellowships; no supplemental application is required. If an applicant is selected for a Recruitment Fellowship, that person will be notified at the same time they are notified of admission to the program.
Diversity Fellowships: The Bren School is pleased to support a diverse student body by offering Diversity Fellowships. The Environmental Science and Management Fellowship and Scholarship programs are primarily funded by the Professional Development Supplemental Tuition. These fellowship awards offer support for up to two years to students from a broad range of backgrounds, including people from underrepresented groups, economically disadvantaged backgrounds, first generation to attend college, veterans, refugees, citizens of underdeveloped countries or rural areas or those who have completed service or intend to serve disadvantaged populations. No supplemental application is required to be considered for a Diversity Fellowship. The Personal History and Diversity Statement section of the application is often where applicants highlight their contributions to the diversity of the Bren community. Recipients of Diversity Fellowships are selected by the faculty-led Recruitment, Admissions and Support committee.
Forest Sustainability Fellowship: Forests, and the many services that they provide, face new challenges in this era of unprecedented global change. Global markets for wood products, human population pressures, and a changing climate impact forests throughout the world. Forests must be managed not just to provide timber, but also to provide wildlife habitat, enhance water supplies, sequester carbon, and support cultural and psychological well-being. The Forest Sustainability Fellowship (FSF) Program, generously supported by the Michael J. Connell Memorial Fund, focuses on scientific understanding and policy tools required to manage forests for long-term biological, physical, and social sustainability. Through training, research, and communication, the FSF program prepares a new generation of high-impact leaders in forest science and management.
Note* More information can be found at https://bren.ucsb.edu/masters-programs/master-environmental-science-and-management/tuition-and-finance/fellowships
The Climate Innovation Postdoctoral Fellows is a program to provide focused resources and training needed to successfully transform and deploy university innovations for societal and economic impact. In addition to performing translational research, Fellows will work with our Climate Action Innovation programs for customized support of the target innovation and will also participate in Regional Climate Action Innovation Symposia to understand climate change challenges faced by communities across the state and identify opportunities and solutions within their fields.
Eligible research can be in any discipline that supports climate resilience. The fellowships provide fifty percent of the Postdoctoral Fellow’s salary for two years along with benefits, with the remaining support provided by faculty engaged in highly translated Climate Action research.
Note* More information can be found at https://www.cnsi.ucsb.edu/programs/climate-innovation-fellows
Besides the Climate Innovation Postdoctoral Fellows, the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management also offers several fellowship opportunities that are categorized into three following groups.
General Recruitment Fellowships: Each year the Bren School is able to offer general Recruitment Fellowship funding to a percentage of its top MESM applicants. Recruitment Fellowships provide incoming students with support for their first year in the MESM program. Recruitment Fellowship recipients are selected by the faculty-led Admissions Committee and demonstrate professional and academic promise. All MESM applicants are automatically considered for these general Recruitment Fellowships; no supplemental application is required. If an applicant is selected for a Recruitment Fellowship, that person will be notified at the same time they are notified of admission to the program.
Diversity Fellowships: The Bren School is pleased to support a diverse student body by offering Diversity Fellowships. The Environmental Science and Management Fellowship and Scholarship programs are primarily funded by the Professional Development Supplemental Tuition. These fellowship awards offer support for up to two years to students from a broad range of backgrounds, including people from underrepresented groups, economically disadvantaged backgrounds, first generation to attend college, veterans, refugees, citizens of underdeveloped countries or rural areas or those who have completed service or intend to serve disadvantaged populations. No supplemental application is required to be considered for a Diversity Fellowship. The Personal History and Diversity Statement section of the application is often where applicants highlight their contributions to the diversity of the Bren community. Recipients of Diversity Fellowships are selected by the faculty-led Recruitment, Admissions and Support committee.
Forest Sustainability Fellowship: Forests, and the many services that they provide, face new challenges in this era of unprecedented global change. Global markets for wood products, human population pressures, and a changing climate impact forests throughout the world. Forests must be managed not just to provide timber, but also to provide wildlife habitat, enhance water supplies, sequester carbon, and support cultural and psychological well-being. The Forest Sustainability Fellowship (FSF) Program, generously supported by the Michael J. Connell Memorial Fund, focuses on scientific understanding and policy tools required to manage forests for long-term biological, physical, and social sustainability. Through training, research, and communication, the FSF program prepares a new generation of high-impact leaders in forest science and management.
Note* More information can be found at https://bren.ucsb.edu/masters-programs/master-environmental-science-and-management/tuition-and-finance/fellowships
Faculty sustainability research incentives
Yes
A brief description of the faculty sustainability research program:
Climate Innovation Funds
The Climate Innovation Funds are a partnership between CNSI, the Bren School, and the Office of Research to provide funding to accelerate the development and deployment of innovations that promote climate resilience by reducing vulnerability and/or supporting adaption at the local state, and national level, with a particular focus on ensuring that innovations address environmental and climate justice concerns and are deployable by a diversity of users and communities. This program is available to academic faculty researchers or UCSB-affiliated pre-seed and seed-stage startups engaged in addressing California’s goals for climate resilience
The program consists of two types of grants
User Discovery Grant - These grants enable customer discovery and market validation for the selected innovation. Grant funding can be used to meet with potential customers/users to gain a deep understanding of: (1) the problem/challenge an innovation addresses; (2) critical innovative features needed to assure maximum efficacy and accessibility for a diverse range of customers/users; (3) potential resource limitations that may affect the ability of users to adopt or purchase the innovation; and, (4) the key stakeholders that influence the decision to adopt solutions for that problem or market space. Funding can be used to support meetings (including travel) with representatives of critical user bases, market experts, or key state, regional or governmental agencies or stakeholders; as well as to attend symposia, workshops, or trade conferences. Please note that this funding cannot be used to attend academic conferences. These grants will support up to $10,000 in customer/user discovery activities over a period of up to 12 months. At least one representative from recipient project groups will be required to participate in a new Climate Innovation 360 Program, which provides series of workshops designed to teach researchers the characteristics that innovations must possess in order to be successfully deployed including marketing validation/customer discovery (based on the NSF I-Corps approach), manufacturing and scalability needs, market size analysis, and strong intellectual property protection (when applicable).
Proof of Concept Grant: These grants support targeted projects designed to demonstrate the potential value, feasibility, efficacy, and impact of the target innovation as part of translation out of the academic sector. The goal of the proposed project should be to acquire critical data needed to facilitate commercialization, or, in the case of open access innovations, acquire the data to encourage adoption and deployment. This proof-of-concept funding is flexible and can be used to cover salaries, materials and supplies, field testing, testbedding, CRO, or foundry work. These grants will support up to $50,000 in proof-of-concept research activities over a period of up to 12 months
Note* More information can be found at https://www.cnsi.ucsb.edu/programs/climate-innovation-funds#:~:text=The%20Climate%
The Climate Innovation Funds are a partnership between CNSI, the Bren School, and the Office of Research to provide funding to accelerate the development and deployment of innovations that promote climate resilience by reducing vulnerability and/or supporting adaption at the local state, and national level, with a particular focus on ensuring that innovations address environmental and climate justice concerns and are deployable by a diversity of users and communities. This program is available to academic faculty researchers or UCSB-affiliated pre-seed and seed-stage startups engaged in addressing California’s goals for climate resilience
The program consists of two types of grants
User Discovery Grant - These grants enable customer discovery and market validation for the selected innovation. Grant funding can be used to meet with potential customers/users to gain a deep understanding of: (1) the problem/challenge an innovation addresses; (2) critical innovative features needed to assure maximum efficacy and accessibility for a diverse range of customers/users; (3) potential resource limitations that may affect the ability of users to adopt or purchase the innovation; and, (4) the key stakeholders that influence the decision to adopt solutions for that problem or market space. Funding can be used to support meetings (including travel) with representatives of critical user bases, market experts, or key state, regional or governmental agencies or stakeholders; as well as to attend symposia, workshops, or trade conferences. Please note that this funding cannot be used to attend academic conferences. These grants will support up to $10,000 in customer/user discovery activities over a period of up to 12 months. At least one representative from recipient project groups will be required to participate in a new Climate Innovation 360 Program, which provides series of workshops designed to teach researchers the characteristics that innovations must possess in order to be successfully deployed including marketing validation/customer discovery (based on the NSF I-Corps approach), manufacturing and scalability needs, market size analysis, and strong intellectual property protection (when applicable).
Proof of Concept Grant: These grants support targeted projects designed to demonstrate the potential value, feasibility, efficacy, and impact of the target innovation as part of translation out of the academic sector. The goal of the proposed project should be to acquire critical data needed to facilitate commercialization, or, in the case of open access innovations, acquire the data to encourage adoption and deployment. This proof-of-concept funding is flexible and can be used to cover salaries, materials and supplies, field testing, testbedding, CRO, or foundry work. These grants will support up to $50,000 in proof-of-concept research activities over a period of up to 12 months
Note* More information can be found at https://www.cnsi.ucsb.edu/programs/climate-innovation-funds#:~:text=The%20Climate%
Recognition of interdisciplinary, transdisciplnary and multi-disciplinary research
No
A copy of the promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:
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The promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:
UC Santa Barbara is committed to prioritizing the environment as an interdisciplinary theme for our research and teaching as part of our 2007-2025 strategic academic plan. We have not however published written policies that have a direct affect on faculty promotion and/or tenure.
Library support
Yes
A brief description of the institution’s library support for sustainability research:
The UC Santa Barbara Library continues to support sustainability research and learning through numerous resources. The Library supplies research guides including an abundant supply of sustainability and environmental guides pertaining to different classes and subjects. UC Santa Barbara Library makes available a collection of general Environmental Science and Sustainability resources such as the CERES, Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Global Reporting Initiative, Sustainable Business Institute, etc. Additionally, UC Santa Barbara maintains active subscriptions to article databases which include the Environment Index, Environmental Science Index, etc. The Alexandria Digital Research Library also grants access to electronic theses and dissertations pertaining to sustainability that can serve as potential guidelines for future sustainability research and learning.
Optional Fields
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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