University of Connecticut
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research

The Office of Sustainability runs an initiative called the Environmental and Social Sustainability Small Grants Program. The program provides funding to support student-faculty projects that enhance environmental sustainability and campus-wide engagement with sustainability issues at the University of Connecticut and in Connecticut communities through research, authentic community engagement, campus operations, or education. Projects must increase both environmental and social sustainability at UConn, and address one or more of UConn's strategic sustainability goal areas (climate change, energy and buildings, waste, outreach and engagement, water resources, food and dining, purchasing, transportation, or grounds, open space and conservation areas) and one or more related social challenges (fostering inclusion of diverse perspectives, addressing systematic inequalities, environmental justice, social and health inequity, community development, etc).

The Center for Environmental Science and Engineering also has a funding program, called Multidisciplinary Environmental Research Awards for Graduate Students (MERAG). MERAG funds graduate students projects within any academic field(s) that have a focus on environmental issues.

Additionally, each department involved with sustainability maintains ties with grant and fellowship opportunities that permit students to study aspects of environmental, social, economic, or energy sustainability.
Examples include, but are not limited to:

The USDA Marine Watershed and the Zwick Food Policy Center provide fellowships and internships for students in Agricultural and Resource Economics.
http://www.zwickcenter.uconn.edu/index.php

Sea Grant fellowships and internships are provided for students across disciplines related to marine sciences and marine resource conservation, climate impact monitoring, and policy.
http://www.seagrant.uconn.edu/

Incentives offered through the Human Rights institute for students to study a variety of human rights topics, many of which are directly related to sustainability, such as corporate social responsibility and sustainable development.
http://humanrights.uconn.edu/undergraduate-funding/

The Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) administers several different research funding programs, including IDEA Grants, Supply Awards, Travel Awards, and Summer Undergraduate Research Fund Awards. These awards are often used to fund projects directly or indirectly linked to environmental sustainability.
http://ugradresearch.uconn.edu/get-research-funding/

Sustainability is one of only three "focus areas of excellence" specifically mentioned in the 2009-2014 Academic Plan and is widely incorporated into the 2015 Academic Vision under the core value of global engagement, providing institutional support and resource allocation that is targeted towards the development of research programs related to sustainability. The sustainability initiatives are driven largely by the University's ACUPCC (Carbon Commitment), as outlined in the University's Climate Action Plan and, more specifically, by the goals and targets in the 2020 Vision Plan.
https://sustainability.uconn.edu/climate-action-plan/
http://academicvision.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/643/2014/04/academic-plan-single-hi-optimized.pdf
The Climate Change Adaptation task force drafted an amendment to the University Climate Action Plan that specifically addresses the need to focus institutional resources on sustainability-related research, which the University President signed on March 26, 2012. In planning for the more frequent and severe storms predicted by climate scientists, UConn's President Herbst reaffirmed the University's commitment to a carbon-neutral campus and approved the addition of an Adaptation Section to our Climate Action Plan (CAP). UConn’s 2012 Adaptation amendment, unique among colleges and universities at the time, offers to others our expertise and resources for adaptive response and resiliency. Inherent in these recommended measures is the assumption that the world’s collective actions to reduce carbon emissions are not enough to prevent damaging, or even catastrophic, consequences.
http://ecohusky.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2041/2017/01/Initiatives-Climate-Section6.pdf
Since the Adaptation amendment to the CAP in 2012, UConn has established the CT Institute of Resiliency and Climate Adaptation (CIRCA), and UConn researchers have conducted research on resiliency topics ranging from modeling climate change to clean energy microgrids, stormwater management, flood prevention, and roadside forestry.
The University Climate Action Plan contains a section for a Renewable Energy Strategic Plan for creating demonstration and working scale projects highlighting the faculty's own research interests. Fourteen faculty members were interviewed in 2011 for inclusion in this plan.

Smart and sustainable building technologies are also being planned for new construction projects through an integrated design process and interdisciplinary collaboration with faculty during the planning phase. For example, the new 400 kW hydrogen fuel cell at the Depot Campus near Storrs is a "living laboratory," i.e., an efficient and functional clean source of combined heat and power for many of the buildings at the Depot while also serving as a platform for microgrid research and education. The cogeneration facility/Central Utility Plant at the main campus also serves as a 25 MW CHP microgrid.
http://today.uconn.edu/blog/2013/12/uconn-microgrid-project-gets-underway/
Meanwhile, UConn's new Tech Park project envisions 1 million square feet of new building space on UConn's undeveloped North Campus, while preserving more than 160 acres of adjacent green space (Hillside Environmental Education Park), including wetlands, uplands and a wooded vernal pool corridor, for public use and enjoyment through activities such as hiking and bird watching. The 10 to 20-year Tech Park master plan calls for development of facilities that will foster public private collaboration on research on subjects ranging from additive manufacturing to bioscience, sustainable energy and clean tech. The first building in the Tech Park, named UConn's Innovation Partnership Building (IPB), was completed in 2017. The IPB is currently LEED Gold certified as a human-centered smart building that will not only facilitate clean energy research but also exemplify high performance, resource-efficient design and construction.

https://techpark.uconn.edu/
http://www.ee.uconn.edu/blog/multidisciplinary-team-to-develop-smart-building-hvac-model.html
http://www.energy.uconn.edu/

The University also has a number of internal grants that have been provided for sustainability-research. This includes Faculty fellowships through the Human Rights Institute, which are often related to sustainability.

http://humanrights.uconn.edu/faculty-funding-opportunities/
https://humanrights.uconn.edu/undergraduate-research-and-internship-funding/

In addition, the University supports an Economic and Social Rights research group and a Global Health and Human Rights research group that meet regularly to share research projects, CESE, CLEAR, C2E2 and Sea Grant are also centers that encourage and conduct sustainability-related research, green technologies and outreach.

http://humanrights.uconn.edu/economic-and-social-rights-research-group/
http://humanrights.uconn.edu/research-program-on-global-health-and-human-rights/

The University's Academic Plan supports an integrated research approach. This support is reflected in the large number of truly interdisciplinary centers and programs promoting collaborative efforts at UConn.
Included in this tally are a University colloquia for supporting interdisciplinary knowledge exchange; the Center for Environmental Science and Engineering (CESE) database of interdisciplinary climate change research; a listing of interdisciplinary research centers; interdisciplinary biomedical research; an interdisciplinary AIDS research consortium; interdisciplinary legal research for tackling social and environmental challenges in law; and an interdisciplinary materials science program.

https://biogrid.engr.uconn.edu/reu-program-2013/
http://www.law.uconn.edu/
http://research.uconn.edu/centers
http://www.ims.uconn.edu/#
https://chip.uconn.edu/

Additionally, the University Policy on Faculty Professional Responsibilities includes the following: "(2) Annual meetings will be held between the department head (or dean in a non-departmentalized school) and individual faculty, in the spirit of the University Laws and By-Laws quoted above (Article XV.J.4.b. & L.1).” These meetings should serve to enhance the overall activities of the department as well as interdisciplinary research/scholarship, where appropriate. The department head will review and discuss the faculty member’s productivity and present and future professional activities. The department head and faculty member should also discuss any problems encountered by the faculty member in the performance of his/her duties. For regional campus faculty, similar meetings should occur with the appropriate regional Associate Vice Chancellor [Director], as well as with the department head. Any adjustments in a regional campus faculty member’s activities must be made in concert with the faculty member’s department head.

These meetings may also be used, where appropriate, to accomplish, in consultation with the faculty member, proportional adjustments to the faculty member’s responsibilities. These annual assessments of a faculty member’s activity can include consideration of various measures commensurate with the unique constraints of creative endeavors or original research/scholarship. Such adjustments may be appropriate during a faculty member’s career and are an essential component in maintaining a department’s and the University’s overall effectiveness."

http://policy.uconn.edu/?p=659

Library staff at the Babbidge Library at the University of Connecticut manage the subjects of biological sciences, agriculture, environmental sciences, plant sciences, and ecology and evolutionary biology, including the management of the subjects’ databases. Subject specialists act as personal contacts to faculty and students with library-related issues and questions to facilitate communication.

The University of Connecticut Foundation supports student scholarships and fellowships to provide young people with the opportunity to realize their dreams and contribute to the betterment of the world. The Foundation accepts donations to the General Scholarship Fund to support students from all areas of study and provides merit and need-based aid.

http://www.foundation.uconn.edu/student-scholarships-fellowships/

http://ugradresearch.uconn.edu/