University of Michigan
AC-10: Support for Research

Dow Sustainability Fellows Programs. Made possible by The Dow Chemical Company, the Dow Sustainability Fellows Program at the University of Michigan supports full-time graduate students and postdoctoral scholars at the university who are committed to finding interdisciplinary, actionable, and meaningful sustainability solutions on local-to-global scales. The program aspires to prepare future sustainability leaders to make a positive difference in organizations worldwide. The diverse array of fellows brings together many relevant interests related to water, energy, health, consumption, green chemistry, transportation, built environment, climate change, biodiversity, human behavior, environmental law, and public policy, among others. The program comprises masters/professional degree, doctoral, and postdoctoral fellows, who engage with one another within and across cohorts, thrive on collaboration, learn to employ interdisciplinary thinking, experience diverse stakeholder perspectives, and implement projects with significant potential for impact on local-to-global scales. Positive Outcomes: There has been a high degree of enthusiasm for the program across the University with 74% of U-M Schools and Colleges participating. The Dow program has brought on more than 100 Fellows at the Masters/Professional, Doctoral and Post-doctoral levels, and dozens more U-M students have been supported through the Distinguished Awards competition. All of these students have been inspired to reach across disciplinary boundaries and incorporate diverse perspectives as they pursue their passion for making the world more sustainable.

The Graham Sustainability Institute has various programs to encourage faculty to conduct sustainability research. One example is the Water Center, which was established in October 2012 with funds from the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation and the University of Michigan. Over the course of three years, these funds will improve and enhance freshwater restoration outcomes by supporting projects led by multi-sector, multi-disciplinary teams on campus and across the Great Lakes region. By identifying and filling key gaps in restoration science, these projects further ongoing restoration efforts and contribute practical outcomes. Positive Outcomes: Recently received an award of $20 million to manage a five-year program focused on providing user-oriented science in support of NOAA’s network of 28 National Estuarine Research Reserves. This significantly expands our reach into the marine environment and will broaden the Center’s impact beyond our core work on the Great Lakes. Another is the Climate Center : The mission of the University of Michigan Climate Center is to contribute to the long-term social, economic, and environment sustainability of the Great Lakes region in the face of climate change and to inform decision makers with useful and useable climate information. Over the last five years, the Climate Center has built a foundation for this work through its urban adaptation pilot program, The Great Lakes Adaptation Assessment for Cities (GLAA-C) and its federally funded climate data development and education program, GLISA. Some of our partners include natural resource managers, watershed councils, municipal governments, state and regional governments, and federal agencies. In all of our programs we aim to serve as a bridge between the research community of the University of Michigan and practitioners in the field. By bringing the research and practitioners together we are able to build programs that provide useful and useable information, informed by leading edge science and research. Positive Outcomes: Nationally, we played a leading role in the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA), with our researchers co-leading the Midwest Chapter and editing a book on climate impacts that provided critical input to the NCA. We also co-hosted the Midwest Rollout of the NCA and produced a synthesis report focused on the Great Lakes region.

One of the guiding principles for faculty tenure review states: Develop standards and criteria for assessing the quality of scholarship and teaching, with special attention to the unique features of interdisciplinary/collaborative activities.

Michigan Journal of Sustainability: The Michigan Journal of Sustainability will publish timely, innovative, stimulating, and informative articles in three areas: (1) sustainable freshwater systems, (2) livable communities, and (3) responses to climate variability and change. The periodical is designed to appeal to readers from a broad range of specialties and backgrounds, and papers will be edited to be comprehensible even to those reading outside their own area of expertise. Starting in the Fall of 2013, the periodical will be offered online through a MPublishing web portal. Positive Outcomes: This project was initiated by a group of Doctoral Fellows and has received positive response. The third issue, focused specifically on climate adaptation, is planned for Spring 2015.