Virginia Tech
ER-18: Sustainability Research Incentives

Students involved in research can be found all over the Virginia Tech campus. Beginning at the department level, undergraduate and graduate students enjoy a number of opportunities to participate in research. The following colleges have research opportunities in sustainability programs: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences: http://www.cals.vt.edu/research/ College of Architecture & Urban Studies: http://www.caus.vt.edu/research College of Engineering: http://www.eng.vt.edu/research College of Natural Resources & Environment (CNRE): http://cnre.vt.edu/ The CNRE Winter 2012-13 publication titled “Advancing the Science of Sustainability” also features sustainability research initiatives: http://cnre.vt.edu/media/publications/advancing-the-science-of-sustainability/advancing-the-science-of-sustainability.pdf College of Science: http://www.science.vt.edu/research/index.html Additionally, many specialized research programs and projects are available. The Office of the Vice President for Research oversees many graduate and undergraduates research initiatives: http://www.research.vt.edu/ The College of Engineering Joseph L Ware Jr. Advanced Engineering Lab is especially noteworthy for it has given the college, the university, and our students’ tremendous opportunities to learn and showcase their research expertise. For a list of recent research projects see: http://www.eng.vt.edu/warelab/projects Virginia Tech’s Executive Master of Natural Resources (XMNR) program in Leadership for Sustainability, part of the College of Natural Resources and Environment, incentivizes graduate students to engage in interdisciplinary research on complex and emergent sustainability challenges facing local communities and global society by providing faculty mentors, financial support, access to clients in the public and private, and other forms of assistance such as preliminary peer review and editorial services. For more information regarding the XMNR program and student capstone projects on sustainability, please see: www.cnre.vt.edu/xmnr. The Global Sustainability Initiative, see http://gsi.cnre.vt.edu/ is a closely related initiative that encourages students to participate in international sustainability research and service learning projects. College and Department websites contain information on their student research programs and opportunities for scholarships and fellowships (see above). The following are representative examples of student research opportunities. In addition to the valuable learning experience, students receive recognition at the national and international level. CLAHS Undergraduate Research Institute: http://www.uri.clahs.vt.edu/ COE Electrical & Computer Engineering Undergraduate Research: http://www.ece.vt.edu/ugrad/research.php COE Ware Lab Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering: http://www.eng.vt.edu/warelab VT Hybrid Electric EcoCAR wins international competition: http://www.vt.edu/spotlight/achievement/2011-06-27-ecocar/ecocar-wins.html Two examples of students that have received incentives for sustainability research can be viewed at the following links: http://www.vt.edu/spotlight/achievement/2010-11-29-byker/byker.html http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2011/08/080111-cals-nihfellowship.html The Virginia Tech News Daily Email has established a Research Feed that contains a plethora of research articles to include features on student research initiatives and incentives. See: http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/feeds/research.html

Four of our investment institutes, the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI), the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS), the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment (ISCE), and the Fralin Life Sciences Institute, incentivize research through investment in faculty projects in sustainability areas. ICTAS in particular is focused on sustainability. Please see the links provided below for additional information about sustainability research at our investment institutes. VBI: http://www.vbi.vt.edu/about_vbi/ ICTAS: http://www.ictas.vt.edu/research/index.html Sustainable Energy: http://www.ictas.vt.edu/research/sust_energy.html Fuel Cell Research: http://www.ictas.vt.edu/downloads/pdf/FuelCell.pdf Sustainable Water: http://www.ictas.vt.edu/research/sust_water.html Renewable Materials: http://www.ictas.vt.edu/research/ren_materials.html Nanoscale Science & Engr: http://www.ictas.vt.edu/research/nanoscale.html The Environmental Nanoscience and Technology Group: http://www.ictas.vt.edu/downloads/pdf/ENT.pdf ISCE: http://www.isce.vt.edu/ Fralin: http://www.fralin.vt.edu/content/research Virginia Tech’s Executive Master of Natural Resources (XMNR) program in Leadership for Sustainability, part of the College of Natural Resources and Environment, incentivizes faculty to engage in interdisciplinary research on complex and emergent sustainability challenges facing local communities and global society by providing financial support for graduate students, faculty development funds, access to clients in the public and private sectors, and other forms of assistance such as preliminary peer review and editorial services. For more information regarding the XMNR program and student capstone projects on sustainability, please see: www.cnre.vt.edu/xmnr. The Global Sustainability Initiative, see http://gsi.cnre.vt.edu/ is a closely related initiative that encourages students to participate in international sustainability research and service learning projects. The College and Department websites listed in Part 1 of this credit also contain information on faculty research programs, opportunities and incentives (please see above). The Virginia Tech News Daily Email has established a Research Feed that contains a plethora of research articles to include features on faculty research initiatives and incentives. See: http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/feeds/research.html As demonstrated in our response for STARS Credit ER-19, the university gives positive recognition to our faculty involved in interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary research.