Yale University
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research

Yale has several sustainable/environmentally focused research centers in which students are encouraged to conduct sustainability research. They allow hands-on clinical and research experience by sponsoring student internships and projects, coordinating faculty research in areas of common interest, and creating symposia, conferences, newsletters and outreach programs. They include the following research centers:
The Center for Business & Environment
Center for Environmental Law & Policy
Center for Green Chemistry & Engineering
Center for Industrial Ecology
Environmental Leadership & Training Initiative
Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry
Hixon Center for Urban Ecology
Yale Project on Climate Change Communication

The Andrew Sabin International Environmental Fellowship, created in 2011 at the School of the Environment (YSE), provides scholarship support for YSE students from developing countries, and provides additional post-graduate awards to those students returning to their home countries to pursue environmental careers. The Sabin Fellowship provides a maximum of $40,000 in support for qualifying Master’s students. An article about the 2021 Andrew Sabin Fellows can be found here:
https://environment.yale.edu/news/article/four-yse-students-named-2021-sabin-international-fellows

The Yale Center for Environmental Justice awards student fellowships to support Masters and Doctoral research focused on environmental justice. Grants of up to $5000 are awarded competitively each year to eligible students. Proposals are welcomed from students across disciplines interested in researching a range of issues significant to social and environmental justice. The award will be provided in 2 installments: 80% of award upon acceptance of the proposal and 20% upon the completion of the research paper or report. Research papers that are not pending publication will be featured on YCEJ's website: https://ycej.yale.edu/en-default

The Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies (YIBS) makes research awards to graduate students studying the biosphere and the environment, broadly speaking. At Yale, this scientific research is typically associated with, but not limited to, the FAS departments of Anthropology (Biological Anthropology), Earth and Planetary Sciences, and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, the Yale School of the Environment, and relevant Departments in the Yale School of Public Health and the Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science. https://yibs.yale.edu/research/yibs-small-grant-program

Additionally, Yale offers a Summer Environmental Fellowship. Applications are welcomed from rising sophomores through rising seniors who wish to have a substantive environmental research or training opportunity. Possibilities include interning with an environmental organization or governmental agency or working on a research project in the field/laboratory at Yale or at another institution. Students should investigate and select a suitable project, internship or training program before applying for the internship program. Potential applicants should discuss and develop their summer plans with a member of the Yale faculty in their area of interest. The Summer Environmental Fellowship has supported many Environmental Studies majors working on senior thesis research.
Students whose research focuses on improved technologies related to climate change are invited to apply for the Summer Climate Technologies Fellowship. This is a new fellowship available to all Yale College.
https://evst.yale.edu/student-research/summer-environmental-fellowship-0

In January 2022, Yale announced the creation of a new fund to support early-stage research on solutions related to climate change—the latest step in the university’s wide-ranging efforts to promote bold innovations in dealing with global environmental crises.
The Climate Impact Innovation Fund, established with an initial $15 million contribution from anonymous donors, will operate as part of the Yale Planetary Solutions Project, a campus-wide initiative launched in December 2020 to identify and advance powerful, integrated solutions to global environmental threats. Climate change is a multifaceted and multidisciplinary challenge and Yale’s approach to this work integrates nearly all academic disciplines and departments on campus. With the help of the new fund and the initiatives of the Planetary Solutions Project, Yale intends to leverage the University’s tremendous intellectual and leadership resources to catalyze innovation and progress. The fund will focus on developing new ideas and solutions aimed at net zero carbon emissions and a sustainable future, including a focus on greenhouse gas emissions and cleaner energy sources, resilient ecosystems and infrastructure, and protecting public health—particularly for communities and populations that are disproportionately harmed by a warming planet. Grant amounts for Yale faculty and staff may range from $15,000 up to $80,000. As this program was just launched, positive outcomes during the previous three years have not been realized. https://planetarysolutions.yale.edu/news/15m-climate-impact-innovation-fund-aims-support-climate-solutions

The Yale Faculty Handbook indicates the following: "Certain interdisciplinary units, programs and centers have specified powers of appointment.” and
“To be considered for this appointment candidates must present significant published research and scholarship representing early demonstration of disciplinary or interdisciplinary leadership, excellent teaching and mentoring of students, and engaged university service.”

The Yale Library offers research guides (called LibGuides) in myriad areas relating to sustainability, including but not limited to Biology, Chemistry, Data & Statistics, Economics, Environmental Studies, Earth & Planetary Sciences, General Science, Medicine, Nursing, Public Health, and Sociology. Yale Librarians have developed hundreds of research guides to assist Yale University Library users with their research. In providing users with guides to the thousands of electronic resources to which Yale University Library subscribes, they are providing more sustainable ways of access to information (i.e. electronic rather than print)