Federal US Government Directs $3M to HBCUs for Decarbonization Research
The U.S. Department of Energy announced recently that $3 million in federal funding would be directed toward historically Black colleges and universities, and other minority serving institutions, for research dedicated to carbonizing power generation and to help strengthen a pipeline from those schools into energy-related jobs.
U Pittsburgh Introduces Social Justice Faculty Fellowship
The Office of Health Sciences, Diversity and Inclusion recently established a social justice faculty fellowship program that aims to raise awareness among faculty about health inequities in the local community. The program, funded by campus-community partnerships, was developed to address Pitt students’ calls to action on social justice and systemic racism.
U Southern California Opens Three New Sustainability Research Centers
The new research centers, which are housed within the university's Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, are focused on Earth and Environmental Systems, Applied Environmental Solutions, and Social Transformation. The three centers will merge the interdisciplinary expertise of the institute’s affiliated faculty, full-time senior scientists, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students to better understand and help to solve environmental and sustainability challenges.
Georgetown U Opens Environment & Sustainability Institute
The Earth Commons, Georgetown’s new Institute for Environment & Sustainability, is building new educational programming for undergraduate and graduate students, expanding research opportunities for faculty members and students, and developing scalable solutions for a sustainable campus and planet. The institute will be composed of multiple focal areas that will each focus on a major environmental issue, including environmental justice, climate change and energy transitions, environmental health, food and water security and biodiversity conservation.
MIT Initiates the Energy Systems Research Center
Working with energy partners, the new research consortium, the Future Energy Systems Center, aims to address the climate crisis and the role energy systems can play in solving it. The center investigates the emerging technology, policy, demographics and economics reshaping the landscape of energy supply and demand, then conducts integrative analysis of the entire energy system.
Dickinson College Announces $100,000 Prize Winner
Announced during the COP26 U.N. Climate Conference in Glasgow, Dickinson presented the Sam Rose ’58 and Julie Walters Prize at Dickinson College for Global Environmental Activism to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The $100,000 Rose-Walters Prize is bestowed annually on an individual or organization making a defining difference to advance responsible action on behalf of the planet, its resources and people. The 2022 prize honors the IPCC’s work, including producing and communicating scientific knowledge that is the foundation of informed and effective action on climate change.
Royal Roads U Launches Climate Leadership Masters Degree
Approved June 2021, the new Master of Arts in Climate Action Leadership is a two-year, 36-credit degree program geared toward people who want to create the social, political, environmental and economic changes needed for a low-carbon, resilient future. The program places an emphasis on the intersection of climate science, social science, justice and change leadership.
U California Launches 'Center for Climate Justice'
The new center is a system-wide initiative to address climate change as a social justice and equity issue. The center seeks not only to address the root causes of climate change, but also the broad range of associated social, racial and environmental injustices. The center will be led by management of complex systems professor and UC Presidential Chair Tracey Osborne.
U North Carolina Chapel Hill Receives $1M for 'Champion Sustainability Fund'
A new partnership between the university and Champion Athleticwear will launch the Champion Sustainability Fund with a $1 million investment from Champion. Once operational, the revolving fund will support several new programs, including the Champion Sustainability Research Accelerator, which will award $50,000 annually to Carolina faculty whose research programs are poised to improve sustainability and environmental outcomes, and the Sustainable Carolina Opportunity Fund, which will provide seed funding for scalable opportunities to advance sustainability.
Villanova U Receives Gift for Interdisciplinary Initiative on Poverty & Inequality
Spurred by a $1 million gift from Villanova alum, a new interdisciplinary initiative will support programmatic efforts to generate ideas and policy solutions to address the systemic issues of inequality. The initiative will also include an annual symposium focused on identifying the most promising approaches to eradicating poverty and eliminating disparities associated with race, disability and difference.
Loyola U Maryland Creates Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice
Loyola University Maryland’s Office of Equity and Inclusion and Loyola College of Arts and Sciences are launching the Karson Institute for Race, Peace and Social Justice to address racial inequities locally and nationally. The institute aims to provide a space for researchers, students, social justice workers and activists to come together to research, discuss, debate and explore answers to critical questions on inequality, injustice and racial inequity in the United States.
U California San Diego Receives $39M for Renewables Integration Research
The National Science Foundation recently awarded $39 million to a team of engineers and computer scientists at UCSD to build a testbed to better understand how to integrate distributed energy sources, such as solar panels, wind turbines, smart buildings and electric vehicle batteries, into the power grid. The goal is to make the testbed available to outside research teams and industry by 2025.
U Massachusetts Amherst Begins Equity & Climate Change Project
The new project called Elevating Equity Values in the Transition of the Energy System (ELEVATE) unites scholars from across disciplines to conduct research at the intersection of electricity technology, climate science, social equity, and energy economics and policy, with the aim of ensuring transformation of the electric grid is both sustainable and benefits all members of society equitably. The program was awarded two grants totaling $6.3 million from the National Science Foundation.
Columbia U Launches ‘Carbon Dioxide Removal Law’ Database
Researchers at the university recently launched a database of carbon dioxide removal laws. The database, which is publicly available at cdrlaw.org, contains resources on legal issues related to carbon dioxide removal, including such techniques as: direct air capture; enhanced weathering; afforestation/reforestation; bioenergy with carbon capture and storage; biochar; ocean and coastal carbon dioxide removal; ocean iron fertilization; and soil carbon sequestration. The database also includes resources on carbon capture and storage, utilization and transportation.
Rutgers U Receives $15M Grant for Global Racial Justice
Rutgers president announced recently the receipt of a five-year, $15 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the establishment of the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice. The institute will support and amplify the scholarship of researchers who are based in the humanities or lean on humanistic methods and whose work has consequences in areas such as policy reform, K-12 education, social justice work and the carceral state. The institute will span the entire university and will include centers at Rutgers’ campuses in Newark, New Brunswick and Camden.
