Cornell University
AC-10: Support for Research

Cornell's Sustainable Biodiversity Fund supports Cornell graduate / professional students and postdocs to carry out novel research on the most pressing questions in biodiversity through grants of up to $7,000 (http://www.atkinson.cornell.edu/grants/acsf-sbf/index.php). Notable positive outcomes from the last three years include the study of climate-related changes in lifespans of the Eastern oyster, the examination of native perennial wildflower plantings to support resilient pollinator and natural enemy communities on farms in the Finger Lakes Region, and the investigation of how different soil microbial communities facilitate plant nitrogen uptake.

Cornell's College of Engineering provides opportunities for undergraduate students to pursue sustainability-related research through funding ranging between $1,000-$5,500 (https://www.engineering.cornell.edu/research/strategic/eesd.cfm). Notable outcomes include the development of a portable, high-rate, inexpensive water treatment unit for use in areas affected by emergencies and the application of control concepts to optimize how the campus generates and stores chilled water used for air conditioning based on the weather forecast.

Cornell's Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future collaborates with numerous organizations including CARE, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Nature Conservancy, Oxfam, and the Smithsonian to conduct sustainability research, much of which is done by undergraduate and graduate students. Research grants may be awarded for as much as $100,000 (https://www.atkinson.cornell.edu/collaborations/index.php). There are numerous positive outcomes from these collaborations including increasing corn production while reducing fertilizer pollution, locating and quantifying methane emissions with a Google Streetview car, and protecting fish and fishermen in Myanmar.

Since 2008, the Atkinson Center's Academic Venture Fund (AVF) has been the signature program for sustainability-related research within Cornell. The fund stimulates cross-disciplinary research in sustainability research at Cornell and promotes activities with the potential to attract external partners in industry, government, NGOs, and foundations. The AVF provides over $1 million in funding annually. The fund typically supports roughly 10 projects a year. Some positive outcomes include creating landscape-based design guidelines for pools that can work at large and small scales to enhance human communities and urban ecosystems and developing software tools to model energy and climate impacts of hundreds of buildings (http://www.atkinson.cornell.edu/grants/avf/).

A second grants program, the Rapid Response Fund, awards funding to smaller, time-sensitive projects on a quarterly basis. Awards usually do not exceed $20,000. Positive outcomes include analyzing the effect of personal relevance on people's willingness to take action against climate change and applying cistern technology to collect and preserve rainwater and address local water scarcity (http://www.atkinson.cornell.edu/grants/rrf.php).

The Atkinson Center's Faculty Fellowship for Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts supports Cornell faculty in the social sciences, humanities, and arts who are working in the sustainability arena with research grants of up to $5,000. Positive outcomes include studying the relationship between energy development, political power, and culture and investigating China’s path toward greener growth by evaluating the country’s environmental policies over the past 25 years (http://www.atkinson.cornell.edu/grants/facinres/index.php).

Because Cornell University has a large number of multidisciplinary centers (including the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future), multidisciplinary research is highly valued and often considered as a strong supportive activity in cases of faculty tenure and promotion.

As mentioned above, The Atkinson Center's Faculty Fellowship for Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts supports Cornell faculty in the social sciences, humanities, and arts who are working in the sustainability arena with research grants of up to $5,000. Positive outcomes include studying the relationship between energy development, political power, and culture and investigating China’s path toward greener growth by evaluating the country’s environmental policies over the past 25 years (http://www.atkinson.cornell.edu/grants/facinres/index.php).

Additionally, the Atkinson Center's Academic Venture Fund (AVF) stimulates cross-disciplinary research in sustainability research at Cornell and promotes activities with the potential to attract external partners in industry, government, NGOs, and foundations. The AVF provides over $1 million in funding annually. Some positive outcomes include creating landscape-based design guidelines for pools that can work at large and small scales to enhance human communities and urban ecosystems and developing software tools to model energy and climate impacts of hundreds of buildings (http://www.atkinson.cornell.edu/grants/avf/).

The Cornell University Library system offers Library Guides for assisting with research in many departments, including Environment and Natural Resources (see the following link for a list of departments and sample guides: http://guides.library.cornell.edu/lghome).