Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 61.91
Liaison Nathan King
Submission Date Aug. 2, 2011
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.1

Virginia Tech
ER-18: Sustainability Research Incentives

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 6.00 / 6.00 Dennis Cochrane
Director, Office of Sustainability
Division of Campus Planning, Infrastructure and Facilities
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Does the institution have a program to encourage student sustainability research that meets the criteria for this credit?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s program(s) to encourage student research in sustainability:

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 Summer 2011 Newsletter includes sustainability research: http://cnre.vt.edu/cnr_pdf/cnre-newsletter-summer-2011.pdf

College of Science: http://www.science.vt.edu/research/index.html

Graduate School Research: http://graduateschool.vt.edu/search.html?cx=009523675252929059251%3Atstzkdfqaqc&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=UTF-8&q=Graduate+School+Research#915

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/students/index.php

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 China Sustainability Initiative, see www.csi.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

COE VT Hybrid Electric EcoCAR: http://www.me.vt.edu/hevt/ecocar.php

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


The website URL where information about the student research program is available:
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Does the institution have a program to encourage faculty sustainability research that meets the criteria for this credit?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s program(s) to encourage faculty research in sustainability:

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 faculty research on sustainability, see www.cnre.vt.edu/xmnr. The China Sustainability Initiative, see www.csi.cnre.vt.edu, is a closely related initiative that encourages faculty 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.


The website URL where information about the faculty research program is available:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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