Themes artwork

SEAS Sustainability Themes

SEAS Sustainability Themes address global challenges at the nexus of environment and society:
 
  • Climate + Energy
  • Food Systems
  • Water
  • Conservation + Restoration
  • Cities + Mobility + Built Environment

The themes are designed to serve as rallying points for collaborations around research, teaching, and civic engagement. The work across campus in these key areas is phenomenal, and the themes provide a framework for faculty from different units to be involved in a wide range of interdisciplinary activities in partnership with SEAS.

CURRENT FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Funds are available for community-building and engagement activities related to any of the themes. Here are examples of funding needs that that could qualify.

  • Honoraria and travel costs associated with hosting invited speakers
  • Workshops
  • Costs associated with research-driven meetings and events
  • Funds to enhance theme-related M-Cubes
  • Funding for “Mega-Masters Projects” that have an extended impact either spatially (e.g., several teams working in tandem across different sites) or temporally (e.g., a sequence of projects focusing on the same problem across years or cohorts)
  • Small grants ($2k-$3k each) to support large research proposals that include SEAS faculty

Eligibility requirements:

  • All faculty members are eligible to compete across all themes
  • Each faculty member may compete as many times as desired
  • Each proposal must include at least one faculty member from SEAS and one faculty member outside SEAS
  • Each proposal must include a description of how the project will evaluate its outcomes and outputs
  • Each proposal must be designed to leverage resources from outside SEAS

SUBMIT A PROPOSAL

Fill out this simple form as the first step toward securing funding for a theme-related activity. If your idea advances to the next round, you may be asked to complete a more detailed proposal.

 

 

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Please join faculty and colleagues from across campus for the next round of theme-related events: lightning talk sessions inspired by the ever-popular Fast Food for Thought series. 

  • January 18, 2019, 3-5 p.m. 2024 Dana: Conservation + Restoration hosted by Inés Ibáñez (SEAS) and Deborah Goldberg (LSA EEB)
  • February 4, 2019, 5:30-7:30pm - Dana 1028: Climate Adaptation hosted by Maria Carmen Lemos (SEAS), Paige Fischer (SEAS), and Gretchen Keppel-Aleks (CLaSP)
  • Fabruary 13, 2019, 5:30-7:30pm - Dana 2024: Water hosted by Paul Seelbach (SEAS), Karen Alofs (SEAS), and Dick Norton (TCAUP)
  • COMING SOON: Cities + Mobility + Built Environment hosted by Josh Newell (SEAS) and Robert Goodspeed (TCAUP)
  • March 21, 2019, 5-6:30 p.m. 1040 Dana: Climate + Energy hosted by Greg Keoleian (SEAS) and Anna Stefanopoulou (Energy Institute)

FUTURE FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

Starting in Winter 2019, there will be one competition each year for a large research grant (up to $125/year for two years) to fund theme-related research.

Questions? Email sustainabilitythemes@umich.edu.