Bowling Green State University
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research

Several programs/initiatives provide incentives for student sustainability research.  The Student Green Initiatives Fund is available for student sustainability projects and these projects often overlap with a student's research, if the project involves furthering sustainability at BGSU.  Paid internships are available through the Office of Campus Sustainability, regardless of the student's major/department, and in fact, this experience has assisted students in subsequent or concurrent  sustainability research.  Additionally, the program entitled "Building Ohio's Sustainable Energy Future" ("BOSEF") at BGSU provides funding for student (and indirectly, faculty) research in alternative/renewable energy and other sustainable environmental practices.

The School of Earth, Environment, and Society (SEES) has several student research opportunties that focus on sustainability. A very recent article covering one of these efforts that is studying climate change can be read about at this article: Antarctica bound: BGSU research team to study undersea volcanoes' impact on climate

The Student Green Initiatives Fund is available for faculty sustainability projects and these projects often overlap with faculty research, if the project involves furthering sustainability at BGSU. Funding from the Student Green Initiatives Fund doesn't require faculty/staff involvement for students to apply, but it is almost a given that projects involve faculty/staff at BGSU given the logistics involved.

The EPA Recycling and Litter Prevention Program Grant series is available to BGSU faculty to encourage research as well. Most recently, with Visual Communication Technology and research on wishcycling. It’s something that has been the subject of much research nationwide, results in tremendous losses of recyclable materials to the landfill and is also the topic of an Ohio EPA grant was administered by Dr. Donna Trautman, Associate Professor of Visual Communication Technology and Dr. Nick Hennessy, BGSU Sustainability Manager. The grant was awarded by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Recycling and Litter Prevention Program in the spring of 2022. It involved a comprehensive approach to recycling contamination education, combining the efforts of Visual Communication Technology classes at BGSU and Campus Sustainability to address recurring contamination issues. Through the creation of a wide variety of educational pieces that were deployed across campus to change the culture of wishcycling and ultimately, the behavior of those engaging in our recycling program.