Florida International University
AC-10: Support for Research

The FIU Sustainability Committee allots funding each fiscal year for student projects. Projects approved by the Committee receive assistance from the Sustainability Committee members and Office of University Sustainability staff during their process.

Global learning fellowships fund research collaborations between faculty or staff and undergraduate students. This program is designed to cultivate global learning models that combine research mentorship and innovative active learning strategies. Funded projects will generate new knowledge in the researchers’ field and involve methods for using results to facilitate engaged global learning. Funded projects will focus on increasing students’ global awareness, global perspective, and global engagement. Global learning fellowship research will build FIU’s institutional expertise and expand knowledge of effective global learning strategies in higher education. Recipients will share research findings and teaching strategies at conferences and through high impact conferences and journals. 2015 Fellowship Projects included "Does Acting Locally Help Youth to Think Globally? Engaging in Global Learning through Digital Participatory Research".The goal of this research is to help students engage in DPR projects concerning their local contexts while also facilitating cross-cultural discussions among students at all three sites. The research will also serve to establish an international collaboration between the Jamaican public school system and the Secondary Social Studies Education program at FIU. 2014 Fellowship Projects include "Research on Globalization and Sustainable Development in the Rukullakta Indigenous Territory, Ecuadorian Amazon". Participatory action research examined sustainable development activities that the indigenous residents of the Ecuadorian Amazon are undertaking as a means to address cultural, economic, and political changes in the region. The research trip will serve as the pilot for a future study abroad offering in the Ecuadorian Amazon. FIU's Strategic Plan states: "GOAL 1: The university will strive for the highest Carnegie-related classi cation of research, Very High Research (VHR). In the process, it will establish FIU as an interdisciplinary solutions center for the local community and beyond."

FIU Libraries Library Subject Liaisons provides students and faculty with one-on-one and in-class consultations for help with their research needs. https://library.fiu.edu/researchtools/library-liaisons FIU's library has a series of Library Guides (LibGuide) that provide students with an overview of and a list of resources to covering hundreds of different topics including sustainability related research topics such as: 'International Climatic Changes' 'Latin American Environmental History' 'Environmental Politics' 'Women, Culture, & Economic Development' 'Global Learning' 'Introduction to Global Gender & Women's Studies Online' http://libguides.fiu.edu/