Furman University
AC-6: Sustainability Research

Furman hosts a grants and scholarship reception each year to recognize the breadth of work done by Furman faculty and staff.  Faculty and staff from all departments are encouraged to submit their research, publications, and grant awards or other work in advance of the reception.  We used this list of submissions from the last two years as our primary source of data, using keyword searches and also reading the submission titles and descriptions to verify that the topic addressed a sustainability challenge. 

The Shi Institute for Sustainable Communities Applied Research Center supports and incentivizes sustainability research through collaborative grants with faculty, students, and community partners. Ths Shi Institute frequently writes faculty into grants and/or provides support for grant-funded research, which frequently also involves students. This support reduces faculty administrative burden of grants and fee for service projects. Some examples of recent grant-funded research projects are below:

• Extreme Heat and Equity – The Shi Institute is currently collaborating with faculty and the cities of Fountain Inn, Goose Creek, and the Town of Bluffton to perform a high-resolution GIS analysis to identify areas where extreme heat and social vulnerability overlap throughout the city. In early 2025, this analysis will be used by the City of Goose Creek to strategically direct its municipal tree fund to areas of the city where social vulnerability overlaps with extreme heat.
• Farm Stress – As part of the Southern Ag Exchange (SAgE) Network, the Applied Research Team adapted an urban gentrification typology to evaluate anticipated market pressure on rural farmland across the state of South Carolina. The analysis will be used to target SAgE resources to farmers facing development pressure and to support farmer mental health. 
• Preserving Affordable Housing in the Sterling Neighborhood – The Applied Research Team and sociology professor, Ken Kolb, are partnering with the Urban League of the Upstate and Habitat for Humanity to analyze displacement pressure in this historic Black neighborhood to inform strategies to bolster housing, food, and economic security for current and future residents--including owners and renters.  
• Neighborhood Change and Gentrification in Greenville, a Partnership with United Way of Greenville County. Qualitative, Quantitative, and Spatial Study investigating changes in community well-being over time from 1990 to present. The purpose of this project was to use census data, data from local focus groups, and local sales data to determine areas under pressure from gentrification. The collaboration included Furman faculty and students from Business, Computer Science, Public Health, Sociology, and Sustainability Science. Role: Report available at http://inclusivegvl.org. Commissioned by United Way of Greenville County. This provided financial support for faculty and students in the aforementioned departments.
• Focused Needs and Assets Assessment, Furman University. Qualitative, Quantitative, and Spatial Study identifying community assets and needs in under-resourced communities. The United Way of Greenville County partnered with Furman University to conduct a focused needs and assets assessment in order to identify priority communities in Greenville County and analyze these areas’ existing needs and assets. This study of ten specific communities facilitated making evidence-based decisions to direct initiatives and investments and also plan for future community-based collaborations. The full report and executive summary are available online. Furman collaborators included Matthew Cohen (Furman faculty, Earth Environmental and Sustainability Sciences), John Quinn (Furman faculty, Biology), and Melanie Brown (Furman post-baccalaureate fellow). Commissioned by United Way of Greenville County. This fee for service project supported Furman students’ and Matt and John’s participation.

Shi Institute Fellowships

The University's Shi Institute for Sustainable Communities supports a robust student fellows program that funds students to conduct sustainability research and service, as well as other campus and community-based projects. The fellowships are open to all majors and all class years. The Institute funds 25 - 30 student fellows a year. These opportunities encourage students to engage with sustainability in diverse ways and develop their academic credentials along with their personal character, sense of place and responsibility through cohort programming. 

Office Of Undergraduate Research https://www.furman.edu/undergraduate-research/  

The Office of Undergraduate Research is the gateway to a variety of research opportunities, including summer research fellowships, during which students collaborate closely with faculty from Furman or a partner university to seek solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges. Along with the opportunity to present findings at national conferences, this unique collaborative research experience helps to build the confidence and professional skills students need to excel in future careers.

The Office of Undergraduate Research provides funding for students presenting their work through Furman at professional conferences, including poster printing. Our office will fund travel to one conference per student, per academic year; the spending limit is $1,250 for domestic travel and $1,750 for international travel, with allowance for higher cost travel on a case-by-case basis.