Princeton University
ER-14: Incentives for Developing Sustainability Courses

Through its Grand Challenges Program (GC), Princeton provides seed research grants to faculty seeking to redirect their research to address historically intractable problems in energy and climate, global health and infectious disease, and sustainable development in Africa. Priority for funding new research projects as part of the GC Program is given to faculty proposals that demonstrate solid commitments to involving undergraduates in the research enterprise and to expanding the undergraduate curriculum to address issues of environment and sustainability. The High Meadows Foundation Sustainability Fund provides start-up funding for sustainability initiatives using the campus as a living laboratory. All disciplinary approaches are encouraged, especially those that combine the sciences, humanities, and social sciences in creative ways.

Faculty selected by competitive application for New Investigator and/or seed grants from the Grand Challenges Program receive two years of funding support (averaging $100,000 per year) to refocus their research and to implement innovations in undergraduate teaching to address topics in energy and climate, sustainable development, and global health and infectious disease. A campus-wide Grand Challenges Call for Proposals is held annually. High Meadows Foundation Sustainability Fund awards may be used to support course development, redesign, or enhancement.

-From 2007-2011, the Grand Challenges Program at Princeton awarded more than $11.6 million funding for 41 faculty-led projects in energy, health, and development to support new directions in research and teaching and to forge strategic collaborations across disciplinary lines. Thirty-five (35) new courses have been developed in topics of energy and climate, global health and infectious disease, and sustainable development as outcomes of the Grand Challenges Program. An additional 27 courses have been modified significantly as a result of the Program. -For more information on the Grand Challenges Program, see: http://www.princeton.edu/grandchallenges/education/ -For information on Grand Challenges courses, see: http://www.princeton.edu/grandchallenges/education/courses/ -For information on Grand Challenges research awards including incentives for developing sustainability courses, see: http://www.princeton.edu/grandchallenges/research-highlights/faculty-research-funding/ -For information on the High Meadows Foundation’s Sustainability Fund to support course development, see: http://www.princeton.edu/sustainability/psc/highmeadows/