Slippery Rock University
AC-10: Support for Research

SRU's Green Fund Grant is a vehicle which supports sustainable projects and student research in sustainability. It is funded through the President's Office at a level of $5/student enrolled each semester, or approximately $40,000 per semester. Unused funds are accumulated and available for future grants. The link below summarizes the many Green Fund Grant projects funded to date (some of which are simply sustainability projects, while others also involve a sustainability research component). Another vehicle supporting student research in sustainability are several $1,000 fellowship grants provided by a local business and funded through SRU's Sustainable Enterprise Accelerator (SEA) to support sustainable projects and research. The SEA also receives grants from other nonprofit organizations to support projects involving sustainability research, such as the current aquaponics demonstration and research project. This project involves the design, construction and operation of an aquaponics system located at the Macoskey Center and intended to document/research productivity of the system, in which tilapia are raised in one water tank, with their waste used as nutrient piped by gravity flow to a second hydroponic tank in which swiss chard will be grown. The system is purported to produce twice the vegetative matter using only 10% of the water used by conventional gardening techniques. Lessons learned and the actual production results obtained are being researched and documented to aid a small village in Uganda to replicate the system, where both tilapia and swiss chard are cash crops with high nutritional value for the villagers. The system has been constructed and uses a photovoltaic panel to power a small recirculation pump; during Spring semester 2016, the system will be stocked with tilapia and production of swiss chard will begin. Additional details are available at http://www.sru.edu/news/071315a. The Office of Sustainability also makes funds available from its annual budget to support student attendance at sustainability workshops and conferences.

The Green Fund Grant program described above also applies to SRU faculty and staff, and student-led research projects must have a staff or faculty advisor involved to mentor them. The Office of Sustainability also makes funds available from its annual budget to support staff and faculty attendance at sustainability workshops and conferences, where they can obtain information helpful in researching sustainability projects and developing new academic classes with sustainability components.

SRU's Bailey Library supports research across many disciplines, including sustainability, by providing a Center for Student research, resources for different subject areas, interlibrary loans, scientific/research databases, as well as tutorials and citation format information.

SRU has a Green Fund Grant program to encourage projects that promote sustainability. Faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate students in any major or program at Slippery Rock University are invited to apply for up to $20,000 per project each semester to support sustainability-progressive projects, educational programs, and research activities for Slippery Rock University and the surrounding community. These projects may involve research activities but are not required to do so. The SRU Sustainable Enterprise Accelerator manages five $1,000 fellowships available for students to fund projects of the student's choice that create, enhance, or encourage sustainable entrepreneurship, which may include sustainability research but are not required to do so.