| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 53.85 |
| Liaison | Aimee Lemrise |
| Submission Date | Jan. 10, 2020 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
AC-10: Support for Research
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.00 / 4.00 |
Does the institution have an ongoing program to encourage students in multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct research in sustainability? :
A brief description of the student research program, including the incentives provided and any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
The Green Fund supports advancing sustainability on our campus through methods include research, efficient design, energy and waste reduction, and education and outreach. Every student, faculty, staff, and campus unit is eligible to apply for a Green Fund project grant. Awards are granted annually by the Sustainability Council. Recommendations are made by the Green Fund Committee, which is composed of one faculty, one staff, and the three student members of the Sustainability Council.
In 2016, the Green Fund awarded $27,000 for the completion of a Land Management Plan for Touch of Nature Environmental Center (TONEC). This initial Green Fund grant provided the support to plan and conduct a broad resource inventory of each management unit of TONEC. This inventory entailed over 300 forest inventory plots, processing and aging nearly 200 tree cores or cookies, 100s of hours on GIS mapping each vegetation unit, tracing its cutting history, and sampling for invasive species over 3200 acres of TONEC properties in Jackson and Union Counties. This endeavor yielded a broad, yet deep, look at the wonderful natural resources entrusted to the managers of TONEC.
More details about the project can be found here: https://sustainability.siu.edu/_common/documents/land-management-plan-for-touch-of-nature.pdf
https://ton.siu.edu/
https://ton.siu.edu/touch-of-nature-forest/index.php
More details about the Green Fund grant program can be found here:
https://sustainability.siu.edu/green-fee/green-fund/
https://sustainability.siu.edu/green-fee/green-fund-projects/
Does the institution have a program to encourage faculty from multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct research in sustainability topics?:
A brief description of the faculty research program, including the incentives provided and any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
The Green Fund supports advancing sustainability on our campus through research, efficient design, energy and waste reduction, aesthetic upgrades, and education and outreach. Every student, faculty, staff, and campus unit is eligible to apply for a Green Fund project grant. Awards are granted annually/semi-annually by the Green Fund Committee, which is composed of one faculty, one staff, and the three student members of the Sustainability Council.
-In spring 2017, a professor from the Automotive Technology Department was awarded $4904.00 in funding his "Repurposing SIUC Generated Waste Motor Oil (WMO)" project, which supported the conversion of WMO into diesel fuel.
The purpose of the ongoing research project is to validate the repurposing of waste motor oil into diesel fuel. This research was sponsored by the SIUC Green Fund. This project will benefit the University by: reducing WMO disposal fees, reducing diesel fuel costs, encouraging student participation, promoting alternative fuel research, reducing the SIUC carbon footprint, and generating credit hours for the University. They have been able to divert in excess of 900 gallons of used motor oil into their process. At a disposal cost of approximately $0.85 per gallon, they have saved over $765 in waste disposal fees.
More details can be found here: https://sustainability.siu.edu/_common/documents/repurposing-siuc-generated-waste-motor-oil.pdf
https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/asars/2017/abstractpresentation/6/
More details about the Green Fund grant program can be found here:
https://sustainability.siu.edu/green-fee/green-fund/
https://sustainability.siu.edu/green-fee/green-fund-projects/
Has the institution published written policies and procedures that give positive recognition to interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research during faculty promotion and/or tenure decisions?:
A brief description of the institution’s support for interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research, including any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
Excerpt from SIU's Promotion Policies and Procedures:
In addition to the required consultation with faculty members of senior rank within the academic unit and the joint consideration of joint appointments, originating academic units are urged to consult with others who may have special knowledge of the performance of candidates and to solicit letters from such persons for the dossier. Examples of such persons include faculty members from other academic units when candidates under consideration have taught a number of students from those units, or who have served on a number of doctoral committees in those units, or have engaged in interdisciplinary teaching or research with members of those units. It is also appropriate to solicit letters from administrative officers in various parts of the university concerning service by the candidate to those units.
Source: https://policies.siu.edu/personnel-policies/chapter3/ch3-faps/promotfa.php
Does the institution have ongoing library support for sustainability research and learning?:
A brief description of the institution’s library support for sustainability research, including any positive outcomes during the previous three years:
The library provides access to the sustainability literature via several subscription databases, including:
Agriculture: AGRICOLA (subscription), CAB
Biology: Biological Abstracts, Zoological Record
Business: Business Source Complete, EconLit
Environment, Ecology, Energy: Environment Index (EBSCO), Annual Reviews journals, Environment and Energy Daily, Environment and Energy PM, GeoRef, Greenfile, Greenwire,
Multidisciplinary: Academic Search Complete, JSTOR, Opposing Viewpoints in Context, SciFinder, Web of Science
Political Science and Legal Information: Congressional (ProQuest), HeinOnline, Legaltrac, Nexis Uni, SocIndex with Full Text
Environmental Education: ERIC (subscription), Education Abstracts, Environment Index, MEDLINE (subscription)
Social Sciences: SocIndex, Web of Science, PsycINFO
Librarians work with researchers and students who have sustainability questions via the Information Desk, individual research consultations, our virtual reference chat service, and email reference. We are available to teach instruction sessions for classes that focus on the databases important to the issues being discussed in the class, with an emphasis on transferable concepts in searching.
We create course specific research guides. One example includes guides for English 101 about issues surrounding water (water rights, drinking water, access, pollution, energy), and guides for the public/students, e.g., Hurricane Katrina.
The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Student Sustainability Research Incentives - submission completed by Geory Kurtzhals, Director of Sustainability.
Faculty Sustainability Research Incentives - submission completed by Geory Kurtzhals, Director of Sustainability.
Recognition of Inter-, Trans- and Multi-Disciplinary Research - source: https://policies.siu.edu/personnel-policies/chapter3/ch3-faps/promotfa.php
Library Support - submission data provided by Mary K Taylor, Professor, Library Affairs
Student Sustainability Research Incentives - submission completed by Geory Kurtzhals, Director of Sustainability.
Faculty Sustainability Research Incentives - submission completed by Geory Kurtzhals, Director of Sustainability.
Recognition of Inter-, Trans- and Multi-Disciplinary Research - source: https://policies.siu.edu/personnel-policies/chapter3/ch3-faps/promotfa.php
Library Support - submission data provided by Mary K Taylor, Professor, Library Affairs
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.