State University of New York at Geneseo
AC-10: Support for Research

Programs that can provide support for students doing research in sustainability include Undergraduate Research and Travel Grants (up to $1,200 per year), which support research project expenses and conference presentation travel costs; Undergraduate Summer Fellowships ($3,000), which provide support for two months of research during the summer; and Student Assistantships ($1,000), which support student involvement in faculty research projects. Additionally, students are encouraged to present the results of their research projects at GREAT Day (Geneseo Recognizing Excellence, Achievement and Talent), SUNY Geneseo’s annual student symposium, which is held in April each year. http://www.geneseo.edu/great_day For GREAT Day 2015, the Office of Sustainability identified 68 presentations which included topics promoting sustainability. Undergraduate Travel Grants have supported travel to conferences for the following student sustainability-related projects: Expanding Recycling Options at SUNY Geneseo through Residence Life, Facilities, and the Terracycle Program (Residential Life) Economic Impact of Large Scale Renewable Energy Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa (Department of Geography) Climate Change During the Last Pleistocene Glaciation in Northern Nevada Inferred from Numerical Glacial Modeling, Angel Lake Type Locality, East Humboldt Range, Nevada, U.S.A (Department of Geological Sciences) Evaluating oil dispersant systems via emulsion stabilization and optical microscopy (Department of Chemistry) Historical GIS Analysis of Iroquoian and Pioneer Settlement in New York State - Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, April 21-25, 2015. Chicago, Illinois. (Department of Geography) Spatial Analysis of Socioeconomic Conditions in Oil Boom Counties of North Dakota - Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, April 21-25, 2015. Chicago, Illinois. (Department of Geography) Ecuador's Tenuous Relationship with Oil Resources (Department of Political Science) The Geocaching Footprint of Letchworth State Park (Department of Geography) Snowfall Spatial Analysis of Western New York (Department of Geography) Establishing Long-Term Monitoring of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Department of Geography) Nitrate Pollution of Groundwater in the State of Wisconsin: Analyzing Land Use Contributions and Modeling Distribution via Indicator Kriging (Department of Geography) EcoHouse at SUNY Geneseo: Creating Connections and Opportunities (Residential Life) Response of Songbirds to Varying Levels of Anthropogenic Noise in Western New York State (Department of Biology) Deer Impact on Biodiversity in Letchworth State Park: A Five Year Analysis (Department of Geography) Undergraduate Research Grants have provided research funds for the following student sustainability-related projects: Lignocellulosic Biomass as a Source for Biofuel Production (Department of Chemistry) Biofuel Production: Investigating Ionic Liquids as Pretreatment Systems (Department of Chemistry) Identification of Toxic Cyanobacteria from Conesus Lake (Department of Biology) Biofuel: Obtaining Glucose from Rice Hulls Treatment (Department of Chemistry) Algae and Biodiesel (Department of Chemistry) Deer Population Impact on Biodiversity in Letchworth State Park (Department of Geography) Geneseo Summer Research Fellowships ($3000) provided stipend support for the following student sustainability-related projects: Potential Impacts of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Induced Tree Mortality on Stream Ecosystems in Letchworth State Park (Department of Geography) Response of Black-capped Chickadees to varying levels of Anthropogenic Noise Disturbances in WNYS (Department of Biology) Biofuel Production: A Study of Microalgae’s Role in Biodiesel Synthesis (Department of Chemistry) Establishing Long-Term Monitoring of Hemlock Wooly Adelgid and Emerald Ash Borer (Department of Geography) The website URL where information about the student research program is available. http://www.geneseo.edu/sponsored_research/student-research-funding Undergraduate Research Grants have provided research funds for the following student sustainability-related projects: Lignocellulosic Biomass as a Source for Biofuel Production (Department of Chemistry) Biofuel Production: Investigating Ionic Liquids as Pretreatment Systems (Department of Chemistry) Identification of Toxic Cyanobacteria from Conesus Lake (Department of Biology) Biofuel: Obtaining Glucose from Rice Hulls Treatment (Department of Chemistry) Algae and Biodiesel (Department of Chemistry) Deer Population Impact on Biodiversity in Letchworth State Park (Department of Geography) Geneseo Summer Research Fellowships ($3000) provided stipend support for the following student sustainability-related projects: Potential Impacts of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Induced Tree Mortality on Stream Ecosystems in Letchworth State Park (Department of Geography) Response of Black-capped Chickadees to varying levels of Anthropogenic Noise Disturbances in WNYS (Department of Biology) Biofuel Production: A Study of Microalgae’s Role in Biodiesel Synthesis (Department of Chemistry) Establishing Long-Term Monitoring of Hemlock Wooly Adelgid and Emerald Ash Borer (Department of Geography)

The programs that can support faculty research in sustainability include small grants for research expenses Incentive Grants and Research Development Awards (up to $1,500), Faculty Travel Grants, for conference presentations ($800 or $1,000 per year for domestic and international locations, respectively), Summer Faculty Fellowships, which provide support for two months of research (awards range from $3,500 to $5,000), and Proposal Writing Support Awards, which may support proposal development and pilot research costs (up to $3,750). The Office of Sponsored Research also office supports faculty who wish to apply for external grants with services like assistance in identifying sponsors and funding opportunities, identification of possible collaborators, support for proposal writing and budget development, funds for professional development related to proposal development and sponsor visits, and full assistance with on-line applications and submissions. Faculty benefiting from internal funding opportunities: For 2014-15, Barnabas Gikonyo (Department of Chemistry) received an Incentive Grant award for his research on biofuels. His research student have received much support in terms of Undergraduate Research Grants and summer fellowships. Gikonyo has published several books on biofuel production: http://www.geneseo.edu/chemistry/gikonyo_barnabas. David Robertson (Department of Geography) received a Proposal Writing Support Award, which provided for the development and submission this fall of a National Science Foundation Geography and Spatial Sciences proposal examining the impacts of past Native American land-use on contemporary forests of the Eastern United States. Benjamin Laabs (Department of Geological Sciences) has received several Proposal Writing Support Awards which have provided funds to conduct preliminary analyses in support of submission of several NSF grants relating to terrestrial records of Pleistocene and Holocene glaciation and climate change and their contributions to our understanding of how past warming affected surface water availability. Faculty/staff benefiting from the Office of Sponsored Programs’ support for applying for external grants: We have recently received a SUNY 4E Networks of Excellence Award to support a SUNY Biofuels Research and Education Collaboration --for meetings and travel-- (Stephen Padalino, Department of Physics). We also received a NY Prize award of $100,000 to conduct a feasibility study on establishing a microgrid on campus that would benefit both the campus and the Village and would be powered by methane from the wastewater treatment plan and solar arrays (Dan DeZarn, Director of Sustainability).

We do not have a formal policy about interdisciplinary research.

The library maintains a list of current, up-to-date research guides to resources on subjects of interest to our college community. These include material guides in the sciences (environmental studies, biology, chemistry, geology, geosciences, physics and computer science) that would be of interest to sustainability researchers. Research guides in the social sciences (sociology, psychology, cultural studies, urban studies) are also maintained which provide support for this research and learning. The url is http://libguides.geneseo.edu/. The library also maintains subscriptions to a wide variety of disciplinary and multi-disciplinary journal databases where relevant research and scholarly content may be accessed on sustainability topics. Databases include Academic Search Complete (EBSCOHost), ProQuest Research Library, ScienceDirect, and JSTOR Life Sciences collections and specialty databases such as Environment Complete and Environmental Studies & Policy. In addition, the library provides the space, support and programming capabilities for events and materials on sustainability research and active promotion of our researchers’ scholarship and publication of such scholarship. We are the home for Open SUNY Textbooks which produces textbooks and digital learning objects focused on a broad arena of subjects, sustainability topics included. Material selection of our resources (primarily books and media) are selected by faculty members and thus sustainability research and topics are supported by acquisitions funds and interlibrary loan requests to other libraries. Include research guides, materials selection policies and practices, curriculum development efforts, sustainability literacy promotion, and e-learning objects focused on sustainability. The website URL where information about the institution’s library support for sustainability is available.science) that would be of interest to sustainability researchers. Research guides in the social sciences (sociology, psychology, cultural studies, urban studies) are also maintained which provide support for this research and learning. The url is http://libguides.geneseo.edu/. The library also maintains subscriptions to a wide variety of disciplinary and multi-disciplinary journal databases where relevant research and scholarly content may be accessed on sustainability topics. Databases include Academic Search Complete (EBSCOHost), ProQuest Research Library, ScienceDirect, and JSTOR Life Sciences collections and specialty databases such as Environment Complete and Environmental Studies & Policy. In addition, the library provides the space, support and programming capabilities for events and materials on sustainability research and active promotion of our researchers’ scholarship and publication of such scholarship. We are the home for Open SUNY Textbooks which produces textbooks and digital learning objects focused on a broad arena of subjects, sustainability topics included. Material selection of our resources (primarily books and media) are selected by faculty members and thus sustainability research and topics are supported by acquisitions funds and interlibrary loan requests to other libraries.

Jennifer Apple