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

The campus’ annual Student Research & Creative Activity (SRCA) Day provides a professional forum for students to showcase research to the campus and greater community. Although open to all disciplines, sustainability projects are encouraged, and relevant projects are designated by the President’s Advisory Council on Sustainability (PACS) as such in the SRCA program and on the presentations. Since 2016, when the sustainability designation began, 80 student projects from 14 different departments presented at SRCA Day have been designated as sustainability-related (30% of all presentations in 2016, and 36.5% of all presentations in 2017). The Student Grant Program for Research & Creative Activity provides funding for independent projects conducted by students with faculty sponsorship, with applications rounds in both the fall and spring semesters. Students can apply for up to $1,500 for expenses needed to carry out the project; and also receive a $300 fellowship when the project is presented at a SRCA Day event. (Faculty sponsors also receive a $300 fellowship.) For the current fiscal year (2017/18), approximately $84,000 is allocated to this program. Additional funding in the amount of ~$50,000/year is available for students to travel to academic and co-curricular conferences/meetings. Students conducting sustainability-related work and attending/presenting at related conferences are encouraged by the Sustainability Coordinator and faculty in the Environmental Sustainability program to apply to these opportunities.

The annual faculty showcase event, the Life of the Mind (LOTM), spotlights research and scholarship made by faculty to the intellectual life of the campus community and beyond. Although open to all disciplines, sustainability projects are encouraged; and, as with SRCA Day, organizers began designating sustainability-related projects as such in the LOTM program and on the presentations. Since 2016, when the sustainability designation of projects began, 36 presentations from 14 different departments have been designated as sustainability related by the PACS (32.3% of all presentations in 2016, and 26.3% of all presentations in 2017). Funding is available for faculty to begin or maintain a research agenda or to conduct creative activities through the Faculty/Professional Staff Research & Creative Activity Grant program. Applications for up to $3,000 per project are accepted in both the fall and spring semesters, with approximately $74,000 available in 2017/18. The Sustainability Coordinator and Grants Development Office, which administers the program, are in discussions to prioritize sustainability-related projects in the review rubric used in the peer review process.

The college's library website hosts a LibGuide for sustainability. The LibGuide allows for easy navigation through of the library's collection of articles, books, journals and other online resources.