Texas A&M University
AC-10: Support for Research

The increasing consumption of petroleum deposits and the escalating air pollution problems caused by burning fossil fuels have driven the global research community to look for clean and renewable energy sources. Hydrogen, biofuel, and solar energy are among the most environmentally benign alternative energy sources. To build upon our strengths and to take the existing renewable energy programs on campus to the next level of international competitiveness, the Advanced Research Initiative for Substainable Energy (ARISE) was chosen as one of the eight Initial University Multidisciplinary Research Initiatives (IUMRIs).

Texas is traditionally an energy state and Texas A&M University has been known as an energy institute as evidenced by our world class Petroleum Engineering and Nuclear Engineering programs. The energy emphasis is also reflected in the existing renewable energy programs in the University. The Advanced Research Initiative for Substainable Energy (ARISE) will build upon our strengths and take these existing renewable energy programs to the next level of international competitiveness. ARISE plans to connect the fields of technology development, academic research, commercialization, and the policy landscape in the renewable energy field. It will not only facilitate the collaboration among multidisciplinary researchers within the University, but will also help to attract funds from federal, state, and private funding agencies.

Students are encouraged to participate in ARISE. The program builds on the proposed projects that will lead to not only scientific discovery and new technology but also pedagogical innovation for training students to become the new interdisciplinary researchers in renewable energy. This will be accomplished through developments of new interdisciplinary curricula that not only train students broadly in the science and engineering required by interdisciplinary developments, but also teach them how these challenges will impact industry, global markets, and the ever developing energy needs of other countries.

TOP grants are funded by the university to promote multidisciplinary learning experiences for Texas A&M students on a large scale. Each grant must reach at least 100 undergraduate or 50 graduate students per year. With total funding of approximately $1M per year these are 3 year grants awarded to intercollegiate multidisciplinary groups to engage students in research based learning.

In 2013, three grants were approved to advance sustainability:
◦ Bridging Hydrology, Governance, Culture and Scarcity for Effective Rio Grande Water Management: An Interdisciplinary Experiential Learning and Research Program
◦ Enhancing Teaching and Research in Health Impacts of Air Pollution
◦ Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Our society will face increasingly large and complex problems in the coming decades. Some of these challenges can be addressed through research, teaching and outreach in the academic fields we work on in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

During the 2012-2013 academic year, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences embarked on an exciting interdisciplinary, faculty-driven initiative to chart our top priorities for the future. This year-long process, which included a series of lectures, white paper development, and a town hall meeting, culminated with the identification of five grand challenges – feeding our world, protecting our environment, improving our health, enriching our youth, and growing our economy.

Each of the grand challenges are multi-disciplinary and interconnected. With this in mind, the College has created a searchable database that allow users to search by faculty research expertise as well as a listing of ongoing, funded research projects. This database and list of projects aim to facilitate discussion and increase involvement in our mission to address the grand challenges.

1. Faculty members should be recognized and rewarded for research, teaching, and service/engagement that contribute at the university or college levels in strategic multidisciplinary areas (which include activities in recognized interdisciplinary programs). Such contributions are as valued as disciplinary contributions, which we are
accustomed to recognizing and rewarding. The procedures should not require that all faculty engage in multidisciplinary activities, but should recognize that such engagements may be in all three primary categories (teaching, creating new knowledge, or service/engagement).

The Texas A&M University Libraries (Libraries) provides a wide range of resources and services to support the University's sustainability research and learning. This includes:

• Online subject guides in various aspects of sustainability and conservation (~79 Subject Guides),
• Online class guides to provide information and resources to support courses in sustainability (~41 Class Guides),
• Databases that specifically address information on sustainability (~16 Databases. Note this does not include the general and aggregated databases that also provide access to sustainability information),
• Print and online serials and journals on sustainability and conservation (~130),
• 35,000+ monograph titles on conservation and sustainability, and
• Subject Specialists that research and support studies in sustainability.
• An institutional repository that provides open access to research publications and electronic theses and dissertations on sustainability.

Examples: (Note this is not a complete list of resources that the University Libraries provides – only some noteworthy items:

SUBJECT GUIDES
1) Accounting A-Z - Environmental Accounting
2) Agriculture & Life Sciences
3) Bioenvironmental Sciences
4) Biological & Agricultural Engineering
5) Biology
6) Environmental Studies
7) Industries A-Z - Energy Utilities
8) Marketing A-Z - Green Marketing
9) Open Access Publishing
10) Water Resources
11) Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences

CLASS GUIDES
1) AGSM 439 - Agricultural Systems Management
2) ECON 433 - Energy Markets and Policy
3) ECON 435 - Economics of Resource Scarcity
4) ECON 436 - Environmental Economics
5) ECON 633 - Energy Markets
6) LDEV 671 - Sustainable Development
7) PLAN 673 - Design for Sustainable Transportation
8) PSAA 606 - Environmental Policy and Management
9) PSAA 644 - Mgmt and Leadership of Nonprofit Organizations
10) URPN 201 - Urban Form and City Planning
11) URSC 301 - Urban and Regional Planning

DATABASES
1) Energy and Power Source
2) Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management
3) Forestry Compendium
4) Green FILE
5) Sustainability Science Abstracts
6) Water Resources Abstracts
7) Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide

SERIALS/JOURNALS
1) Advances in Sustainability and Environmental Justice [2051-5030]
2) AK Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Decisions
3) Alberta Energy and Utilities Board Decisions
4) Amphibian & reptile conservation [1083-446X]
5) Animal biodiversity and conservation [1578-665X]
6) Animal conservation [1367-9430]
7) Annual report - Manitoba. Manitoba Conservation [1497-9012]
8) Annual report / Australian Conservation Foundation
9) Aquaculture, Aquarium, Conservation & Legislation [1844-8143]
10) Aquarium sciences and conservation [1357-5325]
11) Aquatic conservation [1052-7613]
12) Archiv für Naturschutz und Landschaftsforschung [0003-9306]
13) Asian Journal Of Conservation Biology [2278-7666]
14) Avian Conservation And Ecology [1712-6568]
15) BEES 3.0: Building For Environmental & Economic Sustainability Technical Manual & User Guide
16) Biodiversity And Conservation [0960-3115]
17) Biodiversity Research And Conservation [1897-2810]
18) Biological Conservation [0006-3207]
19) Biological Diversity And Conservation [1308-5301]
20) Bird Conservation International [0959-2709]
21) Challenges In Sustainability
22) Chelonian Conservation And Biology [1071-8443]
23) Conservation & Recycling [0361-3658]
24) Conservation & Society [0972-4923]
25) Conservation Biology [0888-8892]
26) Conservation Directory [0069-911X]
27) Conservation Ecology [1195-5449]
28) Conservation Evidence [1758-2067]
29) Conservation Genetics [1566-0621]
30) Conservation In Practice [1539-6827]
31) Conservation Letters [1755-263X]
32) Conservation Matters [2328-3173]
33) Conservation Physiology [2051-1434]
34) Conservation Science Western Australia [1447-3682]
35) Conservation [1071-0892]
36) Conservation [1936-2145]
37) Conservationist [0010-650X]
38) Critical Studies On Corporate Responsibility, Governance & Sustainability [2043-9059]
39) Current Opinion In Environmental Sustainability [1877-3435]
40) Ecology, Environment & Conservation Business [1945-6867]
41) Ecology, Environment & Conservation [1945-6492]
42) Ecology, Environment And Conservation [0971-765X]
43) E-Conservation Journal [2183-1335]
44) E-Conservation Magazine [1646-9283]
45) Energy Conservation News [0161-6595]
46) Energy, Sustainability And Society [2192-0567]
47) Environment, Development And Sustainability [1387-585X]
48) Environmental Conservation [0376-8929]
49) Environmental Law Newsletter [0163-545X]
50) Ethnobiology And Conservation [2238-4782]
51) Fairly Sustainable Forestry: Seven Key Concepts For Defining Local Sustainability In A Global Ecosystem
52) Forest & Conservation History [1046-7009]
53) Herpetological Conservation And Biology [2151-0733]
54) IAMURE International Journal Of Ecology And Conservation [2244-1573]
55) Insect Conservation And Diversity [1752-458X]
56) Interfacehs : Journal Of Health, Environment And Sustainability [1980-0894]
57) International Conference On Control, Automation, Communication And Energy Conservation, INCACEC
58) International Conference On Information And Automation For Sustainability (Iciafs)
59) International Journal Of Agricultural Sustainability [1473-5903]
60) International Journal Of Conservation Science [2067-533X]
61) International Journal Of Development And Sustainability [2186-8662]
62) International Journal Of Management And Sustainability
63) International Journal Of Molecular Ecology And Conservation
64) International Journal Of Sustainability In Higher Education [1467-6370]
65) Journal For Nature Conservation [1617-1381]
66) Journal Of Asia Entrepreneurship And Sustainability [1176-8592]
67) Journal Of Coastal Conservation [1400-0350]
68) Journal Of Insect Conservation [1366-638X]
69) Journal Of Management & Sustainability [1925-4725]
70) Journal Of Materials Chemistry A: Materials For Energy And Sustainability [2050-7488]
71) Journal Of Soil And Water Conservation [0022-4561]
72) Journal Of Sustainability And Green Business [2156-5325]
73) Journal Of Sustainability Education [2151-7452]
74) Journal Of Teacher Education For Sustainability [1691-4147]
75) Journal Of The American Institute For Conservation [0197-1360]
76) Journal Of The Institute Of Conservation [1945-5224]
77) Journal Of Urbanism: International Research On Placemaking And Urban Sustainability [1754-9175]
78) Latin American Journal Of Conservation [2027-3851]
79) Life-Cycle Costing Workshop For Energy Conservation In Buildings: Student Manual
80) Madagascar Conservation & Development [1662-2510]
81) Marks & Spencer: Sustainability As An Effective Business Strategy
82) Nature And Conservation [2318-2881]
83) Nature Conservation [1314-6947]
84) New York State Conservationist [2157-1082]
85) NY Department Of Environmental Conservation Decisions
86) Pacific Conservation Biology [1038-2097]
87) Proceedings Of The ICE - Engineering Sustainability [1478-4629]
88) Project-Oriented Life-Cycle Costing Workshop For Energy Conservation In Buildings
89) Raptors Conservation [1814-0076]
90) Resource Notes - University Of Nebraska--Lincoln. Conservation And Survey Division [1049-524X]
91) Resource Recovery And Conservation [0304-3967]
92) Resources And Conservation [0166-3097]
93) Resources, Conservation, And Recycling [0921-3449]
94) Soil & Water Conservation News [0199-9060]
95) South Dakota Conservation Digest [0038-3279]
96) Strategy Plan Framework Toward Quality & Sustainability Of Thailand Economic Dev.
97) Studies In Conservation [0039-3630]
98) Sustainability Accounting, Management And Policy Journal [2040-8021]
99) Sustainability Of Water Quality And Ecology [2212-6139]
100) Sustainability Science [1862-4065]
101) Sustainability [1548-7733]
102) Sustainability [1937-0695]
103) Sustainability [2071-1050]
104) Sustainability, Agri, Food And Environmental Research [0719-3726]
105) Transition To Sustainability: Towards A Humane & Diverse World
106) Transport And Sustainability [2044-9941]
107) Tropical Conservation Science [1940-0829]
108) Unilever: Proving That Sustainability & Profitability Can Coexist
109) Where Has All The Water Gone?: A Citizen's Guide To Water Conservation In Florida
110) World Conservation [1027-0965]

http://dof.tamu.edu/content/tier-1-program-top-grant-proposals