University of California, Santa Barbara
AC-10: Support for Research

UC Santa Barbara’s Institute for Energy Efficiency (https://iee.ucsb.edu/) is “dedicated to the development of cutting-edge science and technologies that support an efficient and sustainable energy future.” Here, graduate students may apply for the I.E.E. Excellence in Research Graduate Fellowship, which recognizes cutting-edge research in sustainability and/or energy efficiency. This award is intended to provide about two quarters of full support (tuition/fees, stipend) for a total of $22,500. More information on this fellowship may be found here: (https://iee.ucsb.edu/events-programs/programs/fellowships/iee-excellence-research-graduate-fellowship).
Another fellowship hosted by the Bren School is the Eco-Entrepreneurship (Eco-E) Fellowship Program which provides recruitment incentive awards to promising eco-entrepreneurs who are pursuing a two-year Masters of Environmental Science and Management (MESM) degree with a focus on Eco-Entrepreneurship at the Bren School. Additionally, the Latin American Fisheries Fellowship (LAFF) Program offers a prestigious fellowship for early-career and aspiring marine environmental professionals to earn a world-class graduate degree from UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School. Additionally, the Sustainable Water Markets (SWM) fellowship program supports the MESM and other PhD students who study both market mechanisms that can enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of water exchange and help water in rivers, as well as the science informing the structure and operation of water markets.
More information regarding each Bren School fellowship may be found here: http://www.bren.ucsb.edu/admissions/fellowship_programs.htm
At the administrative level, The Chancellor’s Sustainability Undergraduate Research Program supports undergraduate students from discipline across campus (including the Fine Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Engineering) to pursue research related to sustainability. Further, it encourages undergraduate initiatives for campus and community-level sustainability projects and offers students in all academic disciplines an opportunity to apply their education in sustainability. In the 2017-2018 academic year, our Chancellor's Sustainability Researcher focused on studying lobsters. In the 2016-2017 academic year, the Undergraduate Researcher focused on assessing the potential for solar energy production in the City of Santa Barbara.

UC Santa Barbara’s Faculty Sustainability/Climate Champion Program:

The purpose of the Sustainability/Climate Action Champion award is to highlight and support the work of faculty whose scholarship demonstrates a commitment to sustainability and/or climate action. The award may be used to fund graduate and/or undergraduate assistantships and institutional opportunities that will allow the selected Champion to build upon his or her area of scholarship, to educate the campus and community about the significance of that work, and to explore its application to advancing sustainability/climate action at levels spanning from the campus to the planet. The selected champion is expected to work at the campus, community, state, national, and/or global level in addressing sustainability and/or climate action and to present their work to the campus by either developing and providing a seminar on the Champion’s area of expertise and its potential applications to issues of sustainability/climate change, or by infusing sustainability/climate change into an existing course, and by giving a public lecture at the end of the Championship tenure to discuss their work and activities as Champion. Awardees are selected by a faculty committee, based on the merit of their proposals and receive $25,000 in funding to support activities including graduate and undergraduate research assistants. Additionally, all faculty awardees are required to lead an annual Freshman Seminar course in Sustainability. One of our recent Champions, Chandra Krintz's work and the positive outcomes there of are described here: http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2016/016974/farm-aid

UC Santa Barbara is committed to prioritizing the environment as an interdisciplinary theme for our research and teaching as part of our 2007-2025 strategic academic plan. We have not however published written policies that have a direct affect on faculty promotion and/or tenure.

UC Santa Barbara provides an array of support for sustainability research through our library, including a number of active library guides that pertain to sustainability and active subscriptions to article databases such as Sustainability Science Abstracts, Environment Index, and the Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management database. In 2016, a particular effort was made to purchase an extensive collection of literature on climate change, such as the 2016 Environmental Research Handbook, in order to ensure a strong sustainability collection. Additional research guides for sustainability-focused courses are available, for example "Writing about Sustainability" (http://guides.library.ucsb.edu/content.php?pid=582161). The course guides provide a variety of information and resources, such as links to databases, articles, websites, and techniques for accessing other library sources. A collection of general Environmental Science resources including information on Green Careers, Endangered Species, Field Guides, Environmental Science resources in the Santa Barbara area, and information on Sustainability in Higher Education are also available (http://guides.library.ucsb.edu/envi?hs=a). Further information about UCSB’s library support may be found through the academic mission, vision, and values statement: https://www.library.ucsb.edu/about-library/mission-vision-values