Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 77.90
Liaison Katie Maynard
Submission Date March 4, 2021

STARS v2.2

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

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 4.00 Katie Maynard
Sustainability Coordinator
Geography & Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have an ongoing program to encourage students in multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
Yes

A brief description of the student sustainability research program:

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/research-programs/programs/fellowships/iee-excellence-research-fellowship).

The Bren School of Environmental Science & Management also offers several fellowship opportunities which you can read about here: https://bren.ucsb.edu/masters-programs/master-environmental-science-and-management/tuition-and-finance/fellowships. These fall into three groups:

GENERAL RECRUITMENT FELLOWSHIPS
Each year the Bren School is able to offer general Recruitment Fellowship funding to 25-40% of its incoming MESM students. Recruitment Fellowships provide incoming students with support for their first year in the MESM program. Recruitment Fellowship recipients are selected by the faculty-led Admissions Committee and demonstrate professional and academic promise. All MESM applicants are automatically considered for these general Recruitment Fellowships; no supplemental application is required. If an applicant is selected for a Recruitment Fellowship, that person will be notified at the same time they are notified of admission to the program.

DIVERSITY FELLOWSHIPS
The Bren School is pleased to support a diverse student body by offering Diversity Fellowships. The Environmental Science and Management Fellowship and Scholarship programs are funded by the Professional Development Supplemental Tuition. These fellowship awards offer support for up to two years to students from a broad range of backgrounds, including people from underrepresented groups, economically disadvantaged backgrounds, first generation to attend college, veterans, refugees, citizens of underdeveloped countries or rural areas or those who have completed service or intend to serve disadvantaged populations. No supplemental application is required to be considered for a Diversity Fellowship. The Personal Achievement and Contributions section of the application is often where applicants highlight their contributions to the diversity of the Bren community. Recipients of Diversity Fellowships are selected by the faculty-led Recruitment, Admissions and Support committee.

FOREST SUSTAINABILITY FELLOWSHIP
Forests, and the many services that they provide, face new challenges in this era of unprecedented global change. Global markets for wood products, human population pressures, and a changing climate impact forests throughout the world. Forests must be managed not just to provide timber, but also to provide wildlife habitat, enhance water supplies, sequester carbon, and support cultural and psychological well-being. The Forest Sustainability Fellowship (FSF) Program, generously supported by the Michael J. Connell Memorial Fund, focuses on scientific understanding and policy tools required to manage forests for long-term biological, physical, and social sustainability. Through training, research, and communication, the FSF program prepares a new generation of high-impact leaders in forest science and management.


Does the institution have a program to encourage academic staff from multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
Yes

A brief description of the faculty sustainability research program:

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. Our most recent champion was Dr. Jeffrey Hoelle. His work can be seen on the IV Ethnobotany Project website: https://ivplants.anth.ucsb.edu/ and on his research page: https://hoelle.anth.ucsb.edu/.


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?:
No

A copy of the promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:
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The promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:

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.


Does the institution have ongoing library support for sustainability research and learning?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s library support for sustainability research:

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


Website URL where information about the institution’s support for sustainability research is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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