University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
ER-18: Sustainability Research Incentives

The Institute for the Environment at UNC supports a group of Environmental Fellows including Progress Energy Graduate Fellows, Carolina Energy Fellows, and the Institute for the Environment Fellows. During the fellowship each student conducts research in a topic related to energy, sustainability, and/or the environment and is provided with a stipend, tuition, and graduate health benefits. Current topics include land use and transportation practices, nuclear technology innovation, solar fuel cells, and air craft emission standards. The Weiss Urban Livability Program supports graduate students to conduct research in “urban livability”, focusing on ways to improve the environmental and social quality of life in contemporary communities. Weiss fellows are given financial as well as professional support and growth. There are about 10 Weiss Fellows each year that are chosen by the Weiss Fellowship Board, consisting of mentors from many departments that work with the students throughout the year.

The Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) in Solar Fuels and Next Generation Photovoltaics is a consortium of researchers at UNC, Duke, NC State, the University of Florida, NC Central and the Research Triangle Institute. The EFRC currently funds in part 29 faculty members (22 at UNC), 14 Postdoctoral Fellows (7 at UNC) and 30 Research Assistants (25 at UNC). Research conducted at the EFRC focuses on developing and improving methods of collecting, transferring, and converting solar energy into chemical fuels.