Weber State University
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research

• Weber State University has an Office of Undergraduate Research that awards funding and supplies mentoring for student research projects and dissemination from all disciplines.


• Annually, at least two $500 awards are presented by the WSU Alumni Association and the Sustainability Practices and Research Center (SPARC) to recognize exceptional, completed Student Sustainability Research Projects. The two winners are selected by a subcommittee of the WSU Faculty Senate Environmental Initiatives Committee. Eligible submissions include any research project involving some primary research related to sustainability completed during the calendar year or in Spring semester of the awarding year (e.g., 2023 and spring 2024 for the last academic year's awards). Students who complete projects in conjunction with faculty research may apply but the role and work of the student(s) must be clearly explained. Submissions are judged on their link with sustainability objectives, outcomes and impact (practical or scholarly), and creativity/originality. 


• STUDENT AWARD RECIPIENTS -  Student projects receiving these awards in the previous three years include: 
  
  
  
  • 2024 - Ian Nuttall (Geography, Environment & Sustainability, advisor Alice Mulder), "Measuring the Urban Park Cooling Island Effect in Ogden, Utah;"  Colle Christensen (History), "Municipal Solid Waste in Davis County: Short-Term Financial Incentives Delay Implementation of Sustainable Solutions"
  
  
  • 2023 - Jack Fernald (Electrical Engineering) "Multi-Source Electric Vehicle Charging;" and Curtis Soderborg (Geography, Environ. and Sustainability) "Mapping Threats to Solitude:  The Spatial and Temporal Distribution of the Signs of Human Activity in the Mount Timpanogos Wilderness Area in 2022"
  
  
  • 2022 - Katelyn Tenney (Economics), "The Impacts of Fuel Price on Air Quality: A Case Study of Salt Lake City;" and Chase Noorda (Electrical Engineering), "Electric Boat Model" 
  
  
  • Descriptions of these projects can be found on the sustainability research award winners webpage.
  
  
  
  


• Students are also encouraged to do sustainability work to share at the yearly Intermountain


• Sustainability Summit, through the Student Poster Competition (Details for this can be found here: https://www.weber.edu/ISSummit/poster-contest.html).

• Faculty Sustainability, Teaching, Application and Research (STAR) Grants:  Starting in 2023-24 a new annual grant fund iof $20,000 was created in the Sustainability Practices and Research Center to support faculty sustainability-related research, teaching/application projects. Six projects were awarded in AY 24. The grant website will list the awardees.


• Faculty Sustainability Research Awards:  Every year the Sustainability Practices and Research Center (SPARC) provides at least two $1000 awards to recognize exceptional, completed Faculty Sustainability Research Projects in either, or both, traditional research or applied research areas. The two winners are selected by a review committee made up of members of the WSU Faculty Senate Environmental Initiatives Committee. Eligible submissions include any research project involving some primary research related to sustainability completed during the calendar year or in Spring semester of the awarding year (e.g., 2023 and spring 2024 for the last academic year's awards). Submissions are judged on their link with sustainability objectives, outcomes and impact (practical or scholarly), and creativity/originality. Faculty projects receiving these awards in the previous three years include:
  
  
  
  • 2024 - Dr. Caitlin Tems (Earth and Environmental Science), "The Impact of Winter Deicing Materials on Water Quality in Weber County, Utah;" and Dr. Brandon Burnett (Chemistry), "Recovery of Heavy Metals From Electronic Waste by Two Environmentally-Friendly Extraction Methods - Liquid Assisted Grinding and Soxhlet distillation"
  
  
  • 2023 - Dr. Carie Frantz (Earth and Environmental Science), "Desiccation of ecosystem-critical microbialites in Great Salt Lake;" and Dr. Michael Wutz (English), "Reading with the Grain: The Ecologies of The Lowland"
  
  
  • 2022 - Dr. Bryan Dorsey (Geography), "Refocusing on Sustainability: Promoting Straw Bale Building;" and Dr. Sara Dant (History), "The View From the Top: Climate Change in the West and the World"
  
  
  
  


• Faculty research of all kinds is also supported through the University's Research, Scholarship and Professional Growth Committee, which oversees the awarding of funds from a variety of sources. While not specifically focused on sustainability, this pool of funding is open to faculty conducting sustainability research and its dissemination.

The Weber State Stewart Library has library staff (both in science and social science) dedicated to assisting students and faculty needing science and sustainability research assistance. The first positive outcome from this position designation was the creation of a sustainability Lib guide which can be found here - http://libguides.weber.edu/c.php?g=746585&p=5348706

https://www.weber.edu/sustainability/faculty-research-awards.html (Faculty Research Awards)

https://www.weber.edu/sustainability/student-research-awards.html (Student Research Awards)

http://libguides.weber.edu/c.php?g=746585&p=5348706 (Sustainability LibGuide)

http://weber.edu/our (Office of Undergraduate Research)

https://www.weber.edu/rspg (Research, Scholarship and Professional Growth)