IGS Faculty Seed Funding
Seed funding is one way that the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability supports faculty research, jointly awarding projects in collaboration with partners across the university.
Sustainability Research Grant
IGS’s Sustainability Research Grant (SRG) is our premier funding opportunity, shifting focus each year to support varied sustainability themes in partnership with different BU schools and colleges. (Application details for the next SRG will be updated here when the request for proposals opens.)
Energy & Equity Exposures Database for Population Health (2023–2024)
Awarded for the 2023–2024 academic year, this inaugural SRG project will launch the Energy & Equity Exposures Database for Population Health, a new tool that aims to overcome a key obstacle in further understanding the health and societal implications of a just transition to clean energy in the United States. It is jointly funded by IGS and the Boston University School of Public Health to advance the university’s research at the intersection of climate change, sustainability, public health, and equity. Learn more about this emerging research.
Research Team Leaders:
Cross-University Collaborations
IGS additionally contributes to funding opportunities spearheaded by our university collaborators, further facilitating sustainability research.
Focused Research Program
IGS supports the Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering’s Focused Research Program, helping to evolve and advance the university’s research in computing and data science around areas of strategic importance and emerging opportunities in sustainability.
Health Equity in the Wake of Continued Climate Change: Leveraging Big Data to Inform Action (2023/2024)
The health risks of climate change are unevenly distributed; the complexity with which these components interact spatially and temporally necessitates that climate equity analyses use new, interdisciplinary, data-driven approaches. This Focused Research Program will advance three complementary but distinct research themes with the goal of providing the Boston University climate and health research community access to shared resources to accelerate research, innovation, and translation in this area. Learn more about this emerging research.
Research Themes
- Expanding the Climate Resilience Data Hub
- Visualizing Vulnerability and Inequity to Inform Action
- Modeling the Health Benefits of Heat Adaptation Strategies
Research Team Leaders
Data and Misinformation in an Era of Sustainability and Climate Change Crises (2022/2023)
Major climate disinformation initiative at Boston University—how climate lies spread, who they mislead, and how to stop them.
To further understand the critical role of communication in shaping public opinion on climate in the United States, the Boston University Climate Disinformation Initiative analyzes the nature, origins, spread, and impacts of climate change mis- and disinformation, as well as the possibilities of mitigating misinformed beliefs. Learn more about the initiative’s emerging research insights shared at the Taking On Climate Lies symposium in May 2023.
Dean’s Catalyst Awards in the College of Engineering
In partnership with the College of Engineering, IGS is encouraging innovative, cross-cutting collaborative research ideas that are likely to attract external funding in the future.
Mapping Microscale Lithium Transport Dynamics Inside Architected Electrodes to Co- Optimize Battery Energy Density and Power Density (2023–2025)
Two of the primary goals currently motivating broad research efforts toward developing new battery designs and chemistries are (1) batteries that can be charged and discharged extremely fast without compromising on battery cycle life, and (2) simultaneous optimization of battery energy density and power density. This two-year project brings together IGS core faculty in Mechanical Engineering to address both goals from a fundamental and applied perspective. The research teams aims to create a novel battery design capable of simultaneously high energy and power densities, provide key insights into currently unknown reasons for low efficiency and battery failure during fast charging, and demonstrate the efficacy of a new and accessible technique that the broader battery community needs to fill an important gap in operando measurement capabilities.
Research Team
