URBAN21 Seed Grants
Five interdisciplinary research teams are currently supported through the Urban Sustainability Initiative. The research projects were selected through a two-step process. First, in November 2008 one-page white papers were solicited from interdisciplinary research teams, defined as multiple members across disciplinary boundaries and/or in conjunction with other NSHE institutions. The white papers were reviewed by four members of the USI Advisory Committee representing the College of Business, School of Nursing, College of Sciences, and College of Engineering. There were 31 white papers submitted and 9 were invited to prepare a full proposal by January 2009. Full proposals were reviewed by the same committee. Review criteria included the relevance of the proposal to the preferences noted in the announcement, the description and scientific merit of the project goals and tasks, the qualifications role of the Principal Investigators, the impact of the deliverables, and budget justification. Five proposals were selected for funding:
- Evaluating the Energy Footprint of Water Management Options in the Las Vegas Valley (Ahmad, Batista, Shrestha, and Riddle, from College of Engineering and College of Business) $50,000
- Impacting Environmental Sustainability in the Global Hospitality
Industry: Developing a Comprehensive Cross-disciplinary Curriculum (Jones,
Teeters, Carruthers, Rabb, Kim, Brown, Millar, Hancock, Giannoulakis
from the College of Hotel Administration) $40,000
- Reducing Energy and Water Use by Food Service Operations (Bergman, Erdem, Kim, Raab from the College of Hotel Administration) $40,000
- Sustaining the Health and Well-Being of Community Caregivers: Preventing Depression (Clark and Dodge-Francis from the School of Nursing and School of Community Health) $30,000
- Beneficial Recycling of Latex Paint in Concrete (Said, Hatchett, and Brune from College of Engineering, College of Sciences, and Institute for Security Studies) $45,000