Undergraduate Sustainability Grand Challenge Fellowship Program (USGCF)

AY 21-22 Call for Fellowship Proposals

Proposals Due: July 01, 2021

Fellowship Start Date: August 16, 2021

The USC Center for Sustainability Solutions (CSS) is pleased to announce the creation of the Undergraduate Sustainability Grand Challenge Fellowship (USGCF) program to support, through a competitive process, multidisciplinary research projects focused on sustainability. Funded by the CSS, and open to undergraduate students in all USC majors, the USGCF will contribute to extending to the larger USC community the values espoused by the Viterbi School of Engineering, the Price School of Public Policy, and the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges Scholars Program.

Overview

In order to encourage undergraduate interest in developing innovative solutions to important sustainability challenges, we are soliciting proposals for multidisciplinary sustainability-focused research projects, led by USC undergraduate students, and involving faculty advisors from two or more schools across USC. This program leverages the sustainability theme of the national Grand Challenges Scholar Program (GCSP) of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. It also relates to the Environmental Engineering Grand Challenges (Grand Challenges and Opportunities in Environmental Engineering for the Twenty-first Century | National Academies) as well as to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development (un.org)).

Funding Amount

The fellowships will be for a one-year duration, renewable for up to 3 years based on annual proposal submission and evaluation. The maximum annual award will be $5k: there will be $3k allocated for the academic year and $2k for the summer. Proposals may be for the full year, for the academic year, or for summer only. Approximately 10-12 Fellows will be selected, assuming receipt of sufficient proposals of merit.