Roy R. Charles Center

Mercury: A Hazard Without Borders

All about Mercury – These awards support student and faculty research in any academic discipline that relates to mercury. Examples could include art reflecting mercury and the environment, sociology and health risks of eating seafood, international history of metal mining, policies and treaties on global movement of pollutants, economics of mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants, recycling mercury waste, or any other subject that directly or indirectly relates to mercury as a global hazard. Awards are available for faculty or student for year-long or summer research and/or curriculum development.

1. Faculty Scholarship

A. Faculty Research Grants: These will be traditional grants in the $3000-$5000 range to support promising new research by faculty members that has at its heart a mercury-related topic and involves students directly. Funds can cover expenses arising from the research, such as travel or supplies.

B. Faculty Mentorship Support: These competitive awards will provide teaching buyout funds to department chairs, up to $4000, in exchange for allowing a faculty member to swap a classroom course for active mentorship of 2-4 research students working on mercury-related topics.

Download the application form here.

2. Student Research and Travel Incentives

A. Summer Awards: The Student Research Grants will be awarded on a competitive basis for summer or semester research. Summer awards ($4000 including meal plan, and tied to free dormitory housing) will allow students to spend 10 weeks studying a mercury-related topic with a faculty mentor.

B. Semester Awards: Semester stipends will be $500 (plus $500 for supplies) to serve as an incentive to study a mercury-related topic with an involved faculty mentor.

C. Conference Travel Grants: The Conference Travel Grant program awards funds, up to $1000, for non-presenting students to attend meetings with significant mercury-related content, especially international meetings. Students who are presenting research will also be eligible if they have applied for other travel funds.

For more information and the application form, click here.

3. Curricular Development

A. New Course Development Grants: This course development fund ($500/week) encourages any faculty member to spend up to three weeks during the summer developing a new course with significant mercury-related content. These courses will educate students about the global dimensions of mercury pollution and have assignments that promise to stimulate original research. Funded projects must lead to permanent additions to the curriculum (pending required approval by applicable departmental and college committees).

B. Enhancement of Existing Courses:

1. Faculty can receive $500 grants for significant course modifications on a competitive basis.
2. Mini-grants will be awarded on a competitive basis for any faculty member who teams up with an S-GIG core faculty member to develop a module for insertion into an existing course ($300 for each member of the pair, total $600). The goal of this program is to generate more interdisciplinary interest in mercury by students who may not directly receive instruction from S-GIG core faculty. To promote this program, the mini-grant proposal will be very simple – one paragraph and an emailed note of support from the S-GIG collaborators.

For more information, visit the Mercury: A Hazard Without Borders website