Annual OSEP Awards

Annual OSEP Awards

In 2017, The Ohio State University and Ohio State Energy Partners (OSEP) entered into a comprehensive energy management partnership, launching an unprecedented energy efficiency program and establishing the university as an international leader in sustainability.

As part of its commitment to academic collaboration, OSEP will contribute $810,000 annually to the university or affiliated philanthropic causes. Working with OSEP, the Office of Academic Affairs will engage Ohio State faculty, staff and students through a request for proposals to advance important university priorities and promote interdisciplinary and community collaboration.


Focus Areas

  • Projects that align with Ohio State’s sustainability goals
  • Projects that align with advancing access, engagement and inclusive excellence goals
  • Projects that provide research opportunities (in all disciplines) to students who have limited exposure to undergraduate research and experiential learning opportunities

Funding Levels and Eligibility

  • Awards between $10,000 and $50,000 will be given to select proposals.
  • Proposals must be submitted by an active member of the Ohio State faculty, staff or student body. If a proposal is from a student, a letter of support from an advisor is required.
  • Proposals that focus on coal energy or on political advocacy are not encouraged.

Timeline

The OSEP Academic Collaborations awards program follows a standardized process. This application period has closed. The timeline below is for reference from the previous award cycle. 

January 2024: Call for proposals.

March 18, 2024: Proposal submissions due.

March – April 2024: Applications reviewed.

May 2024: Awarded proposals are announced.

June 2024: Funding is made available for approved projects.

Application

Download Application (Word Doc)

Applications should be submitted via email as a PDF to Assistant Vice Provost Nicole Nieto at nieto.12@osu.edu by March 18.

College of Arts and Sciences
$50,000
John Beacom; Expanding the Reach and Infrastructure of SciAccess


STEAM Factory
$50,000
Charlenne Brenner; Ohio State Third Spaces Pilot Project: Phase 1 - Building a Foundation and Galvanizing Community-Centered Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Efforts in Academic-Adjacent Spaces


College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
$50,000
Doug Jackson-Smith; Enhancing Ecological Services through Agroecosystem Management on the Wooster Campus


Ohio State Lima
$50,000
Robin Bagley; Connecting Regenerative Farming and the Classroom at the OSU Lima Campus


Wexner Medical Center
$50,000
Lauren Koch; Reduce Scope 1 emissions through nitrous oxide leakage study


Administration and Planning
$50,000
Mary Leciejewski; Food Scrap Compost Expansion


OSU Extension
$50,000
Kyle White; Solar Energy for Extension Research and Informing


College of Engineering
$50,000
Jeff Bielicki; EmPOWERment Program


College of Engineering
$37,900
Georgina Baronian; Ambient Architecture


College of Engineering
$33,500
Shawn Midlanm-Mohler; EcoCar Competition 


College of Arts and Sciences
$32,800
Michelle Wibbelsman; Kawsay Ukhunchay Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Art and Cultural Artifacts Research Collection –Diversity Impact and Community Collaboration


College of Nursing
$22,325
Inga Zadvinskis;  Improving Health Equity in Diverse Communities through a Personal Health Literacy Course


College of Engineering
$14,799
Andy Vogel; The VR Explanation Center


College of Arts and Sciences
$14,344
Laura Wagner; Public Engagement and Peer Mentoring in a Museum Setting


College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
$11,000
Kristen Fussell; OSU’s Stone Laboratory Solar Energy Dashboard


College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
$10,500
Jaden Tatum; Design Tool for Implementing Shallow Geothermal-Assisted Season Extension for Greenhouses on Campus and in Community


College of Engineering
$8,000
Paul Berger; Solar Do-It-Yourself Phone App


College of Arts and Sciences
$6,000
Iyana Hill; Black Health and Wellness Day


College of Arts and Sciences
$3,500
Susan Melsop; Design Activism, Mobile Pop-Up Engagement Stations for Sustainability


In addition to the above, the Ohio State Energy Partners supported the following projects this year:

The Arts Initiative: $175,000

Wexner Center for the Arts: $25,000

WOSU: $25,000

Batelle Center for Science, Engineering & Public Policy: $20,000

Office of Outreach and Engagement (State Science Day): $20,000

Hack OH/IO: $15,000

STEM Collaborative: $15,000

College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences; and College of Engineering
$50,000            
Ryan Winston; Using campus as a Living Laboratory: Curbing Sediment in Stormwater to Improve Campus Sustainability                         

Planning, Architecture and Real Estate; and Facilities Operation and Development 
$50,000            
Steve Volkmann; Graves Hall Green Space                               

Administration and Planning; Facilities Operation and Development
$50,000            
Ed McGowan; Quietly Mowing Campus with Zero Emission Mowers                               

College of Engineering           
$50,000            
Jordan Clark; Attacking one of the OSU campus's biggest energy sinks: laboratory exhaust fans                          

College of Engineering           
$48,162            
Matilde D'Arpino; Planning Tool for Assessing OSU Options for a Sustainable and Responsible Energy Usage                             

College of Engineering             
$45,000            
Allison MacKay; Sustainable Cities, Equitable Societies – Case Studies to Develop Student Competencies in Sustainable and Just Infrastructure Design                            

Fisher College of Business
$44,000            
Jennifer Heckscher; Evaluating a One-of-a-Kind Experiential Energy Innovation Hub: Human-Centered Innovation Spring for the Energy Advancement and Innovation Center (EAIC Spring)       

College of Engineering           
$40,000           
Gisell Jeter-Bennett; Engineering House Learning Community's Service-Learning Program with South Side Family Farms                         

College of Engineering
$35,000            
Ramteen Sioshansi; Convergent Graduate Training and EmPOWERment for a Sustainable Energy Future                                   

College of Engineering
$33,500            
Shawn Midlam-Mohler; EcoCar Competition                              

College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences  
$28,000            
Qian Chen; Post-Occupancy Evaluation of Building Energy & Water Use Intensities                                 

Office of Student Life 
$15,000            
Tom Reeves; Student Video Production Project                         

STEM Impact Collaborative
 $15,000            
Courtney Price; WestFest Community Science Day                                

Knowlton School        
$13,000            
Parker Sutton; Praire Baroque                          

College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences              
$11,410            
Liam Nigro; The Green Renaissance Project: Sustainable Pathways to Community Wellness and Resilience Through Art                          

College of Arts and Sciences; and Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences
$10,307            
Andrew Leber; Climate and Cognitive Science Mini-Conference                          

College of Engineering           
$7,000              
Michelle Franco; The Diggers Studio: Cultivating an ethic of social and ecological sustainability in landscape labor                        

In addition to the above, the Ohio State Energy Partners supported the following projects this year:

Ohio State Arts Initiative: $200,000

WOSU Sustainability Programming: $25,000

EmPOWERment Program Capstone Project: $20,000

Hack OH/IO: $15,000

Ohio State Mansfield
            $50,000             Dawn Kitchen; Developing STEM leadership in traditionally underrepresented groups through near-peer mentoring, role modeling, and experiential learning

College of Engineering/Knowlton School
            $50,000             Jacob Boswell; Sustainable Ohio Urban Landscape Lab (SOULL)

Wexner Medical Center
            $50,000             Lauren Koch; Zero Waste initiatives at Wexner Medical Center locations

College of Arts and Sciences
            $49,959             Amy Youngs; Emerge: The Network for Prototyping the Future

College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences/School of Environment and Natural Resources
            $46,241             G. Matt Davies; An ecosystem carbon account for OSU’s forest properties – towards a budget for carbon storage, sequestration and offsets

College of Engineering
            $44,000             Michael Groeber; Workforce Development for a Digital World

Administration and Planning
            $42,976             Ed McGowan; Creating a greener campus through zero emission landscape equipment

College of Engineering
            $35,000             Ramteen Sioshansi; Convergent Graduate Training and EmPOWERment for a Sustainable Energy Future

College of Arts and Sciences/Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center/Center for Applied Plant Sciences
            $13,075             Courtney Price; WestFest 2021: The West Campus Science & Sustainability Festival

Office of Student Life/Recreational Sports
            $12,698             Brian S. Gaydos; Semester-Long Bike Rental Pilot Program

College of Arts and Sciences
            $10,000             Barbara Harvey; Career Accelerator Fund for Visual and Performing Arts

College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences/Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics
            $10,000             Sathya Gopalakrishnan; Professional Development for Sustainability Leadership

In addition to the above, the Ohio State Energy Partners supported the following projects this year:

  • College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Scienes and Ross Heart Garden Project: $250,000
  • Deliver Black Dreams in partnership with Greater Columbus Arts Council: $50,000
  • Holistic Building Data Gathering for Optimized Energy Usage: $50,000
  • Wexner Center for the Arts: $31,051
  • Residence Hall Energy Competition: $10,000
  • Hack OH/IO: $5,000

Student Advocacy Center

           $100,000           Student Emergency Fund

College of Public Health

            $75,000            Community and Partner Response/Recovery

College of Arts and Sciences

            $60,000            Mid-east Studies
            $12,884             Dance in Conversation with Global Issues         

College of Medicine

            $50,000           Office of Research for COVID-19 Projects

Office of Diversity and Inclusion

            $50,000           Education Abroad Access and Affordability Initiative
            $20,000           Hale Ambassadors Leadership Development Program
            $12,500            A Symposium on Leadership for Women of Color in Higher Education

College of Engineering 

            $48,350          STEAM Interdisciplinary Outreach and Research Program in Sustainable Urban Systems
            $47,831            Building Energy Living Lab Digital Twin Pilot
            $42,000          Olentangy River as Campus Laboratory
            $35,000          NRT Program Coordinator     
            $25,000          Fuel Cell Test Station Refurbishment and Access for All                  

Fisher College of Business

            $30,000           Distinguished Teaching Fellows
            $30,000           Staff and Faculty Recognition Awards

Office of Industry Partnerships

            $30,000           UDIP Conference Support

College of Nursing 

            $30,000           Expanding Mental Resilience and Wellbeing Utilizing MINDSTRONG

College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences

            $26,690           Environmental and Social Sustainability Lab: Campus Sustainability Survey
            $14,000            Zero Waste Initiative at the Parker Food Science and Technology Dairy Store Café

Department of History

            $20,900           1619 and Beyond: Explorations in Atlantic Slavery and its American Legacies

Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center

            $6,400             WestFest
            $6,000             Creating a Culture of Care: a collaboration between OSU Harding Hospital and Office of Student Life

Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center
            $8,000             WestFest

Center for Automotive Research
            $30,000           Student experiential learning programs

College of Engineering
            $2,000             Engineering Recharge Retreat
            $50,000           Women in Engineering

College of Social Work
            $10,000           LiFEsports Youth Leadership Academy

Department of Dance
            $10,000           National dance collaboration

Department of English
            $24,000           Scholarly research database

Fisher College of Business
            $30,000           Distinguished teacher fellows
            $30,000           Staff and faculty recognition awards

Kirwan Institute and Moritz College of Law
            $70,000           Virtual toolkit for community resilience

Office of Academic Affairs
            $200,000         Campus Student Sustainability Challenge

Office of Diversity and Inclusion
            $50,000           Create Education Abroad Access and Affordability Initiative

Office of Outreach and Engagement
            $900               Community Engagement Conference

Ohio State ADVANCE and Office of Research
            $50,000           REACH for Commercialization

School of Earth Sciences
            $24,000           Mirror Lake Water Science Learning Lab

School of Environment and Natural Resources
            $10,000           Campus bike parking at Kottman Hall
            $80,000           Ohio State forest research

School of Music
            $13,500           Music and Science Colloquium and Teaching Seminar

Institute for Materials Research
            $10,000           Annual Materials Week conference

Waterman Agricultural and Natural Resources Laboratory
            $70,000           Waterman Farm sustainable food-waste disposal

WOSU
            $25,000           WOSU

Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center

$25,000         

Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center

College of Arts and Sciences

$50,000         

Arts and Humanities

$10,000         

Ottoman and Turkish History Lesson Series

College of Engineering

$50,000        

Women in Engineering Program

Fisher College of Business

$30,000         

Distinguished Teaching Fellows

$30,000         

Distinguished Staff and Faculty Recognition Awards

Institute for Materials Research

$10,000         

OSU Materials Week

Office of Diversity and Inclusion

 $50,000         

Office of Diversity and Inclusion

Office of Energy and Environment

$25,000         

2018 Climate Engagement Forums

Office of Research

$100,000      

OSEP Research Seed Grant Fund in support of sustainable energy collaborations

Office of Student Life

$50,000         

Collegiate Recovery Community

$20,000         

Women on Fire Retreat

$50,000       

Undergraduate Student Government Sustainability Committee

$50,000       

Student Projects Fund for energy projects that engage Undergraduates

$60,000         

Support for sustainability-related Undergraduate, Graduate, and Professional student organizations

School of Environment and Natural Resources

$50,000         

Environment, Economy, Development, and Sustainability (EEDS) Program

The STEAM Factory

 $50,000         

The STEAM Factory

University Libraries

 $100,000      

Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum

Application Instructions

The next application cycle will open on November 15, 2019. Please check back then to submit your proposal through the online portal.