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.
To apply, download and complete the application below and submit via email as a PDF to Assistant Vice Provost Nicole Nieto at nieto.12@osu.edu by March 17.
Focus Areas
- Projects that align with The Ohio State University’s sustainability goals.
- Projects that align with advancing access, engagement, and inclusive excellence goals. Projects submitted in this category should embrace the land-grant mission of the university prioritizing accessibility and student success.
- Projects that promote research translation. Projects submitted in this category should demonstrate a clear and direct impact to the community as an anticipated result. A successful proposal will outline the process of applying research, discovery, and innovation to overcome a barrier and improve human health and wellbeing.
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
January 2025: Call for proposals
March 17, 2025: Proposal submissions due
March – April 2025: Applications reviewed
May 2025: Awarded proposals are announced
June 2025: Funding is made available for approved projects
2024-25 Recipients
Department of Athletics
$50,000
Cecil Okotah; Advancing sustainability through the utilization of electric leaf blowers to achieve cleaner air, reduced noise levels
Facilities Operations and Development
$50,000
John Irwin; Facilities Operations and Development’s Campus Shop: Paving the Way for a Sustainable Campus
Wexner Medical Center
$50,000
Richard Niese; Real-time utility dashboard for Off-Campus Medical Center Facilities
College of Arts and Sciences
$50,000
Patrice Hamel; Experiential Learning in Sustainability: An International Perspective
Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center/Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge
$40,402
Geddy Davis; Improving Weather and Climate Understanding and Teaching Among Ohio Environmental Professionals and Volunteers
College of Engineering/Knowlton
$37,900
Jack Gruber; Solar GPS Tracking of Animal Behavior and Landscape Use Dynamics at the Wilds
College of Arts and Sciences
$22,900
Emma Kline; Lost Waters: The Secrets of Neil Run
In addition to the above, the Ohio State Energy Partners supported the following projects this year:
Smart Campus Challenge: $185,000
Targeted Investment in the Arts: $175,000
Center for Automotive Research Battery Challenge Grant Match: $50,000
State Science Day: $25,000
WOSU Annual Fundraiser Support: $25,000
Wexner Center for the Arts General Support: $25,000
Ohio State Hackathon: $22,500
WestFest Community Science Day: $15,000
2023-24 Recipients
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
2022-23 Recipients
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
2021-22 Recipients
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
2020-21 Recipients
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
2019-20 Recipients
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
2018-19 Recipients
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