Great Lakes Faculty Scholars Program

The Great Lakes Center (GLC) mission is to improve the quality of the environment by providing the best possible science to decision-makers concerned with the health and sustainability of Great Lakes resources. This is accomplished through high quality research, informed and current graduate and undergraduate education, and dissemination of information to the public through outreach. The Center is committed to improving human-environment interactions in the Great Lakes ecosystem guided, in part, by an understanding of the evolutionary and ecological processes and patterns acting on the system.

To advance this mission, the GLC will fund a one-semester course release to provide faculty the time needed to bring an external grant to fruition. Faculty interested in this program need to show evidence of some preliminary groundwork toward a grant application on any topic relevant to the Great Lakes and/or its watershed, including urban environments adjacent or connected to the Great Lakes.

We seek to bolster collaborations between faculty in any department at Buffalo State with faculty affiliated with the GLC, or to further collaborations between BSU faculty and colleagues at other institutions, in particular R1s. Any faculty member seeking this opportunity for a course release will need to show support from their home department that there is a relevant course for which they can be reasonably accommodated should they win an award. No awards will be made without evidence of department approval for such a release. The duration of any award will be one semester. Faculty receiving a course release as part of this program are expected to complete an external grant submission for basic or applied research relevant to any Great Lakes issue, within 6 months of the end of the semester for which the course release is awarded. We anticipate any submitted grant will include recoverable monies beneficial to BSU (e.g., salary recovery or negotiated indirect rates). As an incentive for grant submission (and a way to reduce grants costs), faculty members in the program also may receive one Huppuch Tuition Scholarship, if needed, to entice a prospective graduate student to help carry out the proposed research. Huppuch Tuition Scholarships cover all costs associated with full-time, in-state graduate tuition for students enrolled in the Great Lakes Environmental Science thesis program.

Applications must show evidence of some prior planning or collaboration with others on any research topic relevant to the Great Lakes. The intent of this program is to get research ideas over the final hurdle to submittal, not to initiate preliminary, pilot, or background work to establish a research idea. We seek faculty with ideas already hatched and under consideration. This program is intended to give faculty the extra time that might be needed to make the final push to a completed grant submission.

In addition to evidence that some preliminary work has been done to prepare for grant submission, all applicants will need a memo from their Department Chair indicating their approval of a course release, should one be awarded. Applicants also will need a statement confirming collaborations with GLC affiliates or other colleagues. We encourage any faculty member with potential interests that align with the GLC mission to obtain Affiliate Status with GLC. An affiliate status designation simply requires a memo to the GLC Director (Dr. Alexander "Sasha" Karatayev) indicating interest and how they envision overlap with GLC activities.

We will fund two faculty scholar awards per year. There will be two application deadlines. Faculty seeking a Fall course release should plan an application submittal by April 1 and those seeking a course release for the Spring should apply by the October 1 deadline. Criteria for acceptance will include 1) clarity of description, 2) prior collaborative groundwork performed with a GLC affiliate, and 3) a clear statement of approval from the department where teaching obligations reside. Untenured faculty will receive higher consideration, though being untenured is not helpful if the other criteria are not satisfactory.

Grant guidelines: Although we recognize there are multiple state and federal granting agencies, foundations, and programs potentially supporting Great Lakes and Great Lakes-related research, this program is intended to benefit both the faculty members engaging in the research, and the institution. Thus, grant applications should include full indirect rates and salary recovery (where possible). The Great Lakes Center expects any and all deliverables arising from Huppuch support monies to credit this award (e.g., acknowledgements in presentations, published papers, or proposals). It is also true that researchers might benefit their grant applications by showing a Huppuch Tuition Scholarship, if needed, as evidence of institutional support.

There are two application deadlines: October 1 and April 1. Faculty seeking a course release for Spring semester should submit materials to the October deadline and those seeking a course release for Fall semester should submit materials to the April deadline. A 3-cr lecture course release is approximately 100 hr of work in a semester. Send application and attached materials to: dickins@buffalostate.edu with “YOUR LAST NAME GLC Faculty Scholar application” in the subject line.