EPA Awards Universities Grants to Help Design Sustainable Technologies
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) Phase I grants for the 2011-2012 school year. The grants were awarded to 45 teams of college and university students across the country, including four teams from universities in EPA Region 6: University of Texas at Austin, Texas State University – San Marcos, The University of Oklahoma, and New Mexico State University. The teams will design creative solutions to sustainability challenges in the developed and developing world. The P3 grants challenge students, working together on interdisciplinary teams, to design and build sustainable technologies that improve quality of life, promote economic development and protect the environment.
The annual EPA P3 competition begins with Phase I grants of $15,000 awarded to student teams to work on projects in a range of categories including water, energy, agriculture, materials and chemicals. After working on the project for eight months, the teams will bring their designs to the 8th Annual National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. around Earth Day 2012. At the expo, the projects will be judged by a panel of experts and a few teams will be selected for Phase II grants up to $90,000 to improve their designs, implement them in the field, or move them to the marketplace.
Applications are being accepted through Dec. 22, 2011, for the next year of Phase I awards for the 2012-2013 school year. In addition to the categories above, teams can also propose innovative ideas for green infrastructure and designing clean cook stoves.
More information on the P3 Phase I grant awards is available at http://www.epa.gov/ncer/p3/current
More information on applying for a 2012-2013 Phase I P3 award is available at http://www.epa.gov/ncer/p3/apply
More about activities in EPA Region 6 is available at http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/regon6.html
EPA audio file is available at http://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/podcast/nov2011.html