Programs: Graduate Fellowship Competition
Research Topics | Criteria for Selection

The UIC Institute for Environmental Science and Policy (IESP) seeks to award up to three Ph.D. fellowships for each academic year.
 
The mission of IESP is to advance collaborative inquiry among the environmental sciences and engineering, economics, social thought, and policy among UIC’s faculty and students, transmit workable solutions for environmental problem to the public sectors, and to prepare the next generation of environmental decision-makers.  These guidelines set forth the procedures for applying for student fellowships within the Institute.

The Meaning of Interdisciplinary Research

New ideas often lie at the borders of academic disciplines, including the many that have contributed to advances in environmental scholarship.  For IESP fellowships, the program of study, the theme of the proposed research, and the methodologies to be used should be interdisciplinary in nature. Interdisciplinary study is integrative (although reductive science methodologies are often employed), and seeks to forge new models of scholarship that build upon traditional disciplines. Fellowships are multidisciplinary in approach, but work to integrate major elements of disciplinary knowledge to synthesize a new knowledge base.  True interdisciplinary scholarship is often a moving target, and what was once considered an “interdiscipline” has evolved over time into a formal discipline.  For example, the integration of concepts from chemistry, microbiology, and sanitary engineering has resulted in the creation of environmental engineering – a mature and growing body of knowledge today.  The synthesis of concepts from various disciplines of engineering and science, economics, planning, architecture, and ethics has created the newly formed interdiscipline of industrial ecology.

Research Topics

Research topics within the IESP doctoral fellowship program are highly varied. Topical areas have included, but are not limited to, the following:

• The development of commensurable metrics for assessing sustainability
• Novel technologies for limiting waste emissions during manufacturing
• Analysis of environmental policies based on extended product or producer responsibility
• New manufacturing methods that enhance product recovery and/or recycling
• Applications of total cost accounting for assessment of environmental costs
• Material substitution for improved waste management
• Sustainability theory
• Aspects and impacts of local, regional, and global material, energy, or information flows through an economy
• The role of market forces in carrying out environmental regulatory policy
• Analysis of manufacturing methods to improve environmental performance
• Valuation of ecosystem services
• Life cycle inventory and assessment of human industrial activities
• The interface of social and environmental policies, particularly in urban regions
• New systems approaches for environmental management
• Interplay of climate change and environmental policy
• Paleo-based metrics for sustainability
• Landscape ecology and the urban environment
• Remediation and treatment of emerging pollutants
• Brownfields restoration
• Alternative fuels for transportation systems
• Green chemistry
• Nanotechnology and the environment
• Sensors for contaminant detection

Criteria for Selection

• Relevance of the research theme to the mission of IESP
• Extent to which the research plan draws upon and synthesizes knowledge from several disciplinary areas
• Likelihood that the research will lead to new themes of environmental scholarship
• Multidisciplinary nature of coursework, advising strategy, and plans for publication of results
• Willingness of faculty mentors to support, both financially and intellectually, the research described

Application, Schedule, and Deadlines

All full-time graduate students pursuing doctoral studies at UIC, regardless of residency or major, are eligible to apply for IESP doctoral fellowships. Applications must be made directly by a student, including first year students, and must include a statement of approval by the student’s advisor.  The goal is to build the intellectual strength of IESP in environmental scholarship.  Therefore, all applications must indicate a strong willingness to participate, by both students and advisors, in the core functions of IESP, and must credit the support of IESP in any publications that result from the research effort. Regardless of the topical area, applications must address how the research is congruent with the aims of the fellowship program.  All applications must include UIC and/or prior college transcripts, a brief (one page) curriculum vita, and three letters of reference from UIC faculty members or others who are familiar with the student’s record of achievement, including a letter from the students’ advisor. The IESP doctoral fellowship program is intended to supplant and augment other sources of student support, thus the type and anticipated amounts of such support should be explicitly stated. Evaluation will be by a panel of IESP faculty and associates.

The 2007-2008 application submission deadline has passed. Please check back in the fall for future opportunities.