Projects
Community Engagement and Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Direct Air Quality Research at Industrial Sites Near Pittsburgh
Awarded: 2021 | Project Type: IEE Seed Grant
A team of researchers is working to address air quality concerns in urban areas by engaging community stakeholders and conducting research to understand the potential health impacts of air pollution from industrial sites.
Development of Innovative Materials and Technology for Cellular Agriculture
Awarded: 2021 | Project Type: IEE Seed Grant
This interdisciplinary research team is developing new technologies and materials to produce cultured meat that is safe, sustainable, and scalable.
Effects of Biofilms on the Transport of Microplastics
Awarded: 2021 | Project Type: IEE Seed Grant
Two researchers at Penn State are studying how biofilms on microplastics affect their movement in environmental flows, with the goal of understanding microplastic pollution and developing solutions to mitigate it.
Energy Retrofit Policy and Programs in Low-Income Housing Markets: Implications for Energy Equity in Cleveland, Ohio
Awarded: 2021 | Project Type: IEE Seed Grant
Researchers are studying how energy retrofitting finance and policy interact with racialized housing segregation and affordability in Cleveland, Ohio, with the goal of informing energy transition programs and policies in other cities.
Engaging Underserved Communities in Environmental Assessment for Healthy Living
Awarded: 2021 | Project Type: IEE Seed Grant
Researchers are studying the role of the built and natural environments in influencing physical activity, healthy eating, and air quality to develop methods of environmental assessment and equitable neighborhood development.
Expanding the Policy Foundation for Electricity Prosumers: Lessons From New York and California
Awarded: 2021 | Project Type: IEE Seed Grant
Researchers are studying the obstacles to scaling up distributed energy resources (DERs) and the inequitable distribution of their benefits, to identify and analyze barriers that remain to be overcome.
Farafatse: Decline and Livelihood Sustainability in SW Madagascar
Awarded: 2021 | Project Type: IEE Seed Grant
Researchers are working with local communities in one of the world’s most biodiverse and critically endangered coastal regions to document the distribution, abundance, and decline of farafatse, a key economic tree species.
Finding Common Space: Reconciling One Health Socio-Environmental Factors in Pennsylvania
Awarded: 2021 | Project Type: IEE Seed Grant
A transdisciplinary team is exploring how One Health, an approach that recognizes the interconnectedness among human health, ecosystem health, and animal health, may be able to tackle complex health problems facing Pennsylvania.
Flooding, Hurricane Harvey, and Environmental Justice
Awarded: 2021 | Project Type: IEE Seed Grant
A team of researchers seeks to better understand the social effects associated with flooding, such as whether racial and ethnic minorities, children, and those with low income suffer the most.
Lignin Derived Graphite for Renewable Energy Storage and Transportation Electrification
Awarded: 2021 | Project Type: IEE Seed Grant
A research team is developing a new method to produce high-quality graphite from biopolymers, which could be used to make more efficient batteries and energy storage devices.
Methane Emissions Mitigation and Carbon Capture With Biofiltration
Awarded: 2021 | Project Type: IEE Seed Grant
A team of researchers is investigating how biofiltration could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by mitigating methane emissions and capturing the generated carbon dioxide.
Overcoming Barriers to Local Governance of Utility-Scale Solar Energy Systems in Pennsylvania and Regionally
Awarded: 2021 | Project Type: IEE Seed Grant
A research team is developing resources and guidelines for local governments to develop solar ordinances that are effective and trusted by the local community.