Two faculty teams were recently selected to submit proposals to the National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program. According to the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects this marks a new system for selecting PSU applicants when the number of proposals that can be submitted to a funder are limited.

Dave Erwin, Elise Granek, Heejun Chang, Veronica Dujon, Vivek Shandas, Alan Yeakley, and others are developing a proposal titled "Ecosystem Services and Sustainability: From Theory to Implementation." Gerry Sheble and Garrison Greenwood are leading another group that is developing "IGERT: An Interdisciplinary Executive Ph.D. Program in Energy Systems."

The proposals were selected in an internal competition through the Office of Research and Sponsored projects. Another competition is planned for fall 2008 for the National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation program. Notices on these kinds of grant opportunities will be sent to faculty and published in Currently.