AASHE has two openings for paid Internships! 

• The Education Intern will provide ongoing administrative support for AASHE's professional learning programs, including webinars, workshops and courses. See position description.

• The STARS & Resources Intern will assist in the submission review of AASHE's Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) and provide administrative and technical support in the ongoing development of AASHE resources. Ideal candidates will have prior STARS experience. See position description.

Interested applicants can apply using the links listed above no later than April 17, 2022.

This Innocentive Clean Tech and Renewable Energy Pavilion Challenge is looking for innovative solutions to help radically reduce or even eliminate pollutant emissions from internal combustion engine (ICE) powered vehicles. 

Are you a Solver with any innovative ideas to help achieve their goal of net-zero emissions? This is an opportunity to make a real difference and win $20,000!

Net-Zero Impact Emission Vehicle 

ABSTRACT

The Seeker is exploring innovations that may radically reduce pollutant emissions from internal combustion engine (ICE) powered vehicles. In order to achieve the goal of reducing emission of pollutants to zero, the Seeker is asking Solvers for novel ideas and innovative technology concepts that are capable of significantly  reducing or eliminating the tailpipe emissions from gasoline, diesel, or advanced concept engine vehicles.

OVERVIEW

Internal combustion engines (ICE) burn fuel to produce power. In addition to power, this process also produces standard combustion products such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O), as well as a range of undesirable pollutants emitted through the tailpipe. Depending on the type of fuel used, these pollutants may include oxides of nitrogen (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (including methane, CH4), particulates (soot), oxides of sulfur (SOx), volatile organic compounds (VOC), and secondary pollutants such as N2O and NH3. A great deal of research and development has taken place over the past decades to reduce the emission of these pollutants from ICE powered vehicles resulting in significant advances such as catalytic converters and particle traps. Despite all of these efforts even greater advances are necessary to reach the ultimate goal of net zero pollutant emissions. The Seeker is currently exploring a number of new technologies in combustion, catalysis, and capture that could radically reduce pollutant emissions from ICE powered vehicles but they are seeking additional novel ideas and innovative technology concepts to explore. Solutions may target conventional gasoline and/or diesel engines as well as advanced concepts such as GCI (gasoline compression ignition) or hybrid applications, and should address reduction of tailpipe emissions of the targeted pollutants (preferably NOx, CO and hydrocarbons, but solutions addressing particulates, SOx, VOC, N2O and NH3 shall also be considered.)

This is an Ideation Challenge, which has the following unique features:

1. There is a guaranteed award.  The award(s) will be paid to the best submission(s) as solely determined by the Seeker based on the Evaluation Factors given in the detailed Challenge section. The total payout will be $20,000, with at least one award being no smaller than $5,000 and no award being smaller than $2,500.
2. The Solvers are not required to transfer exclusive intellectual property rights to the Seeker.  Rather, by submitting a proposal, the Solver grants to the Seeker a royalty-free, perpetual, and non-exclusive license to use any information included in this proposal, including for promotional purposes.
3. Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM (US Eastern Time) on 18-Oct-2021.
4. Late submissions will not be considered.

After the Challenge deadline, the Seeker will complete the review process and make a decision with regards to the Winning Solution(s). All Solvers that submit a proposal will be notified on the status of their submissions; however, no detailed evaluation of individual submissions will be provided by the Seeker.

What is InnoCentive?

InnoCentive is the global innovation marketplace where creative minds solve some of the world's most important problems for cash awards up to $1 million. Commercial, governmental and humanitarian organizations engage with InnoCentive to solve problems that can impact humankind in areas ranging from the environment to medical advancements.

What is an InnoCentive Ideation™ Challenge?

An InnoCentive Ideation™ Challenge is a broad question formulated to obtain access to new ideas, similar to a global brainstorm for producing a breakthrough idea or market survey which may include ideas for a new product line, a new commercial application for a current product, or even a viral marketing idea to recruit new customers. Ideation™ Challenge submissions are typically about two written pages, and Seekers receive a non-exclusive, perpetual license to use all submissions.

In an Ideation™ Challenge, Solvers may:

• Submit ideas of their own
• Submit third party information that they have the right to use and further the authority to convey that right and the right to use and develop derivative works to Seekers
• Submit information considered in the public domain without any limitations on use
• Solvers should not reveal any confidential information in their submissions. Often the Ideation™ Challenge will be followed by one or more of the other three Challenge types to further develop the ideas and gain Intellectual Property protection when the concept has been well-defined.

ABOUT

The Clean Tech and Renewable Energy Pavilion highlights clean technology, or “green”, InnoCentive Challenges. Clean technology is a mean to create energy and fuels that leave a smaller environmental footprint, and InnoCentive is proud to support these efforts. In this Pavilion you will find Challenges that deal with a wide range of Clean Tech innovation such as creating more powerful fuel-cells, solar-powered sources of light, and new technology.

The Sustainable Age is a student journal founded by students of the North Texas Regional Center of Expertise Network. The journal is seeking volunteer student writers to submit original articles centered on the 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.

This project is led by students for students. It is focused on educating and raising awareness of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. This student-led journal provides an environment for students from different universities across the world to develop academic research concerning different areas like Social Justice, Human Health and Well-being, Philosophy, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, Climate Action, and Business. 

Writers can learn introductory level scholarly and peer-reviewed writing methods, supported by an editorial team of volunteer students, faculty, and staff. Every article published in the online journal is related to at least one SDG, is reviewed by at least one person of the editorial review team, and includes at least one cited reference using MLA format. View the author guidlines: https://www.thesustainableage.com/author-guidelines

​Become an author today! https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=U1R-1i9z3EqUpEiI8tl9XVux-F62LcROtJRCEx6ZRiVUQjYyVE05M0FSTjYyMlA2TDIyTTJFSFY2SS4u

Do you know an advanced-degree/graduate student who is attending the upcoming Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education (GCSHE)? Are they also doing interesting sustainability/environmental research or leading an exciting campus sustainability project? The session is looking for 8 graduate students to give super short 3min. presentations on their sustainability/environmental work as part of the live Sustainability on Tap (SoT) networking session I'm hosting at the conference. SoT is designed to be a fun, informal opportunity for grad students to present their research or projects to a supportive audience. Students can submit their presentation proposal here, preference given to proposals received by Sep. 19. More details below – please spread the word to any grad students you work with!

·         Session title: Sustainability on Tap! at the Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education

·         Date/Time: Thursday, Oct. 14 at 3-4pm (Eastern)/2-3pm (Central)

·         Description: Busting through academic silos can be tough. Enter - Sustainability on Tap! For the past 4 years, this University of Texas at Austin event has brought together graduate students from every college on campus (yes, all of them!) to network and learn about sustainability research and initiatives that are typically buried inside an institutional silo. In this session, we'll give attendees the opportunity to experience the fun of a virtual Sustainability on Tap. Enjoy speedy student presentations, a beverage of your choice, and more cowbell! By the end, you'll not only learn a bit about sustainability initiatives across the nation, but you'll also have all the knowledge and experience you need to bring this event to your own campus. Cheers!

·         Ask: We're looking for advanced-degree/graduate students to present during this session. Use this form to submit a proposal to present your sustainability or environmental research, project, or passion to your peers in 3 easy minutes. All you need is 5 slides, an environmental/social sustainability angle, and a sense of fun. Any and all presentation ideas are welcome! Priority given to submissions received by Sep. 19. Sustainability on Tap will be limited to approximately 8 graduate/advanced-degree student presenters who will be selected to best showcase the diversity of sustainability and environmental fields and to represent a range of universities/colleges. Remember, you must be registered to attend GCSHE in order to present at or attend Sustainability on Tap.

·         Don't want to present? Not a grad student? That's OK! All GCSHE attendees are invited to join the Sustainability on Tap session! It'll be fun (did we mention the cowbell?)!

For more information please contact: 

Brianna Duran | Campus Environmental Center Coordinator | Office of Sustainability 

The University of Texas at Austin | 512-232-7840 office | 512-906-5503 cell

Pronouns: she/her/hers

FB: Texas Sustainability | IG: texassustainability | @KeepTexasGreen

https://sustainability.utexas.edu/

Bleed Orange. Live Green.

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is an annual collegiate competition that challenges students to design and build high-performance, low-carbon buildings that mitigate climate change and improve human quality of life through greater affordability, resilience and energy efficiency.

As communities plan for the increasingly frequent and severe impacts from climate change, decision makers need relevant, usable data and information at their fingertips. However,  it can be difficult to find and synthesize the data that fits their local needs from among the many federal agency datasets and resources. 

To help solve this problem, NOAA, in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau, is bringing together innovators to participate in a product development sprint to create new data-driven tools that will provide decision makers with information to fit their needs and accelerate equitable resilience-building across the nation. Teams of participants are challenged to build world-class applications and technologies that make it easy for local governments, particularly in underserved regions most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, to quickly identify and integrate relevant federal climate datasets with their own local information. Such tools will support the development of climate resilience plans to help communities nationwide take action to better prepare for and respond to the increasing impacts of the climate crisis.

“NOAA’s data and information is the bedrock of climate-smart decision making in the face of an urgent climate crisis,” said Rick Spinrad, Ph.D., NOAA administrator. “We are thrilled to work with the Census Bureau to help all of our nation’s communities use data from NOAA and other federal agencies to prepare for impacts and build back better.”

The 12-week sprint launches on August 5, 2021, and participants will be eligible to compete for $50,000 in prize money from NOAA, plus additional prize money from the Census Bureau. Competition winners will be announced this winter. 

“Underserved communities may not have the budgets and resources to produce their own tailored climate information,” added Tony LaVoi, NOAA’s Chief Data Officer and Executive Champion for the NOAA sprint. “They need affordable tools with data at the ready that can be easily customized in maps, visuals, and text to help them understand, communicate about, and address their local climate-related risks and opportunities.”

The challenge is part of The Opportunity Project, led by the Census Bureau, that brings together government, industry, universities, non-profits, and communities for 12-week product development sprints. Government agencies first identify urgent issues facing Americans. Then teams of entrepreneurs and innovators use federal open data to create new technologies that provide solutions to those problems. Along the way, the agencies, product advisors, and users who directly experience those issues give valuable input to ensure the technologies developed directly target community needs. 

Over the past five years, development sprints have catalyzed products that have confronted problems such as homelessness and the opioid crisis. 

“The Opportunity Project has been a critical tool for innovation at the U.S. Census Bureau - both in how we disseminate data and in how we operate internally, pushing us to be more nimble and creative,” said Ron Jarmin, Ph.D., acting director of the Census Bureau. “We're thrilled to partner with NOAA to spread that methodology across the U.S. Department of Commerce. Together, NOAA and the Census Bureau are essential data providers on the post-COVID economy, population, and climate. Through TOP, different sectors come together to transform all this data into tools that really move the needle on problems for people nationwide,” 

By creating different approaches to improve local decision-making and federal capacity to support state and local-level priorities, NOAA envisions that the tools developed will reduce planning costs and empower decision makers to enact climate resilience plans efficiently in more communities throughout the country. 

To learn more about the sprint, visit: opportunity.census.gov/sprints/. Scroll down to “Tackling the Climate Crisis through Climate Smart Communities,” for the project description.