Purdue EcoPartnership offers $4,500 travel grants for research collaborations in China

April 17, 2013  


Tim Filley and Alan Rebar

Professor Tim Filley speaks at a recent China-Purdue faculty and student scholar event while Alan Rebar, executive director of Discovery Park, looks on. (Purdue University photo/Vince Walter)
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The U.S.-China EcoPartnership for Environmental Sustainability at Purdue is launching a travel grant program through the Purdue-China Visiting Scholars Network, awarding up to eight travel grants valued at $4,500 each.

The travel grants, which will be awarded this spring, are designed for graduate students or postdoctoral researchers wanting to partner with colleagues in China, said Tim Filley, a professor of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences at Purdue and director of the U.S.-China Ecopartnership for Environmental Sustainability (USCEES).

"The U.S.-China EcoPartnership for Environmental Sustainability is committed to encouraging collaborations between our Purdue and China colleagues," Filley said. "We are establishing the Purdue-China Visiting Scholars Network and this travel grant program to help strengthen the long-term connections between the community of Chinese visiting scholars at Purdue and their Purdue hosts."

Applications are now being taken for the Purdue-China Visiting Scholars Network grants, and proposals are due May 10, said Lauren Lu, program manager for the U.S.-China EcoPartnership in Purdue's Discovery Park. Funding awards will be announced by June 10.

The awards will be made through a competitive selection process based on the strength of the existing collaboration. Other factors will include the expected scholarly, research and commercial outcome of the collaboration and potential for securing additional funding to advance the research effort.

"The United States and China face the interconnected challenges of environmental degradation, climate change, and energy and food security," said Alan Rebar, executive director of Discovery Park and senior associate vice president for research at Purdue. "Through the Visiting Scholar Network, we hope to be open to the many pathways in addressing these challenges, including collaborations and new ideas and technologies that offer market-based solutions."

The travel grant program is financially supported by contributions from the centers of the Global Sustainability Institute, the Purdue Confucius Institute, International Programs, and the Colleges of Agriculture, Engineering, Science and Technology at Purdue.

For more information about the program or to download an application form, go to the U.S.-China EcoPartnership website at http://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/ecopartnership/index.php.

Each year, Filley said, nearly 200 Chinese professors, graduate students and professionals come to Purdue to work in close collaboration with Purdue faculty and students and share their ideas, technologies, skills, culture and thirst for discovery.

The U.S.-China EcoPartnership programs are made possible by a joint agreement between the U.S. State Department and the China's National Development and Reform Commission.

One of 18 EcoPartnerships created in 2011, the U.S.-China EcoPartnership for Environmental Sustainability is focused on building U.S.-China collaborations to address the sustainable use of natural resources in the face of the interconnected challenges of environmental degradation, and land use and climate change by leveraging and enhancing the capacity of member universities, research institutes and industry partners. 

Writer: Phillip Fiorini, 765-496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu

Sources: Timothy Filley, 765-494-6581, filley@purdue.edu

Alan Rebar, 765-496-6625, rebar@purdue.edu

Lauren Lu, 765-494-0440, lu130@purdue.edu 

Related news releases:

http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/general/2011/110509CordovaEcoPartner.html

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/05/189253.htm

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