Network Innovation Grants - Recent Recipients
Following is a selection of recent Switzer Network Innovation grants. These grants are awarded to organizations working with two or more Fellows taking a leadership role in advancing progress on a critical environmental issue, whether it is convening a group of experts to address a policy or technical challenge, undertaking policy-relevant research that will be moved to action quickly, or designing or launching a pilot project with specific policy or management implications.
$10,000 awarded to https://carnegiemnh.org/ in 2020
This grant will fund the creation of a toolkit and resources that will provide a starting point for interrogating the causes of inequity in American society, specifically as it relates to racial, environmental, gender, and economic oppression. Too often organizations propagate diversity for...Read more >
$10,000 awarded to http://oikonos.org/ in 2018
Ryan Carle, Conservation Coordinator at Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge, and Margaret Rubega, Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut, will convene and lead a working group of researchers and others to study two species of migratory bird whose...Read more >
$8,000.00 awarded to Manomet in 2018
Aquaculture is experiencing extremely fast growth in Maine, as it is in other parts of the country and around the world. Fishing is a critical part of Maine's economy; aquaculture is becoming more and more prevalent as commercial fishermen seek to diversify their income and new entrepreneurs enter...Read more >
$5,000 awarded to https://abcbirds.org/ in 2018
Avian malaria, spread by mosquitoes, is having a rapid and profound effect on Hawaii's forest bird populations, with some at risk of extinction. Three Switzer Fellows will lead the development of a strategy to engage local Hawaiian communities in a proposed solution to the spread of the disease. A...Read more >
$40,000 awarded to SkyTruth in 2016
Switzer Fellows Evan Hansen, President of Downstream Strategies in Morgantown, WV, and Dr. Lara Cushing, Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Education at San Francisco State University, will work with SkyTruth to analyze the increased footprint of fracking on the West Virginia landscape...Read more >
$4,000 awarded to North American Association for Environmental Education in 2015
Christy Merrick, Director of the Natural Start Alliance of the North American Association for Environmental Education, and Nicole Ardoin, Professor at Stanford University's School of Education and the Woods Institute of the Environment, are working together on a project to quantify and...Read more >
$11,500 awarded to Council for Watershed Health in 2014
Dr. Carolina Balazs, Post-doctoral researcher at UC Davis, and Mike Antos, Program Director for the Council for Watershed Health in Los Angeles, are involved in California's Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) program. This program supports water infrastructure projects that demonstrate...Read more >
$10,000 awarded to Harris Center for Conservation Education in 2014
Brett Thelen, Science Director for Conservation at the Harris Center for Conservation Education, and Dr. Brad Timm, Post-doctoral Researcher at UMass Amherst, are collaborating on this applied research project to determine the effectiveness of citizen science (specifically, salamander crossing brigades) on amphibian conservation.Read more >
$15,000 awarded to Global Diversity Fund, Inc. in 2013
Melissa Nelson, a professor of Native American Studies at San Francisco State University and Executive Director of the Cultural Conservancy, and Susannah McCandless, International Program Director of the Global Diversity Foundation, will plan and convene an event called the North American Community...Read more >
$10,000 awarded to University of California, Santa Cruz in 2013
Dr. Myra Finkelstein of UC Santa Cruz, and Dr. Vickie Bakker of Montana State University are leading this collaborative project to research and develop consensus on updated population data and management status of two species of Pacific Albatross - the Blackfooted Albatross and the Laysan Albatross...Read more >
Spotlight on Leadership
“Work with your mind, not with your hands.” Recent graduate Daisy Benitez grew up hearing these words so often it became her mantra. In fact, her life was shaped by this saying and by the lives of its authors: her parents. After earning a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering (’17), she will continue her work in sustainability through the Master in Green Technologies program, with her graduate studies funded by the National GEM Consortium Engineering Fellowship, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Fellowship, and the Switzer Environmental Fellowship.Read more >
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