U-M sole North American recipient of Alcoa Foundation grant

U-M sole North American recipient of Alcoa Foundation grant

7th December 2005

ANN ARBOR, Mich.The University of Michigan has been selected by Alcoa Foundation as the sole North American academic partner in its six-year Conservation and Sustainability Fellowship Program, U-M and Alcoa announced today.

The Alcoa Foundation award will provide U-M with $844,000 to support six, two-year post-doctoral fellows doing research on sustainable energy technology at U-M. The University is one of five academic partners in the Alcoa Foundation $8.6 million global research program, which supports the study of global conservation and sustainability issues. U-M will work with four other prominent academic partners: Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia; University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil; and London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

Through 2009, the program will support the research activities of approximately 30 academics and 60 sustainability practitioners from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) around the world. The research initiatives and findings plus the knowledge and information gained from the Alcoa Foundation Conservation and Sustainability Fellowship Program will be made freely available and shared with any interested party worldwide.

The program is being launched today an event at U-M that brings together key participants from Alcoa, Alcoa Foundation, the Institute of International Education, and U-M faculty, students and administrators. Tim Myers, vice president and general manager, Alcoa Wheel Products, will present Alcoa and Sustainability: Looking to the Future, Taking Action Today. The event, which is open to the public, is set for 5-7 p.m. in Room 1040 of the Dana Building on Central Campus.

Alcoa CEO Alain Belda lauded the goals of the program.

"Sustainability has long been at the core of our business model and has tremendous influence on the way we operate, products we make, and our overall thinking, Belda said. "Our focus and success will continue to be on the triple bottom line of environmental impact, social responsibility and economic futures and this Alcoa Foundation investment in the fellowship program further highlights our commitment to these ideals."

"Alcoa Foundation is making a unique, visionary program available not only to the University of Michigan, but to the world," said U-M President Mary Sue Coleman. "The program provides us with an opportunity to expand knowledge in the critically important areas of conservation and sustainability. We are honored that Alcoa Foundation has recognized the University of Michigan as a leader in this endeavor. Coleman noted that Alcoa and Alcoa Foundation have been strong and valued partners with the University of Michigan.

The U-M-Alcoa Foundation fellowship underscores U-Ms commitment to maintaining leadership in developing and using sustainable technologies. The grant involves a multi-disciplinary group of faculty co-led by Gregory Keoleian, co-director of the Center for Sustainable Systems (CSS) and Thomas Lyon, co-director of the Frederick A. and Barbara M. Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise, and The Dow Chemical Company Chair of Sustainable Science, Technology and Commerce.

Piecemeal approaches to the development of sustainable energy solutions, absent consideration of their timing, feasibility, societal acceptance, economic impact, market penetration and political salience, have not moved the world toward a secure energy future, said Rosina Bierbaum, dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE), which houses the CSS. Alcoa's support enables an interdisciplinary research initiative that addresses all the components of this complex issue, and positions Michigan at the forefront of research into sustainable energy.

The Alcoa grant will be a major boost as we build the Erb Institute's research program," Lyon said. "It allows us to build across-the-board research strength in sustainable energy systems, complementing our existing faculty research and our growing body of doctoral students. It will also complement the new U-M energy initiative.

Kathleen Buechel, Alcoa Foundation president and treasurer, described the Alcoa Foundations program as, A great step toward reaching the goal of advancing the field of conservation on a global scale. Conservation andsustainability is one of the key areas of excellence for the Alcoa Foundation investments. We think it is vital that we promote sound public policy, research and linkages between business and the environment.

U-M was selected to participate in the academic fellowship program because of its outstanding reputation in the area of environmental research and long standing commitment to the study of conservation and sustainability.

The Alcoa link on the home page of the University of Michigan: www.umich.edu