Achieving a sustainable and climate resilient future for all Angelenos and megacities across the globe requires unprecedented collaborations and investment. Your gift to the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge will support UCLA faculty, students and staff working on cutting-edge research with real-world applications, high-impact partnerships with internal and external stakeholders and cultivating the next generation of sustainability leaders.
As we often say, if we can do it in Los Angeles – one of the most diverse megacities in the world – we can apply these strategies to anywhere across the globe!
Giving Opportunities Include:
Investment in Urban Sustainability Research with Real-World and Real-Time Impact
As conveners and facilitators of both internal and external relationships, the SLAGC is uniquely poised to facilitate and create opportunities for interdisciplinary research with immediate real-world impact. Funding for urban sustainability research at UCLA could be directed to specific projects, topic areas or approaches, or more generally to create opportunities for researchers to come together across disciplines and with regional stakeholders to address Los Angeles and global urban sustainability challenges.
Possible programmatic research investments may include:
- Creation of competitive funding opportunities for UCLA faculty to design and execute high-impact urban sustainability research from any discipline, and across disciplines.
- Sandpit Competitions — an innovative series of workshops and team building that culminates in a competitive interdisciplinary approach to specific urban sustainability challenges.
Undergraduate Research Scholars Program
Launched in 2014, this unique year-long program immerses students from any major across campus in problem-solving and critical thinking coursework and research activities to prepare them to be the next generation of urban sustainability problem solvers.
- Outside of any specific UCLA department or academic unit, the program creates a unique interdisciplinary, multi-major environment for students, and a diverse alumni network of the environmental leaders of tomorrow.
- Students meet weekly in a course with lectures and exercises to enhance understanding of sustainability issues and the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to solving our most pressing urban sustainability challenges.
- Students are matched with an SLAGC-affiliated faculty for a mentored research experience.
- Students work together on interdisciplinary teams in collaboration with an external “client” to address real-world, real-time sustainability problems, with their work having an immediate impact.
- More senior students who are either program alumni or have equivalent experience serve in mentorship and project consultant roles, gaining invaluable leadership skills.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Graduate Fellows Program
A unique research-training program that matches UCLA graduate students from any discipline with external stakeholders to co-design and execute research projects that advance sustainability in L.A. County, as it relates to equity. This is an opportunity for students to expand their educational experience and receive co-mentorship from key practitioners and decision-makers in the region, while also serving as a career pipeline.
External partners have included City of L.A.’s Climate Emergency Mobilization Office, L.A. County Chief Sustainability Office and L.A. Metro (Chief Sustainability Office and Office of Equity & Race).
Sustainability Report Cards
A comprehensive analysis of Los Angeles County to measure progress, identify areas of intervention, provide strategic data-driven recommendations and engage stakeholders. These report cards are developed by teams of students that are mentored by UCLA faculty and distributed broadly to inform regional sustainability decisions.
- The first and only comprehensive report cards for any major metropolitan area in the United States that can serve as a model for identifying indicators, evaluating progress and recommending actions, strategies and policies for improved sustainability for megacities across the globe.
- Topics covered include Energy & Air Quality, Water, Ecosystem Health and Transportation.
