Faculty

Any faculty associate of the Ecology Center has a free choice of having grants and contracts administered by the Ecology Center or other cost centers. The Ecology Center and the Deans of the Quinney College of Agriculture & Natural Resources and the College of Arts & Sciences have agreed to the following policy and provisions on the use of the Ecology Center as a cost center: 

1. The research involved must be ecological in nature.

2. Of the 30% indirect costs (F&A) returned to the Center:

   Proposed Ecology Center IDC splits
   Unit	VPR	PI	Ecology Center	College	Dept	AES	Statewide
   Any college*	70	10	10	5	5	0	0
   with AES	70	10	9	4	4	3	0
   with Statewide	70	10	9	4	4	0	3
   with AES and Statewide	70	10	8	4	4	2	2
   *Currently the EC only serves QANR and Arts and Sciences. MOUs with other colleges would follow this formula.

3. If the Ecology Center supplies matching funds on a grant or contract, the Center will recover the cost of the match from indirect cost returns before passing on funds to the department and PI.
4. All grants and contracts administered by the Ecology Center will have the availability of the Center accounting and clerical services.
5. If a PI leaves employment at USU, the indirect return account of the PI will no longer accrue returned indirect costs from any grants still in force, but the department will continue to receive its share. If the PI has completed association with USU, any funds remaining in the PI's indirect account will be passed to the PI’s department for its discretionary use. This does not apply to faculty who retire at USU, as retired faculty may continue to use returned indirect costs for professional activities. If a departed PI continues with an adjunct USU position, such as to help USU graduate students finish their degrees, the PI can use remaining returned indirect costs for purposes associated with research still based at USU.

Click below for access to our Proposal Development Guide and example documents to aid you in your requests for funding:

Proposal Development Guide  

Investing in new ecological research initiatives

The Ecology Center will consider proposals from faculty associates seeking financial assistance in developing new research endeavors. It takes a lot of time and effort to develop competitive proposals and new initiatives, and the Ecology Center seeks to facilitate this development. Potential forms of financial assistance that the Ecology Center will consider are:

• Travel support for collaborators from other institutions to come to Logan for proposal development
• Support for workshops that can lead to new research initiatives
• Travel support for faculty associates to collaborate in proposal development at other institutions
• Working Groups

If you are interested in applying for such assistance, please contact Peter Adler by personal visit (NR208) or email (peter.adler@usu.edu) and we can discuss your ideas. This would be followed by a short written proposal to the Center. Priority will be given to ideas that will lead to potentially fruitful proposal development for new research funding (especially for competitive grants and contracts), collaborative ventures with co-PI’s from USU or other institutions, and interdisciplinary efforts. The main thrust of the work must be ecological in nature.

Monthly ad hoc funding support

Previous Awardees

Participation in Professional Meetings

The Ecology Center considers requests from faculty and graduate students for partial travel support to professional meetings (regional, national, and international). To be considered, faculty and graduate students MUST be the first or sole author on conference presentations. At the start of each month, two members of the EC advisory board will consider and rank the requests that were received during the previous month. We expect to award up to $1000 each month, though this number may change with our budget. Priority will be given based on financial need and the benefit to the faculty or student attending the meeting. Individual requests will be capped at $500. Requests that are not granted will be rolled over to the following month until the need for the funds has passed. Similarly, unspent funds will be rolled over to the following month. 

To apply for travel support, email the following information to Lexi (alexandra.turano@usu.edu): 1) the name and dates of the meeting, 2) the title and authorship of the presentation, 3) your estimated budget for the meeting, 4) the amount of requested Ecology Center funds, 5) a list of other sources of support for your participation in the meeting, or an explanation of why no other support is available, and 6) a copy of your accepted abstract. Please keep in mind that we will make decisions in the first week of each month for those requests that came in during the prior month, and plan ahead based on this timeline. If you need a faster decision, explain why and give us a clear deadline.

Publication Costs

The Ecology Center also considers requests for partial support (up to $500) for publication costs. Requests will be considered using the same process described above for meeting participation support. Priority will be given to student-led papers and projects without publication costs already included in their budget.

To apply for support, email the following information to Lexi (alexandra.turano@usu.edu): 1) a pdf of the manuscript, 2) the name of the journal, 3) the total publication cost, 4) the amount of requested Ecology Center funds, and 5) a list of other sources of support, or an explanation of why no other support is available.

Science Outreach

The Ecology Center considers requests from faculty and graduate students (MS and PhD) for partial support of science outreach activities that communicate natural resources research to non-academic audiences. Science outreach may include, but is not limited to, public talks, workshops, K–12 or community education programs, stakeholder or land-manager engagement events, development of educational materials, science communication products, or other activities that translate research findings into accessible and actionable knowledge.

Priority will be given to student-led outreach efforts, projects that clearly align with the Ecology Center’s mission, and activities that demonstrate a strong potential for broader impacts beyond the university. Requests will be reviewed using the same monthly process described above. Individual requests will be capped at $500, and total monthly awards will be subject to available funds. Requests that are not granted will be rolled over to the following month until the need for the funds has passed, and unspent funds will roll over to subsequent months.

To apply for science outreach support, email the following information to Lexi (alexandra.turano@usu.edu): 1) a brief description of the outreach activity, including goals, audience, and format; 2) the dates and location (if applicable); 3) your role in the outreach activity and any collaborators involved; 4) an estimated budget for the activity; 5) the amount of requested Ecology Center funds; 6) a list of other sources of support, or an explanation of why no other support is available; and 7) any relevant supporting materials (e.g., event flyer, outreach plan, curriculum outline, or confirmation of participation, if available). Please keep in mind that decisions are made during the first week of each month for requests submitted in the prior month. If you require a faster decision, explain why and provide a clear deadline.

Join Us

Qualifications

Must do one of the following:

• Publish articles of an ecological nature in appropriate, peer-reviewed journals
• Teach courses that support the education of Ecology MS and PhD students

Application Process

1. Submit a letter of application that includes evidence of meeting the above criteria, as well as CV.
   • Applications rejected by the Director can be appealed to the EC Faculty Advisory Board.

Benefits

• You may be the major professor for a student pursuing the Ecology degree.
• You will receive email notice of Ecology Center activities, job openings, funding opportunities, etc.
• You may apply for travel funds to help support presentations of an ecological nature at appropriate national meetings.
• You may apply for assistance with page charges for ecological papers in appropriate peer-reviewed journals.
• You may use the Ecology Center as a cost center for grants and contracts.

Expectations

Ecology Center Associates should note their affiliation with the Center in meeting presentations and in publications supported in part by the Center. The latter is generally done by including the affiliation in the author's address.

Ecology Center Advisory Board:

Scott Hotaling; Assistant Professor, Watershed Sciences; Email: scott.hotaling@usu.edu

Stefani Crabtree; Assistant Professor, Environment and Society; Email: stefani.crabtree@usu.edu

Kezia Manlove; Assistant Professor, Wildland Resources; Email: kezia.manlove@usu.edu

Tammy Rittenour; Professor, Geosciences; Email: tammy.rittenour@usu.edu

Wei Zhang; Assistant Professor, Plants, Soils, & Climate; Email: w.zhang@usu.edu

Norah Saarman; Assistant Professor, Biology; Email: norah.saarman@usu.edu