Last fall, the third iteration of the Tiger Team initiative was launched. The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) and the Office of the Provost at Stony Brook University charged six teams focusing on different climate change topic areas to map existing strengths onto opportunities for new funding. The goal of this initiative was to prepare the research community to respond to upcoming federal funding opportunities by submitting competitive proposals.
The following teams were formed with 45 faculty from 22 different departments and schools across campus:
- Climate and Environmental Medicine
- Community and Ecosystem Resilience
- Green Technologies
- Human Behavior and Decision-Making Related to Climate Change Mitigation
- The Economic and Policy Challenges of Climate Change
- The Warming Oceans, Modeling the Climate, and the Effects of Climate Change
“Faculty are the engines that drive research, and the level of faculty engagement that we have seen in this and the previous two Tiger Teams are why we have seen such success to date from the Tiger Teams in growing the number of Center-scale proposals and awards as well as the strategic hiring of faculty in areas of funding priorities,” said Kevin Gardner, vice president for research.
Over a six-month period, teams met frequently and worked to identify assets across and beyond campus, including faculty, labs, instrumentation, and partners that can contribute to competitive and collaborative research initiatives. Teams also identified critical gaps and provided suggestions for strengthening the university in these areas.
In March 2024, all six teams met virtually with senior leadership to discuss their progress. Each team presented their findings to date and discussed their plans and processes to complete the assignment, which culminated in a final report for each team. One-hour virtual Climate Change Tiger Teams Town Halls were held this spring during which each team presented its findings to the campus community.
In June 2024, an executive summary was created which combined the findings of all six teams. This report has been reviewed by university senior leadership and deans of all colleges and schools across the university and is available for everyone in the SBU community on the Climate Change Tiger Teams website.
Stony Brook University is ideally positioned to capitalize on federal investments in climate-related grand challenges given its leadership in a wide range of research topics, including community resilience, environmental justice, climate modeling, renewable energy storage, clean water technology, and artificial intelligence. Its role as anchor institution for The New York Climate Exchange will provide access to a coordinating body of partners for broad-scale advancement in education, research, workforce development, and technology translation.
“Integrating art and humanities into climate change research fosters exchange of equally rigorous insights... By combining diverse perspectives, we can develop a more inclusive approach,” said Linda O’Keefe from the Department of Art; member of Human Behavior Team.
“Working on [the tiger team] allowed me to build relationships with researchers across disciplines... Our work together has identified some immediate opportunities for external grant funding we are now prepared...to pursue,” stated Michael Rubenstein from Humanities Institute.
As a direct result of this initiative, several offices at Stony Brook University have launched the Climate Change Seed Grant Program. This program will fund collaborative efforts among climate change researchers at Stony Brook seeking externally funded research initiatives within six Tiger Team topic areas. Proposals are due October 1, 2024.