Sustainable Materials and Product Design Initiative
In 2015, with support from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Susannah Scott created an interdisciplinary initiative to integrate sustainability considerations into research in the chemical sciences and engineering, including assessment/minimization of environmental impact and assessment/optimization of economic feasibility, cultivation of public awareness, and social acceptance of sustainability goals. Researchers from chemistry and biochemistry, chemical engineering, environmental science, technology management, and communication collaborate to improve the efficiency, reduce the environmental impact, and improve social acceptance of alternative chemical technologies.
As the focal point for this effort, the University established a cluster of four endowed research Chairs: the Mellichamp Academic Initiative Professorships in Sustainability. Susannah Scott leads the Initiative and serves as the Mellichamp Chair in Sustainable Catalytic Processing.
ESTEEM: Enhancing Success in Transfer Education for Engineering Majors
ESTEEM is a scholarship and support program for academically-talented, low-income students majoring in or intending to major in Engineering. Led by UC Santa Barbara's College of Engineering, the program is a partnership with UC Santa Barbara's Gevirtz Graduate School of Education and four regional California Community Colleges (CCCs): Allan Hancock College, Oxnard College, Santa Barbara City College, and Ventura College. All five participating institutions are Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and are committed to facilitating transfer of students between community college and four-year universities.
The goals of the ESTEEM project are:
- To promote the success of academically-talented, low-income students at UC Santa Barbara and four regional CCCs, and facilitate transfers into Engineering B.S. programs;
- To identify barriers to transfer and investigate the effectiveness of targeted strategies to minimize them;
- To accelerate the adaptation of transfer and non-transfer students to the upper-division curriculum and integration into university culture; and
- To initiate faculty collaborations between UC Santa Barbara and regional CCCs to improve transfer student preparation.
The five-year ESTEEM program (2016-2021) will provide $580,000 in scholarships per year for students enrolled at one of the five participating institutions. CCC students who receive an ESTEEM scholarship and subsequently transfer to UC Santa Barbara's College of Engineering will retain their scholarship for their Junior and Senior years, as long as they maintain their eligibility for the program. ESTEEM also provides nearly $280,000 a year for student support services, activities, and research.