A proposal to put sustainable engineering into practice: EE 80S final
project description
October 11, 2007
Description of the final project
During this course you will develop a group project proposal to address a sustainability challenge on this
campus or in the community. This project will be among the core activities that you work on in the discussion
sections. We know that this will be a great opportunity to work in an interdisciplinary team and synthesize what
you have learned during the course. Instead of us making up a hypothetical project for all of you, the project will
be organized around a real world funding opportunity and the instructors will work with your teams to write an
excellent proposal. If your team puts together a great project, we could get $10,000 to make it happen.
The US Environmental Project Agency has funding for student designed sustainability projects, which is
summarized in the following section. More details are available on their webpage
http://es.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/2008/2008_p3.html. Within this course we have divided up the process of writing the
final proposal into a several inter-connected assignments, by working together and moving on this early you will
end up with a good project and avoiding that dreaded end of the quarter scramble.
Please note that the guidelines that we give in class are the ones that count—there are a few small
differences that make things a little easier than following all EPA instructions. We do not expect you to
actually submit your proposal to the EPA.
These are the assignments and due dates
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Week 3-4: You will form groups around shared themes (the EPA defines Agriculture and food, Materials
and Chemistry, energy, Information Technology, Water and the Built Environment). We are also
developing a list of on-going student-led sustainability projects. You will write down five sustainability
questions and your first draft of what the EPA calls the challenge definition.
Week 4-5: One or two members of the group will contact several of stakeholders that are currently
engaged in this issue. What challenges and opportunities are they negotiating? What kinds of questions
are they interested in asking and what role could your project play in advancing this process? In sections
and class we will be talking about participatory processes for connecting with more stakeholders,
especially those whose voice is frequently marginalized.
Week 6: (20 points) A first draft that includes the outline, budget and abstract for this project is due this
week.
Week 7: (10 points) Turn in a full rough draft of the report (10 pages narrative text, single spaced), which
follows the guidelines we describe. You will get feed back through a peer review process in the class as
well as from the instructors.
Week 8: (70 points) Work on re-writing and improving your proposal. Developing a way to creatively
communicate your project (poster, video, sculpture etc. . ).
Week 9: Final projects presented in sections and/or lectures. (Reminder the full project is worth 30% of
your course grade).
Some general comments about the pre-proposal:
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Budget of the proposal is the funding needed to perform the work that is proposed. This is not the budget
needed to write the proposal! If some funding can help you write better proposals (by gathering additional
information), you can request that by sending an email to Prof. Shakouri (ali@soe.ucsc.edu).
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An important aspect of a good proposal is its potential to obtain resources needed to achieve the goals
that are outlined (e.g. funding, sponsorship, voluntary work, etc.). If you are targeting foundations or
private funding, it is not enough to say that if we could e.g. convert all homes in Santa Cruz to be fully
powered by wind energy; this will help improve the environment. It is important that you put yourself in the
place of the foundations or companies and ask the question of why your proposal should be funded and
not thousands of other ideas that can help with the energy crisis. Also, even if all homes in Santa Cruz
could be converted to wind energy, this will not help much the environmental crisis if other cities could not
do the same. An important aspect of a good proposal is its potential for long term impact. You should
think: if your project is successful, how others could use the ideas and follow up.
SUMMARY OF PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS FOR THE EPA GRANT
Synopsis of Program
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of the P3 Award Program, is seeking applications
proposing to research, develop, and design solutions to real world challenges involving sustainability. The P3
competition highlights people, prosperity, and the planet – the three pillars of sustainability. The P3 Awards
program is a partnership between the public and private sectors to foster progress toward sustainability by
achieving the mutual goals of economic prosperity, protection of the planet, and improved quality of life for its
people. The EPA offers the P3 competition in order to respond to the technical needs of the developed and
developing world while moving towards the goal of sustainability. Please see the P3 website
(http://www.epa.gov/ncer/P3) for more details about this program.
The Funding Opportunity Numbers for this RFA: 5th Annual P3 Awards: A National Student Design
Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet – are:
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EPA-G2008-P3-Z1 – Agriculture
EPA-G2008-P3-Z2 – Materials and Chemistry
EPA-G2008-P3-Z3 – Energy
EPA-G2008-P3-Z4 – Information Technology
EPA-G2008-P3-Z5 – Water
EPA-G2008-P3-Z6 – Built Environment
Award Information:
Anticipated Type of Award: Grant
Estimated Number of Awards: Approximately 55 awards for Phase I; Approximately 6 awards for Phase II
Anticipated Funding Amount: Approximately $1,000,000 total for all awards
Potential Funding per Award: Up to $10,000 per Phase I grant for one year including direct and indirect costs.
Proposals for Phase I grants with budgets exceeding $10,000 will not be considered. Upon the successful
completion of Phase I, Phase I grant recipients will have the opportunity to apply for Phase II funding of up to
$75,000 for two additional years including direct and indirect costs (see Background section for more information).
Eligibility Information:
Public nonprofit institutions/organizations (limited to public institutions of higher education) and private nonprofit
institutions/organizations (limited to private institutions of higher education) located in the U.S. are eligible to
apply. See full announcement for more details.
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Agency Contacts:
(please do not contact EPA staff, but let the faculty contact hem regarding these projects)
I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION
A. Introduction
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the auspices of the Office of Research
and Development (ORD), National Center for Environmental Research (NCER), and its partners (see
http://www.epa.gov/ncer/P3 for specific names) invite submissions to the 5th Annual P3 Awards: A National
Student Design Competition for Sustainability. P3 focuses on the three components of sustainability: People,
Prosperity and the Planet. The P3 Program is intended to support designs that benefit people by improving their
quality of life; promote prosperity by developing local economies or creating small businesses; and protect the
planet by conserving resources and minimizing pollution.
The concept of sustainable development became widely promoted following publication of G. Bruntland’s
Our Common Future in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development. That document
defined sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs.” (Oxford University Press, 1987). Although the definitions of sustainability have varied
during the past 20 years, a useful definition for engineers was set forth by Mihelcic et al. (2003) as the “design of
human and industrial systems to ensure that humankind’s use of natural resources and cycles do not lead to
diminished quality of life due either to losses in future economic opportunities or to adverse impacts on social
conditions, human health and the environment.” Fundamentally, sustainability requires the balancing of economic
prosperity, environmental responsibility, and social fairness.
P3 Awards will be given to the winners of the second phase of this national, intercollegiate design competition
among interdisciplinary student teams for their research, development, and design of solutions to the scientific,
technical, and policy challenges confronting sustainability.
The purpose of this Request for Applications (RFA) is to solicit innovative design proposals to compete for a grant
in the first phase of the P3 competition. The P3 Award is a subsequent award for further development and
demonstration (also known as a Phase II grant). The competitors for the P3 Awards will be limited to those
selected to receive support as a result of the competition under this RFA (Phase I). Additional instructions for the
Phase II proposals can be found below in the section entitled “Instructions for Phase II proposals”.
This RFA represents the fifth National P3 Awards competition. The projects funded through the first four
competitions can be viewed at http://www.epa.gov/ncer/P3.
B. Background
Among the critical components of promoting a systematic shift towards more environmentally benign and
sustainable products, processes, and systems is increased awareness and training. It is essential that all involved
in the design, discovery, demonstration, and implementation of sustainable innovations understand the
fundamental methodologies, techniques, and principles that underlie sustainability. In addition, it is imperative to
recognize that scientific, engineering, and policy innovation play a key role in addressing the persistent challenge
of under-development in the world. Fundamental to the success of sustainable designs is recognizing the needs,
available resources, and boundaries of the intended user.
This announcement, which addresses the first phase (Phase I) of the competition for a P3 Award, requests
innovative design proposals from eligible institutions in order to obtain support for a student team to compete for
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one of EPA’s P3 Awards. In Phase I, the EPA will fund approximately 55 student design projects from around the
country during the 2008-2009 academic year to research and develop their sustainable designs.
Partnerships with industry or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are strongly encouraged, particularly in
Phase II. These partners are expected to help further develop the design, demonstrate the project in the field,
and/or move the design to the marketplace. Matching contributions are not required in either the Phase I or the
Phase II competition; however, anticipated partnerships should be identified.
Sustainability in both the developed and developing world requires scientific and technical innovation to create
designs that enable the earth and its inhabitants to prosper. The EPA is conducting the competition for the P3
Awards in order to demonstrate to the nation and the world the possibilities of innovative, inherently benign,
integrated, and interdisciplinary designs that simultaneously benefit people, promote prosperity, and protect and
preserve the planet.
The specific Strategic Goal and Objective from EPA’s Strategic Plan that relate to this solicitation are: Goal 5:
Compliance and Environmental Stewardship, Objective 5.4: Enhance Science and Research. The EPA’s Strategic
Plan can be found at http://www.epa.gov/ocfo/plan/2006/entire_report.pdf (PDF) (184 pp, 11.56 MB, about PDF).
B. Content and Form of Application Submission
The application is made by submitting the materials described below. Applications must contain all information
requested and be submitted in the formats described.
2. Standard Form 424
(you don’t need to fill this out )
3. Key Contacts
(you don’t need to fill this out yet)
4. Table of Contents
Provide a list of the major subdivisions of the application indicating the page number on which each
section begins.
5. Abstract (1 page)
The abstract is a very important document in the review process. Therefore, it is critical that the
abstract accurately describes the research being proposed and conveys all the essential elements of the
research. Also, the abstracts of applications that receive funding will be posted on the NCER web site.
The abstract should include the information described below (a-j). Examples of abstracts for previous P3
grants may be found on the P3 web site.
a. Research Category and Funding Opportunity Number: Enter the full name of the solicitation (P3
Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity
and the Planet) and one of the six funding opportunity numbers that appear at the beginning of
this announcement. The funding opportunity number selected should be the one that reflects the
challenge area that best represents the proposed project.
b. Title: Use the exact title of your project as it appears in the application. The title must be brief yet
represent the major thrust of the project. Because the title will be used by those not familiar with
the project, strike a balance between highly technical words and phrases and more commonly
understood terminology. Do not use general phrases such as “research on.”
c. Faculty Advisor: List the faculty advisor, then the names and affiliations of each co-advisor who
will significantly contribute to the project. Provide a web site URL or an e-mail contact address for
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additional information. The faculty advisor will serve as the Principal Investigator for the purposes
of the award.
d. Institution: In the same order as the list of advisors, list the name, city and state of each
participating university or other applicant institution. The lead institution applying for assistance
must be clearly identified.
e. Student Represented Departments and Institutions: List the departments and institutions that will
be represented by the students participating on the team.
f. Project Period: The Phase I project will begin on or about August 4, 2008 and end on or about
April 1, 2009.--- Not that some projects could also be done earlier -g. Project Amount: Show the total dollars requested from the EPA for the entire project period such
that the budget total does not exceed $10,000, including direct and indirect costs.
h. Total Project Amount: Show the total dollar amount, including total dollar request from EPA and
an estimate of the total contribution (funding and/or in-kind) that will be provided by partners
(such as educational institutions, industry, NGOs), if applicable.
i. Project Summary: Cover the following: (1) Definition of a technical challenge to sustainability; (2)
Development of an innovative design approach with technical merit to address the challenge; (3)
Discussion of how the challenge and proposed design relate to sustainability including people,
prosperity, and the planet; (4) Description of strategy for measuring results, evaluation and
demonstration; and (5) Description of how P3 concepts will be used as an educational tool at the
university, such as by incorporation into the community and/or the institution’s curriculum.
j. Supplemental Keywords: Without duplicating terms already used in the text of the abstract, list
keywords to assist database searchers in finding your research. A complete set of keywords is
very important. A list of suggested keywords may be found at: http://www.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/forms.
k. The Funding Opportunity Number (see IV.B.9.b.) must be placed in the upper right side of the
“header” of the Abstract page.
6. Research Plan and References
a. Research Plan (10 pages)
The description of the research plan must provide the following information:
1. P3 Project Description: Address the peer review criteria (see Section V, Application
Review Information). Structure the description using the peer review criteria as
subheadings:
 Challenge Definition;
 Innovation and Technical Merit;
 Relationship of Challenge to Sustainability;
 Measurable Results (outputs/outcomes), Evaluation Method, and Demonstration
Strategy; and
 Integration of P3 Concepts as an Educational Tool.
2. Project Schedule. Show significant steps and milestones for the project. Clearly depict
the project’s duration, and include key milestones and project tasks from research to
design to development to demonstration. Indicate anticipated role and tasks of each
team member or department represented. Also, indicate anticipated interactions with any
and all partners (see b. below), if applicable.
This description must not exceed ten (10) consecutively numbered (bottom center),
8.5x11-inch pages of single-spaced, standard 12-point type with 1-inch margins. While
these guidelines establish the minimum type size requirements, applicants are advised
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that readability is of paramount importance and should take precedence in selection of
an appropriate font for use in the proposal.
b. Partnerships (if applicable): [Note: This description does not count toward the ten (10) page limit
for the Research Plan.]
Partnerships are strongly encouraged and will be particularly important for the demonstration
strategies. While formal partnerships need not be established prior to submitting the proposal,
indicate any and all anticipated partnerships including the type of partner (educational institution,
industry and/or NGOs), matching contributions (funding and/or in-kind) provided by the partner,
and the nature of the partnership. Formal letters of understanding or commitment from any and
all partners should be submitted in support of the application, when available and appropriate and
will be considered letters of intent/support as described in Section IV.B.5.d.(1) below.
c. References [Note: These do not count toward the ten (10) page limit for the Research Plan.]
d. Important Attachments:
1. Please see Section IV.B.9.a. on letters of intent/letters of support for more details on
these attachments. Any letters exceeding one brief paragraph are considered part of the
Research Plan and therefore contribute to the 10-page limit for the Research Plan.
2. Appendices, including drawings or preliminary data, may be included but must remain
within the 10-page limit for the Research Plan.
7. Budget and Budget Justification
a. Budget (We will help you with the budget justification . . )Prepare a budget table using the
guidance and form found at http://www.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/forms. The budget categories are also
indicated in the following Budget Justification section (IV.B.6.b.)
8. Resumes
Provide resumes for each faculty advisor and student team leader. The resume for each individual must
not exceed two consecutively numbered (bottom center), 8.5x11-inch pages of single-spaced, standard
12-point type with 1-inch margins.
9. Current and Pending Support
Complete a current and pending support form (provided at http://www.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/forms) for each
faculty advisor, showing financial resources intended to support research related to the proposal or that
would consume the investigator’s time. Include all current and pending research regardless of source.
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