U-M’s sustainability initiatives have obtained critical support from donors over many years, as the following examples illustrate.
Fred (BBA ’47) and Barbara Erb established the path breaking Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise, a dual-degree MS/MBA program in the School of Natural Resources and Environment and the Stephen M. Ross School of Business focusing on the intersection of business, the environment and sustainability.
Long a supporter of environmental action and conservation, Peter Wege (HLLD ’07), through the Wege Foundation, helped launch the Center for Sustainable Systems in the early 1990s and has since endowed both the Peter M. Wege Professorship in Sustainable Systems and the Peter M. Wege Lecture on Sustainability in SNRE.
Donald (BSE IE ’55, MSE ’56, HDENG ’09) and Ingrid (BSDES ’57) Graham joined with U-M to launch the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute encouraging collaborative research and teaching on sustainability throughout the University.
The DTE Energy Foundation has endowed the DTE Energy Professorship of Advanced Energy Research, housed in the College of Engineering and closely affiliated with the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute. The institute serves as the hub for the study of energy technology and policy, driving research in areas such as carbon-neutral energy sources, storage and conversion, transportation and fuels, and sustainability.
DTE Energy also has created the Clean Energy Prize, a student award, to encourage entrepreneurship in Michigan and to develop clean-energy technologies. The Kresge Foundation and the Masco Corporation Foundation also are major sponsors. The competition is open to all Michigan colleges and universities; this year a U-M team of graduate students won the top prize of $50,000.
The Alcoa Foundation created the six year, Conservation and Sustainability Fellowship Program with U-M as the sole North American academic partner. Alcoa invested almost $1 million to support six, two-year post-doctoral fellows at the U-M doing research on sustainable energy technology. The program now is completed.
The Dow Chemical Company created The Dow Chemical Company Professorship of Sustainable Science, Technology and Commerce and annually supports the Dow Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge award, offering three, $10,000 prizes to students with the most innovative ideas for addressing the issue of environmental sustainability.
