Provost Announces Faculty Winners of 2015 President’s Global Innovation Fund

May 12, 2015

Below are the results of the competition for faculty grants that will take place in the region from the first round of proposals to the President’s Global Innovation Fund (PGIF). The 16 projects receiving awards were selected by a review committee of senior faculty drawn from both the Morningside and medical campuses.

Launched in March 2013 by President Lee C. Bollinger, this fund is designed to provide support for faculty who would like to use the resources or facilities of one or more of the University’s eight Global Centers for teaching or research activities. The Columbia Global Centers are a global network of regional hubs intended to enhance the quality of research and learning at the University.

The President’s Global Innovation Fund awards grants for faculty members to leverage and engage Columbia’s global centers' network. The program is designed as a venture fund to enable the development of projects and research collaborations within and across these sites, in order to increase global opportunities for research, teaching, and service. 

Projects must engage with at least one of Columbia’s Global Centers (Amman, Jordan; Beijing, China; Istanbul, Turkey; Mumbai, India; Nairobi, Kenya; Paris, France; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Santiago, Chile).  Projects may be based in a city where a Columbia Global Center is located, or in other locations in the regions served by a global center, as long as they continue to leverage and engage Columbia’s global centers network. Leveraging the global centers will enable the centers and their staff to go beyond their operational capacity – often providing support, counsel, and a network of contacts to concretize and supplement existing research and programming goals. 

An overview of Columbia Global Centers, including descriptions of local, regional, and international partnerships, programming and projects, center interests, priorities and thematic focus, and center personnel and space, can be accessed here.

Many of the projects are led by a team of faculty members, and others are the work of a single Columbia scholar. All make use of our network of eight Columbia Global Centers on four continents, and will provide opportunities for faculty and students to address vital global issues. This year’s selected projects cover a vast range of disciplines and topics, from volcanoes to trade relations. See the full list of funded projects here.

Susan E. McGregor – Global Operational Data Index

Nickolas J. Themelis – Advancing Sustainable Waste Management in Latin America and Disseminating the Results to Other Developing Regions

Mabel Wilson – Mapping Human Networks of Transnational Architectural Projects