Spring Grants

These projects were funded during our Spring grant cycle, where projects receive more than $5,000 for projects that take between one to three years to complete. 

Incorporation of Waste Streams into Algal Bioethanol for Sustainable Energy on Campus

Project Description

For the past decade, the Biofuels Technology Club has been collecting waste cooking oil from campus dining halls to convert it into biodiesel. This process has significant pitfalls such as waste glycerol production and variable diesel quality. This project aims to solve these issues by using algal biomass as a secondary source for both biodiesel and bioethanol. The waste glycerol serves as nutrient-rich feedstock for the algae boosting intracellular lipid content that can be converted into diesel. The leftover algal biomass after lipid extraction can be further...

Queer Indigenous Speaker Series

Project Description

Over the 2024-2025 academic year, the Queer Indigenous Speakers Series will explore the intersection of indigeneity and queerness to challenge and expand our concepts around activism, sustainability, identity, and sovereignty. Through a series of talks and workshops, indigenous activists and scholars from the Bay Area and beyond will work with students to explore the historical constructions of our current conceptions around selfhood and nature, and understand how these seemingly disparate categories might be more closely entwined than we think. Ultimately, this...

Building Student Capacity at the UC Gill Tract Community Farm

Project Description

“Building Student Capacity at the UC Gill Tract Community Farm'' is a partnership between the UC Gill Tract Community Farm and the Food Institute Graduate Council. The project will establish an undergraduate internship program facilitated by graduate students and Gill Tract Farmers to increase campus engagement with the Farm. The project will strengthen the UC Berkeley community's role in the local food system as both contributors to urban farming and consumers of local food by promoting volunteering at the Farm and utilizing the Farm's farm stand. Building...

Building Diverse Coalitions for a Just Energy Transition: BERC 2025 Energy Summit and Case Competition

Project Description

The Energy Summit, held each spring, is the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative’s (BERC’s) flagship event, a conference that for nearly 20 years has fostered dialogue and collaboration among students and professionals advancing the clean energy transition. The 2025 Summit – entitled “Building Diverse Coalitions for a Just Energy Transition” – will feature panels with experts from government, private sector, and advocacy groups; an expo for graduate students’ climate research; a career fair with private, public, and non-profit organizations; and workshops...

Fellowship for Emerging Sustainability Professionals

The Office of Sustainability sought funds to employ student sustainability leaders to support its efforts to address changes to the UC Sustainable Practices Policy and inform the evolution and implementation of the UC Berkeley Sustainability Plan. OS employed five undergraduate fellows to work within the realms of Communications, Climate Action, and Zero Waste.

Zero Waste Reusables Advancement Research Project

Project Description

This gives undergraduates at UC Berkeley opportunities to have real experience in the field and to gain a deeper knowledge of the importance of zero waste on campus and in the real world. Each student will have a different concentration to focus their time on. One student will direct their attention to the reuse stations that are located throughout campus, and help the program become more developed. Another student will work on increasing the use of reusables and promoting zero-waste on campus by conducting surveys and helping educate through programs in Student...

VLSB Pollinator Garden

The Department of Integrative Biology and Herbicide-Free Berkeley seeks to restore previously established pollinator gardens near VLSB. This project will allow for the study of anthropod presence within two distinct plots throughout the restoration process, and will expend most of its funds on the hiring of work-study interns to restore and monitor the garden.

Vertical Farming at Berkeley Engineering and Organic Research and Development

Vertical Farming at Berkeley, a student nonprofit group, seeks funding to support their research into vertical farming setups. Part of their work involves outreach and education to local schools, as well as donation or sale of produce to the Berkeley Food Pantry and/or Cal Dining

UC Gill Tract Community Farm Student Compost Internship and Research

This project seeks to support the expansion of an ongoing SPUR program to facilitate the implementation of a municipal composting system within the Gill Tract. Funds would go to the hiring of graduate student coordinators, travel stipends for interns, and compensation for interviews conducted in the evaluation of the composting system. The Gill Tract hopes that the establishment of this composting system will support student education and the propogation of systems through the SOGA community and beyond.

UC Berkeley COP 27 Delegation

Project Description

We propose to bring a cohort of 10 students and 2 staff or faculty members to participate in the COP 27 as representatives of UC Berkeley. SERC would like to give an opportunity to those actively working at the intersections of race, identity, class, ability, and the environment, and will support students who may not have had opportunities to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime global conference for free (prioritization will be for low-income students, students of color, and other marginalized and underrepresented students).

Project Links...