Seeding the Future of Sustainability Research
Wrigley Institute Faculty Innovation Awards provide seed funding for innovative, original research that accelerates the development of new solutions to global environmental challenges.
Applications for the 2025-2027 award cycle are closed, but you may download the 2025 RFP to see what kinds of proposals we encourage.
If you have questions about the program, please contact Wrigley Institute Executive Director Jessica Dutton.
About Faculty Innovation Awards
The Wrigley Institute Faculty Innovation Awards each provide up to $50,000 in support of USC faculty research that improves our knowledge about, or offers solutions for, global environmental and sustainability challenges.
Applications for the 2025-2027 award cycle are closed, but you may download the 2025 RFP or review the information below to see what kinds of proposals we encourage.
Award Details
- Research must align with one of the Wrigley Institute’s interdisciplinary research launchpads
- We especially welcome proposals that tie into our cross-cutting initiatives
- Open to tenure-track and RTPC faculty from all USC departments and schools
- Proposals may come from single investigators or teams working within or across USC divisions
- Funded research should yield scholarly publications and other forms of high-impact outreach during the term of the award
- Awardees will be asked to provide written status reports in Year 1 and Year 2 of the award
- Successful candidates will be identified as Wrigley Institute affiliated faculty
Questions? Contact Wrigley Institute Executive Director Jessica Dutton.
Current and Past Faculty Innovation Award Winners
Expand the accordions below to learn more about Faculty Innovation Award winners and projects from current and past award cycles.
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Viterbi School of Engineering
WiSE Gabilan Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Project: Redox-Active Materials for Solar Photothermal Water Splitting
Research Launchpad: Applied Environmental Solutions
Cross-Cutting Initiative: Climate and Carbon Management
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Professor of Earth Sciences, Biological Sciences, and Environmental Studies
Project: EXIST: Extinction Insights for a Sustainable Tomorrow
Research Launchpad: Earth and Environmental Systems
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Wrigley Chair in Environmental Studies and Professor of Earth Sciences
Project: Measuring microbial consumption of methane in natural urban-adjacent marine basins
Research Launchpad: Earth and Environmental Systems
Cross-Cutting Initiative: Climate and Carbon Management
School of Architecture
FTI Fellow Professor and ACSA Distinguished Professor of Architecture
School of Architecture
Professor of the Practice and ACSA Distinguished Professor of Architecture
Project: Pocket Lodge: Sustainable and Comfortable Tiny Homes in an Extreme Climate
Supported by the Lott Foundation
Research Launchpad: Social Transformation
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and Earth Sciences
Project: Capturing active enzymes to improve petroleum bioremediation
Research Launchpad: Earth and Environmental Systems
Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Professor of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Project: Exploring Captured Carbon Dioxide as Novel Carbon Sources for Fungal Fermentation of High Value Compounds
Research Launchpad: Applied Environmental Solutions
Cross-Cutting Initiative: Climate and Carbon Management
Viterbi School of Engineering
Stephen Schrank Early Career Chair and Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Project: Seawater-Assisted Electrochemical Carbon Sequestration (SAECS)
Research Launchpad: Applied Environmental Solutions
Cross-Cutting Initiative: Climate and Carbon Management
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Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Paxson H. Offield Professor in Coastal and Marine Systems and Professor of Earth Sciences, Environmental Studies, and Spatial Sciences
Project: How will Alkalinity Addition to the Ocean Impact Carbon Cycling?
Research Launchpad: Applied Environmental Solutions
Cross-Cutting Initiative: Climate and Carbon Management
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Associate Professor of Earth Sciences
Project: Developing Temperature Sensitive Ion Exchange Resins to Speed Carbonate Dissolution
Research Launchpad: Applied Environmental Solutions
Cross-Cutting Initiative: Climate and Carbon Management
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Wilford and Daris Zinsmeyer Early Career Chair in Marine Studies and Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Funded by the Mary Gard Jameson Foundation
Project: Coral Restoration and Resiliency in the Dominican Republic
Research Launchpad: Earth and Environmental Systems
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Professor of Economics and Spatial Sciences
Project: Rainwater harvesting in urban settings as a response to water shortages
Research Launchpad: Social Transformation
Cameron Thrash (with Felipe de Barros and David Bañuelas)
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Project: The Role of Estuarine Bacteria in Blue Carbon Capture Amid Rising Seas in Southern California
Research Launchpad: Earth and Environmental Systems
Cross-Cutting Initiative: Climate and Carbon Management
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Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Professor of Earth Sciences, Environmental Studies and Spatial Sciences
Sponsored by the Jordan and Andrea Lott Foundation
Project: Ocean Impacts of Emerging Carbon Sequestration Methodologies
Research Launchpad: Applied Environmental Solutions
Carly Kenkel (with Adib Mustofa)
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Gabilan Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
Project: Defining coral biodiversity for conservation and restoration in Indonesia’s Coral Triangle
Research Launchpad: Earth and Environmental Systems
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Project: Biologically Inspired Materials for Solar-to-Fuel Technologies
Research Launchpad: Applied Environmental Solutions
School of Architecture
Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture
Project: Establishing a Los Angeles River Observatory toward nature-based infrastructure and community stewardship
Research Launchpad: Social Transformation
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Laura Melissa Guzman
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Gabilan Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
Project: Modeling the effects of climate change and pesticide use on pollinator biodiversity
Research Launchpad: Earth and Environmental Systems
Matthew Kahn (with Rob Metcalfe)
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Provost Professor of Economics and Spatial Sciences
Project: Educating home buyers about climate change-related flood and fire risks to specific properties
Research Launchpad: Social Transformation
Kelly Sanders
Viterbi School of Engineering
Dr. Teh Fu Yen Early Career Chair and Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Project: Evaluating how Los Angeles’s adoption of renewable energy will affect the city’s air quality
Research Launchpad: Applied Environmental Solutions
Sam Silva
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences
Project: Using artificial intelligence to predict cloud formation and model the relationship between clouds and climate
Research Launchpad: Earth and Environmental Systems
Gale Sinatra (with Wändi Bruine de Bruin and Norbert Schwarz)
Rossier School of Education
Stephen H. Crocker Chair and Professor of Education and Psychology
Project: How climate change terminology affects public attitudes toward and willingness to take action on climate change
Research Launchpad: Social Transformation
Travis Williams (with Clay Wang)
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Professor of Chemistry
Project: Creating antimicrobial coatings that are minimally toxic to marine life
Research Launchpad: Applied Environmental Solutions