Competitive Research Grant
The ESPP Competitive Research Grant (CRG) is designed to support interdisciplinary student research at the intersection of environmental science and policy. Expenses should directly support the student’s research; allowable expenses include travel, software, instrumentation costs, and participant support costs. If travel is included, it must be approved prior to anticipated travel dates. Equipment (e.g., computers, printers, scanners) is not an allowable expense for these funds. Students may not combine these fellowships with other fellowships from the College of Social Science.
Eligibility
Applicants must:
- be currently enrolled in a graduate program at Michigan State University,
- be currently enrolled in one of ESPP’s graduate programs (i.e., Dual Major Degree Program, Master’s Specialization, or Modeling Certificate),
- have at least two semesters left before graduating from MSU.
- will result in a demonstrable advance to thinking on environmental science and policy,
- involve more than one student currently enrolled in an ESPP graduate program,
- explicitly integrate thinking across traditional disciplinary lines,
- address unique and timely research opportunities,
- are actual — not pilot — projects with strong potential for publication at their completion,
- and are submitted by students who have not previously received a Competitive Research Award or Summer Fellowship from ESPP.
To apply, students must send an email to espp@msu.edu with the subject line, “ESPP CRG Application”, and a single PDF containing the following information in the order noted below. The entire applicant team should be courtesy copied on the email. All application materials must be submitted by 11:59 pm on the due date.
- Title Page with Research Team Names. For each team member, please indicate their primary affiliation, the year of initial enrollment in their primary program, and whether they have previously received any funding from ESPP.
- Short Project Narrative (approximately 1000 words). Applicants should describe the need for the research, their approach, how the work will advance environmental science and policy, and team that will conduct the work. As relevant, the description of the team should explain how the work will advance any involved students’ degree completion. Supplementary information beyond the 1,000 word proposal is not acceptable.
- Project Budget. Applicants should submit an explanation of their planned use of the funds awarded. Budgets in excess of $4,000 are permitted but should provide clear prioritization of the funds such that if the amount awarded is less than the total amount requested, it is clear how the awarded funds would be used to ensure a successful project.
- Current CV or resume. Applicants should provide a current CV or resume for each member of the research team. CV should be limited to 2-page per person.
ESPP asks that students disclose any use of generative AI in the preparation of any materials for our program. We feel strongly that this practice is a critical part of working together to engage with these tools in higher education. A list of permissible and non-permissible uses of generative AI at MSU can be found here (https://ai.msu.edu/guidelines).
Tentative Application Deadline for next round: October 15, 2026
The ESPP Graduate Program Council will review proposals and make recommendations to the ESPP Director based on the encouraged criteria listed above. The ESPP Director will make final award decisions based on the reviews and availability of funding. Recipients will be notified by the Feb 15, 2026.
Project Report
Winners of this competition will be required to submit a project report by the end of the next Spring semester, which will give research teams about 15 months to conduct the proposed research. The project report should cover all the major activities supported by the CRG including a brief summary on how the funds have been used to support the research. Any major outcomes or achievements such as publications, conference presentations, datasets, software etc. should also be included in the report. The report should be no more than 5-pages including figures and tables, and should be submitted to ESPP (espp@msu.edu) before the due date.
2025-26 Recipients
Jincheng Huang (Fisheries and Wildlife)
Title: Cascading effects of global crisis on global cropland expansion and environmental impacts
Award Amount: $2,200
Abstract:
This project investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have influenced global cropland expansion and its environmental consequences. By combining interpretable machine learning models with spatially explicit counterfactual scenario simulations, the study examines how food price shocks and pandemic-related restrictions affect where cropland expands and how much it expands worldwide. It then estimates the resulting impacts on terrestrial carbon storage and biodiversity, and evaluates whether these environmental losses are distributed unevenly across countries and regions. The project aims to provide new evidence on the cascading ecological effects of global crises and to inform more resilient, equitable, and sustainability-oriented policy responses to future crises.
Phyllis Gyang (Geography, Environment and Spatial Sciences)
Title: Who Is Responsible for Flooding? Causal Beliefs, Institutional Trust, and Household
Preparedness Pathways in Urban Ghana
Award Amount: $4,000
Abstract:
This project studies how households in Weija-Gbawe, Accra, Ghana understand and respond to flooding in an area affected by dam releases and drainage problems. It focuses on how people explain why floods happen, whether as natural events, infrastructure failures, or the result of dam operations, and how those explanations shape what they do. Using survey data, the study analyzes variation in household responses, including private preparedness actions, inaction, and collective or community-based responses. The goal is to show how these explanations influence decisions and to provide practical insight for improving flood management and communication in similar settings.
Tyler Swanson (Community Sustainability)
Title: Assessing Michigan Residents’ Support for Renewable Energy and Data Center Development in The Wake of State Policy Changes
Award Amount: $4,000
Abstract:
Michigan has recently enacted legislation that fundamentally changes the permitting process for large scale renewable energy development in the state. Concurrently, the recent rise in artificial intelligence utilization at a national level has led many companies to explore developing data centers in Michigan. Both of these events hold significant implications for Michigan's energy future, but little is know about how Michiganders feel about the new energy policy landscape or data centers as a land use. This project will add questions about data centers and supporting energy infrastructure to the State of the State Survey to provide a baseline understanding of perceptions of and attitudes toward the development of data centers and renewable energy facility, and willingness to support these land uses through policy. Completion of this work will lay the foundation for further research into the impact of data centers on Michigan's economy and environment.
Yousef Khajavigodellou (Geography, Environment and Spatial Sciences)
Title: Global Early Warning System for Cascading WEF and Diplomatic Bankruptcy in Transboundary River Basins
Award Amount: $500
Abstract:
Transboundary river basins (TRBs) face escalating stress from climate change, rapid development, and surging resource demand. There are around 300 international river basins worldwide, supporting roughly half of the world’s population and delivering about 60% of global freshwater flow. Yet only ~16% of countries sharing these waters have fully operational water-sharing treaties. This governance gap allows unilateral actions that heighten conflict risk. Conflicts over shared rivers are already rising in water-stressed regions of Asia and Africa, and in recent years hostile incidents over water have even outnumbered cooperative events. Water disputes are tightly intertwined with energy shortages and food crises in a self-reinforcing loop. For example, an upstream drought can slash hydropower and irrigation, causing downstream blackouts and crop failures that inflame tensions. Despite this water–energy–food (WEF) nexus, most research and policy treat water conflicts in isolation, separate from energy and food issues. Virtually no studies have systematically linked resource collapse to diplomatic breakdown – a critical knowledge gap. Without integrated analysis, research may miss early warning signs of cascading crises spanning natural and political systems. Many TRBs are approaching “hydrological bankruptcy. This unsustainable trajectory can trigger food and energy insecurity and even diplomatic failure. TRBs urgently need a new interdisciplinary approach to diagnose these multi-sector risks and provide early warnings before WEF-driven instability leads to environmental and diplomatic collapse.
Leo Baldiga, Sarah Buelow, Andrew Chesang, Anurag Ganapathi, Phyllis Gyang, Jeremy Rapp, Latifa Salangi, Tasha Siame, Madeline Sigler, Muhammad Bilal Zafar
Title: What makes a ‘Climate Haven’? Planning for an Uncertain Future.
Award Amount: $4,000
Abstract:
'Climate haven' is a utopic trope in a world experiencing climate change, with these so called havens being pitched as potential oases robust to impacts of such change. Through literature review we found that the actual definition of these havens lacking and critically the ability to evaluate state level climate action plans difficult without a formal methodology. We developed a framework through expert consensus and applied it to Michigan's Healthy Climate Action Plan (MiHCP) which yielded conflicting results highlighting areas of focus and apparent gaps in the plans' architecture. Completion of this work will produce important reflections and insights on 'climate haven' evaluation as well as valuable feedback regarding the status of the State of Michigan's current operational climate plan.
2024-25 Recipients
Tasha Siame (Forestry)
Title: Birth weights and neighborhood greenness in Michigan
Award Amount: $4,000
Residential greenness is a well-established factor influencing health, including maternal outcomes and birth weights. However, access to green spaces remains unequal, with marginalized communities—particularly Asian, Black, Hispanic, and Native American populations—often facing limited exposure to quality green environments. In Michigan, these disparities are intensified by a legacy of residential segregation, systemic racism, and socioeconomic inequality. While research links greenness to healthier birth outcomes, few studies explore how this relationship varies by race, especially in Michigan. This project addresses that gap by analyzing ten years of data to assess whether green neighborhoods are associated with higher birth weights, how this varies racially, and which socioeconomic and health factors moderate these relationships.
Leo Baldiga (Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences)
Title: Digital Dreams and Concrete Realities: The Techno-Hydro-Politics of Digitalization, Data-Driven Governance, and Megainfrastructure Development in the Lower Mekong Region
Award Amount: $4,200
In the Lower Mekong Region, digital governance initiatives, novel technologies, and mega-infrastructure projects are reconfiguring transboundary resource politics and agrarian livelihoods through a novel fusion of transnational state and corporate power. This reorientation of regional geopolitics and agrarian production is creating new forms of data-driven governance and technological dependencies that have consequences for climate resiliency, biodiversity, traditional water rights, data sovereignty, security, and smallholder autonomy. This research will address the confluence of these issues in the context of the Funan Techo Canal by investigating the social and environmental impact, politics and policymaking, and motivations behind the project through multi-scalar ethnography, documentary film and visual essay, and archival and media discourse analysis.
2023-24 Recipients
Xiang Yu (Fisheries and Wildlife)
Title: Impacts of Russia-Ukraine war on global environmentally sustainable development
Award Amount: $3,845
The Russia-Ukraine war has resulted in a series of environmental impacts far beyond war zones by causing shocks to global markets including food, energy, and fertilizer markets. These effects have significantly impeded progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) worldwide, particularly in some low-income and middle-income countries. However, there is a lack of spatio-temporal analyses of the impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war on the SDG targets. Here, I plan to analyze the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war on global environmental sustainability through virtual materials flows accounting embedded in global trade post the Russia-Ukraine war. Principal component analysis will then be applied to distinguish the contribution of the war. Furthermore, the impacts on different types of countries will be compared under the metacoupling framework to uncover unexpected environmental interactions between different nations. This research will not only contribute to environmental sustainability and related policymaking but also provide references for understanding the environmental impacts of similar international disasters.
Abhinav Kapoor (School of Planning, Design, and Construction)
Title: Harvesting Highs: Effects of Cannabis Legalization on Agriculture, Investment, and Tourism in Thailand
Award Amount: $4,000
Thailand, one of the biggest tourist hubs in Asia, decriminalized consumption of recreational cannabis in 2022. This study analyzes the economic impact this move has had on the Thai economy. It examines the impacts of the legalization on small-scale farmers, traders, investors, and on the travel and tourism sector at large. Present economic theories suggest that fresh market opportunities may help farmers and traders by connecting them with foreign investors, that domestic investors may be drawn to the business by the promise of economic growth, and that cannabis tourism may help generate more tax revenue. To assess results for stakeholders, the study will make use of surveys, interviews, and secondary data analysis. Qualitative data from farmers, traders, investors, and tourists will provide firsthand perspectives. Quantitative analysis of economic indicators like income, assets, investments, and tourism revenue will also be conducted. The methodology integrates the Principal Investigators’ collective expertise in crop management, economics, urban planning, and development studies to evaluate this unprecedented change in the Southeast Asian economies. Findings from the study can inform stakeholder-focused policies that optimize Thailand's developing cannabis landscape. Performing a careful examination of the Thai experience can also offer a framework for projecting possible outcomes in other Asian nations that are thinking about legalizing cannabis use for recreational purposes.
Graham Diedrich (MSDS)
Title: Evaluating the Road to 2040: A comprehensive study of Michigan's new clean energy legislation
Award Amount: $2,750
In November 2023, Michigan Legislature passed a series of climate and energy bills with the ambitious goal of significantly reducing the state's dependence on fossil fuels. The centerpiece of this legislative package is Senate Bill 271, which mandates a transition to 100% carbon-free energy by 2040, with an interim target of achieving 80% carbon-free electricity by 2035. A key aspect of these measures is the definition of "carbon-free" energy, which notably includes sources such as biomass, landfill gas derived from solid waste, gas from methane digesters using municipal sewage waste, food waste, animal manure, and energy-generating incinerators.
However, the inclusion of these sources as "carbon-free" has sparked controversy, especially considering studies that question the assumption of bioenergy's carbon neutrality. To assess the potential impact of Michigan's new clean energy standard on greenhouse gas emissions and related socio-economic concerns, researchers will employ the Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP). This platform will conduct an in-depth analysis of energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions, contextualized within a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis framework.
The analysis will offer valuable insights into the composition of Michigan's energy mix, encompassing both renewable and non-renewable sources, up to the year 2040 and beyond in accordance with the recently enacted climate bills. By comparing two scenarios—one representing business-as-usual (BAU) practices and another parameterized based on the proposed clean energy standard (CES)—the research aims to elucidate the environmental and socio-economic impacts of Michigan's roadmap to achieving carbon-free energy by 2040.
2022-23 Recipients
Xin Lan, Yuean Qiu (Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences)
Title: Long-term and seasonal trends of global freshwater temperature under climate change
Award Amount: $3,750
Sampriti Sarkar (Agriculture, Food, Resource Economics)
Title: Water (un)affordability across the US counties and shrinking cities: A revealed and stated preference approach for Michigan
Award Amount: $4,200
