Sustainable Design
Research Grants

Kenneth A. Mitchell Extended Family Design Grants
Guidelines for Submission

Deadline for submission: July 1 2020

Anticipated Date of Awards: August 1 2020

ZLI Kenneth A. Mitchell Extended Family Design Grant is intended to fund high school students in architecture and landscape architecture, aligning such education to ZLI Campaigns and so furthering our mission to support the sciences of life and light through the arts for animal welfare and wildlife conservation. ZLI seeks to encourage consideration of natural light, wildlife conservation and animal welfare to benefit people's every day lives.

Kenneth A. Mitchell, a generous actor and award winning landscape architect, provides a model for our recipients to put family first and accommodate life in their designs. Biodiversity-loss mitigation has extreme value for humans, but is often difficult to quantify in project budgeting. For this reason, we encourage young designers with a stake in the future to develop skills and awareness as to how they might accommodate wildlife in their work, and how they might learn by appreciating how others have done so globally. Awards are given on a ZLI Campaign Basis, which includes the following:

Eligibility Requirements

Eligibility requirements: ZLI offers 12 awards (two per Campaign) of $120 USD to high school or undergraduate students. High School students must be working with a mentor or in a class room setting, while undergraduate students must be conducting work within an accredited architectural or landscape architectural program. Funds are to be distributed before work begins, as a means to aid the purchase of supplies and to give focus to the work in general. As ZLI is offering two grants per Campaign, it is also a requirement that dialogue informs the work (but not plagiarism nor copying, of course).

Awards are made payable to the individual recipients and no part of an award may be used for the payment of indirect costs to the recipient’s institution. All funds must be expended directly in support of the proposed investigation. Furthermore, funds can be used for direct costs of research (equipment, supplies, travel to research sites, etc.). Funds cannot be used for salaries (for either/or the principal researcher and technicians) nor for conference travel. Any equipment purchased will become the property of the proposal author. Awards are made in amounts of up to a maximum of $120 USD.

Proposal Directions and Funding Priorities

ZLI supports the sciences of life and light through the arts for animal welfare and wildlife conservation and thus the proposal will include three components: an abstract, a 90 second video highlighting value of the research to the mission of ZLI (posted to YouTube), and a condensed CV (2-page maximum). The abstract can be no longer than 700 words and fit on no more than 2 pages (not including references but including all other text (i.e. figure legends).

The abstract needs to include proposal title, proposal author and affiliation, host institution, specific grant (e.g. Campaign), background information, work schedule, methods, anticipated benefits and ethical statement of animal research (e.g. IACUC approval). Use of figures is encouraged but all figures must fit within the 2-page limit.

ZLI is committed to increasing diversity of both the researchers and research within photobiology and thus welcomes all proposals that aim to broaden participation within photobiology. We especially invite creative proposals that will increase the ability of all to participate in this crucial research. To apply for the ‘PhotoDiversity’ Grant, please include an additional 300 word maximum section on how your research/program will broaden participation within photobiology, and be certain to discuss this within the video by including up to an additional minute.

Check List

☑   2 page Abstract

• • • Title; Applicant Name, Affiliation and Mentor Name if Applicable; Host Institution
    • Grant Category (Campaign as listed above).
    • Background Information of Proposed Study/Research
    • Goals and Initial Concepts - Relevance to Animal / International Reference /Theme
    • Methods - How will the design process proceed?
    • How long will the proposed project take to complete?

☑   YouTube video no more than 90 seconds unless submitting broadening participation app

• • • Provide link to YouTube-video in submission email

☑   Email Dr. Seymoure (ZLI Director of Photo Sciences) at seymoure@zoolighting.org

• • • • • Include Subject Header: ZLI Kenneth A. Mitchell Extended Family Application and your name
        • Include a PDF-version of application and video link

• ☑   Please send any questions via e-mail to Dr. Seymoure.