From identifying threats to biodiversity in the Finger Lakes to formalizing property rights in Tanzania, 10 interdisciplinary projects have been chosen for spring 2011 academic venture fund awards from the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future (ACSF). The awards were announced May 29 and total $662,509.

Initiated in 2008, the academic venture fund is designed to stimulate original, cross-disciplinary research at Cornell in sustainability science, particularly work with the potential to involve external partners such as industry, government, foundations and nongovernmental organizationss.

Of 33 proposals submitted in this round, nearly 80 percent included investigators from more than one college or school, and 70 percent encompassed two or more of ACSF's sustainability themes of energy, environment and economic development. More than 30 percent included faculty from three or more colleges or schools.

The projects receiving funds are: