This program offers grants for Stanford student-driven-and-managed environmental projects that make a measurable impact on sustainability issues through action or applied academic research. Preference is given to projects that focus on environmental sustainability within one of the following topic areas: climate, ecosystem services and conservation, food security, freshwater, oceans, public health and sustainable development. 

Projects should involve Stanford students and provide an educational experience for students and the broader community. Please note that this program does not fund thesis or dissertation research or other academic requirements.

The next application period will open in fall 2015 and the deadline is December 1, 2015. Interested applicants can find guidelines and additional information here.

About Mel Lane

Mel Lane was co-owner and publisher of Lane Publishing Co. and Sunset Magazine and Books. A tireless advocate for the environment, and a passionate enthusiast of Stanford, he died at home in Atherton, Calif., on July 28, 2007. He was 85. 

A university trustee from 1981 to 1991, Lane led numerous development efforts at Stanford, including establishment of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, where he was a founding member of the Advisory Council. 

In 1965, he was appointed by Gov. Edmund G. Brown to be the first chairman of the newly created San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. The San Francisco Bay Plan developed by the commission still governs protection of the bay and development of its shoreline. 

In 1972, Lane was appointed by Gov. Ronald Reagan as the first chairman of the California Coastal Commission. The commission's plan for the coast remains the primary constitution for conservation and development of the 1,100-mile California coastline. 

Lane served on the board of directors of the World Wildlife Fund, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and The Nature Conservancy-California, and was a founding director of the Peninsula Open Space Trust. 

"Mel was a wise counselor and trustee and a devoted champion of the university," recalls Stanford President John Hennessy. "But Mel's contributions extended well beyond Stanford. His early dedication to the California environment, his efforts to protect San Francisco Bay, and his chairmanship of the Coastal Commission are evidence of remarkable vision and humanity."