USDA Awards Funds to Improve Conservation on Agricultural Lands

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10, 2013 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the award of 33 Conservation Innovation Grants awarded to entities across the nation to develop and demonstrate cutting-edge ideas to accelerate private lands conservation. Grant recipients will demonstrate innovative approaches to improve soil health, conserve energy, manage nutrients and enhance wildlife habitat in balance with productive agricultural systems. USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service administers this competitive grants program.

Penn Undergrad Startup Aims to Make Finding Grants Easier

As most researchers know, applying for grant funding is a complex process. But before the application process even starts, researchers must tackle a more fundamental task: finding a funding source that’s a good match for a project. With numerous grants available locally, nationally and globally, some public and some private, it can be challenging to simply get a handle on what is out there. It’s this often-overlooked challenge of the grant application process that University of Pennsylvania undergraduates Grace Truong, John Lu and Nick Liu are tackling with the foundation of their company, Grant Fellow LLC. Grant Fellow’s website is an online aggregator, search engine and task manager that will streamline and simplify the grant-writing process for universities and nonprofits alike. Now, with their recent participation in an international competition for young tech entrepreneurs, Truong, Lu and Liu are poised to share their product with the world.